Entrepreneur, investor and star of the ABC series “Shark Tank” Daymond John is the only African-American man to appear on a major television network in 15 years who is not from the music, sports or political industries, he said in a panel on Saturday VeeCon 2023.

Here’s how he built his career and continues to build businesses today.

Start time: John is best known as the founder and CEO of FUBU. He said he didn’t bring anything new into the world, but rather figured out how to get people excited about his products.

When John started, he sold the same shirts and changed the packaging, he said, adding that there was nothing new and it was all about how to connect with your customers.

shark tank: Bombas Socks, a sock company that donates a pair of socks to the homeless for every pair sold, is one of the biggest hits in Shark Tank history. John said the company isn’t doing anything new and has figured out how to connect with its customers better than others.

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John took a step back and said he started the show shortly after writing a book on economics. One day, John had about 40 messages on his phone, he said. Thirty-nine of those came from people telling him how to spend his money, but one of the messages came from a television producer Mark Burnettwho asked if John wanted to be in a show called Dragons’ Den, the European version of Shark Tank.

The news was a quick pitch about the show, but as soon as John learned he had to spend his own money (roughly $1 million to $4 million a year), he recalled hanging up the phone. “These guys are pimps,” John said to himself.

At the time, John was preparing to represent the Kardashians so didn’t really look for other opportunities, but when one of the sisters found out he’d been offered a spot on the show, they fired him, didn’t…