Nov 4, 2019 · 53m · how-i-built-this
FUBU: Daymond John (2018)
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
In this episode of NPR's 'How I Built This,' host Guy Raz interviews entrepreneur Daymond John, chronicling his journey from hand-sewing hats in Hollis, Queens, to building the global streetwear empire FUBU and becoming an investor on 'Shark Tank.'
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Guy holds 31.1% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Guy as informed peer 2.6 Guest teaching 3.2 Guest disagreement 0.2 Guy pushing back 0.1
speaking balance: gold is Guy, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 9:27 Daymond brushes off disbelief over reading corporate P&Ls
When Guy expresses disbelief that a waiter would read quarterly P&Ls, Daymond bluntly dismisses the doubt: 'I don't know, but that's not my problem. I was reading them.'
Hardest push from Guy ▶ 27:17 Guy presses on trade show access without a boothGuy stops Daymond incredulously to challenge how he could sell merchandise at MAGIC without having purchased a booth or passes.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 6:20 Daymond's financial analysis of McDonald's vs crimeDaymond schools the host on risk-adjusted economics by explaining that legal fees, lack of healthcare, and jail time make drug dealing net-negative compared to working fast food.
Guy holds their own ▶ 37:29 Guy contextualizes hip-hop corporate endorsements via Run DMCGuy demonstrates deep cultural and industry knowledge by citing the landmark Adidas and Run DMC deal from a decade earlier to frame retail demand.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Guy as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Guy pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Live Show Announcement in Denver, Colorado | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Guy Raz delivers a solo housekeeping announcement and teasers for the episode. As a monologue intro, host and guest conflict metrics remain at baseline zero. | |
| Hollis Queens and the Rise of Hip-Hop | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Guy contextualizes Hollis, Queens and the birth of hip-hop with historical detail. Daymond reflects warmly on growing up listening for the Concorde and the shift when crack entered the neighborhood. | |
| Avoiding Street Life and Entertainment Ambitions | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Guy asks how Daymond avoided crime, prompting Daymond to share his pragmatic economic calculation that McDonald's offered a better net return than selling drugs due to legal risks. | |
| Dyslexia, Red Lobster, and Self-Education | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | Guy expresses surprise that a Red Lobster waiter would read corporate P&L statements. Daymond casually dismisses the surprise and explains his deliberate self-education habit. | |
| The Initial Concept and Rejected Seed Loan | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Daymond explains how FUBU originated from sewing custom tie-top beanies for hip-hop fans at high margins, followed by crashing his car and losing the cash. | |
| Sourcing Goods, Quality Upgrades, and Transit Hustle | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | Guy asks how Daymond sourced suppliers without the internet. Daymond educates him on taking subways into New Jersey embroidery centers and cold calling from the Yellow Pages. | |
| The Bodyguard Strategy and Video Music Box | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | Daymond outlines their clever promotional tactic of gifting oversized 4X-6X shirts to club bouncers, which created organic demand among hip-hop artists and got them on Ralph McDaniels' Video Music Box. | |
| Guerrilla Tactics at the MAGIC Trade Show | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | Guy expresses astonishment that FUBU landed $300k in purchase orders at the MAGIC trade show without having an official booth. Daymond explains their guerrilla hotel-room pitching approach. | |
| Bank Rejections and Mom Mortgaging the House | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Daymond recounts being rejected by 27 banks and loan sharks before his mother risked their home equity to fund the initial order batch. | |
| The Queens Factory House and Nearing Bankruptcy | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | Daymond details turning his residential house into an improvised factory and burning the furniture to make room, only to hit a cash flow bottleneck when stores paid on net terms. | |
| The Classified Ad and Samsung Textile Partnership | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | Daymond describes his mother placing a newspaper classified ad seeking financing, which surprisingly connected them with Samsung's textile division. | |
| Big Retail Expansion and Overcoming Corporate Bias | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | Guy asks about dealing with racism from retailers who claimed the founders looked like a gang. Daymond reframes the experience with empathy and entrepreneurial perspective rather than anger. | |
| Massive Scalability, Licensing, and Broad Market Reach | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | Daymond explains how brand licensing across womenswear, accessories, and fragrance pushed FUBU to $350 million while maintaining broader perspective relative to global athletic giants. | |
| Cooling Down the Brand to Avoid Saturation | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Daymond discusses managing fashion lifecycle risk by purposefully de-escalating brand saturation and logo intensity, before transitioning into Shark Tank. | |
| Reflections on Success, Hard Work, and Luck | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Guy closes with his signature question on luck versus skill, and Daymond reflects on the blend of preparation and grace. The episode concludes with the Stemple Creek Ranch segment. |
Statements from this episode (20)
FUBU Has Sold Over $6 Billion in Apparel to Date
“It's a brand that, to date, has sold over six billion dollars in apparel.”
Daymond John Calculated McDonald's Paid More Than Dealing Drugs Risk-Adjusted
“I remember doing the math one day about you know, if I were to work in McDonald's, and if I were to sell drugs over the course of five years, where, when I make more money, and it looked like I would make more money at McDonald's. Because if you look at the dr…”
Daymond John studied Red Lobster P&L statements while working as a waiter
“I was having a great time as a waiter but I was also learning from Red Lobster, you know, they would issue these quarterly books on, you know, their P&Ls, basically, and what was working, what wasn't working.”
Daymond John: Girlfriend Rejected Initial $500 Startup Loan for FUBU
“And then one day I asked her to borrow 800 dollars. No, I asked her to borrow 500 dollars for this idea I had called FUBU. And she said no.”
Daymond John made and sold out 80 handmade FUBU hats in hours
“So I made 80 of them. It took me probably about three hours. I made 80 of them, and I hit that street corner, and I sold all of them.”
Daymond John: FUBU closed three times between 1989 and 1992
“Through 89 and 92, I closed the business three times because I ran out of money.”
John: FUBU founders racked up $50,000 in credit card debt
“So of course, you know, like many businesses, I leveraged my credit cards you know, up until I think my partners and I, all of us leveraged our credit cards up to about 50,000 dollars with a very high interest rate, which is not the smartest thing to do.”
John: FUBU booked $300,000 in orders without a trade show booth
“So it worked it out, and you know, we would write 300,000 dollars in orders, and that's when I would realize how much capital I really needed.”
Daymond John: 27 banks rejected FUBU loan applications
“So I went to all the banks I could, and I got turned down by 27 of them.”
Daymond John's mother took $100,000 home equity loan to fund FUBU
“So she goes out and she gets a 100,000 dollar loan on our house.”
John: FUBU fulfilled $75K in orders before reaching $500 bank balance
“I think we filled about 75,000 dollars worth of those orders until I turned around and I only had 500 dollars left in the bank, and I was about four months late on the mortgage.”
Samsung agreed to finance FUBU if it reached $5M sales in 3 years
“And the deal with us was that they would finance the manufacture and manufacturing and distribution of our product, but we had to sell five million dollars worth of clothes in three years to keep the deal.”
FUBU generated $30 million in sales in three months after partnering with Samsung
“But I had known my customers so well because of all those things that I was doing that as we started to put the brand out there, we did about thirty million dollars in three months.”
Daymond John: FUBU restricted big retailers to preserve brand coolness
“We'd have to stop the retailers. We'd have to not allow them to purchase because some of the kids would look at some of these big retailers and say, well, now FUBU's not cool anymore because it's in these big retailers.”
Retailer Asked Daymond John to Remove Founders' Photos For Looking 'Gang'
“A large retailer did ask me to take the picture of myself and my three other partners off the hang tag, cause it said we look like a gang.”
Daymond John: FUBU drastically reduced distribution and logos in 2003
“What we did was we reduced Most of the distribution of it. I mean, we still obviously kept our categories, but we would really narrow down to just a couple of stores just to test the product and see how it's going. Cause we felt that it just needed to cool dow…”
Daymond John: A hot fashion brand typically lasts five to seven years
“It goes through cycles, you know, and a hot brand lasts five or maybe six years. Maybe seven years.”
Daymond John Initially Believed Shark Tank Would Fail Because Business Is Boring
“The show that I thought would never get anywhere and sucked with these, you know, five business people just talking business all the time, who wants to see that? Before I know it, you know, we're going into our 10th year.”