'I Don't Invest in Rich Kids': Why This Shark Tank Judge Wants Founders Who've Struggled

“It sounds harsh, but I don’t invest in rich kids,” said Shark Tank investor Barbara Corcoran at an Insider Business conference a while back. Now four years later, the video of that inspiring talk is making rounds of social media, perhaps as a reminder that privilege can’t buy you everything and that struggle can lead to success.

During the conference, Corcoran made the statement in reference to how she chooses which startups to invest in on the hit business show, Shark Tank. The former real estate mogul grew up in a working-class family that struggled to make ends meet, and she’s talked frequently about how that struggle shaped her into a better businesswoman. It’s a mentality that she’s translated to her life as an investor.

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“Rich kids on Shark Tank come with a couple of attributes that disturb me. Rich kids come in with a number of disadvantages, I feel. They’ve had the right jobs because they had the right context. So, they had the right apprenticeships in the right companies in their summer months when they were teenagers. They get the right introductions,” explained Corcoran, not mincing words.

“Poor kids are usually waiting tables and scrapping. Dealing with customers, spilling coffee, and getting shouted at. [That’s] a little different. Rich kids, when starting businesses on Shark Tank, the ones I see typically have gone to the finest schools. And what comes with going to the finest schools, especially business schools, is a certain attitude that they know it. That’s a dangerous attribute to have in anything when you’re starting out in anything.”

Before starting her own real estate company, Corcoran was a teacher. She graduated from college with a degree in education, but only worked as a teacher for a year before taking on 20 jobs before she was 23 years old. Like many entrepreneurs, she wasn’t born with a silver spoon. Instead, she hustled her way to the top.

“[Rich kids] know all about business as an observer, but they don’t know business as a player. Whereas poor kids tend to have had hardship. They’ve had to be a player earlier [because] they’ve had to contribute to the family. They’ve seen their parents struggle. They know the power of a buck. They’ve never gone on a fancy vacation so they aspire for the vacation,” said Corcoran. “And the last it, an injured poor kid is, for me, a guarantee that I’m going to make money if he’s got the ego to prove someone else wrong.”

For Corcoran, success isn’t defined by education or experience. It’s whether the entrepreneur has the relentless drive to seal the deal. Whether it’s ego, a chip on the shoulder, or just pure purpose, tenacity will take you far. And it’s something she knows from experience.

“I had the great advantage of my first business partner telling me I’d never succeed without him. He handed me an insurance policy for success. I would rather die than let him see me not succeed,” shared Corcoran.

The businesswoman left the first company she formed with her ex-boyfriend, The Corcoran-Simone, when he told her he was going to marry her secretary. Instead of letting that personal heartbreak crush her, she set up her own company, The Corcoran Group, to prove him wrong.

“It fills you with a passion to prove something. Love of money doesn’t make you a good entrepreneur. Most great entrepreneurs really aren’t focused on the money at all. It kind of just happens because they’re focused on being phenomenally successful,” said Corcoran.

While Corcoran has her own set of rich kids, the investor shared that she’s glad that they have their own personal struggles to deal with. They might not be monetary, but their struggles as kids with severe dyslexia have made them scrape and claw their way through school. They’ll never know what it’s like to coast through life.

“That’s kind of saving their asses in my book. But will I give them money when they want to start a business? I’m sure I will. I’m a sucker like every other parent here,” joked Corcoran.

Struggle shapes character, and character is the real secret to success.