By Ashkan Karbasfrooshan

Read part 1 and part 2 of our interview with Barbara Corcoran, whose namesake company became the top brand in NYC residential real estate. Barbara sold her company and is now busy with her production company as well as with making investments on the ABC show Shark Tank.

WatchMojo: What’s the common trait between all the investments you’ve made?

Barbara Corcoran: Oh, they have many things in common:

#1, each and everyone of them very high energy,

#2, they weren’t all great presenters, but they all had the right answers to the questions,

#3, they totally believe in their idea,

#4, which is harder to get in a TV form like that organized, I kept trying to say my success guide has got one, two, three as he or she organized, because I think you have to be organized or have a second in command to be organized for you if you are going to succeed in business.

WatchMojo: That’s true. Are there any sectors that your investments focus on?

Barbara Corcoran: Yeah. Well, most of the businesses presented on Shark Tank are products, new products. I would say two out of three are new products, and so two out of three of the businesses that I bought were new products. One technology company, one soda company, I guess you can call that a product, but it’s a food good, right? So, they are across the board totally different; one is totally different from another. One is a textile business, so yeah but the great majority of them start out as a single product firm. And so, that’s what most of little businesses are.

WatchMojo: But, one thing that’s interesting and I notice a lot of involves the investors worrying about control. One of the panelists mentioned: “I don’t mind sharing control with you, I just need to be in control”. When I saw the investors trying to wrest away control, I thought maybe they don’t trust themselves, and that is why they can’t trust someone else, because they are expecting the worst to happen; do you agree with that that any…

Barbara Corcoran: No, I don’t. No, I wish I could agree with you, but I don’t at all. When an investor wrestles or holds on to control I respect them, because I’ve been there. It’s your baby, you created it; you burst it, you’ve nurtured it, you know in his toddler year or however old it is, and you trust yourself.

I see it as a compliment to the investor that the, not the investor, the entrepreneur, they totally trust themselves. And, they are not, it’s like a good mom then it is, she is not going to be so quick to toss your baby over to a new babysitter, which you are really doing if you give up majority control. And so, when somebody is hanging on to their kid or their business I respect them for that.

The reason why so often we are in the position on the show of going for majority control or larger shares of the business is because one of the rules of the show is you can’t mess with the money. So, if somebody is coming and asking a 150,000 for a 10%, you can offer them a 60,000 for 10%, if you thought the evaluation was whacked up. You’ve out to meet the money they’ve come in and asked for, so the only piece you can move around is the percentage; does that make sense to you?

WatchMojo: Yeah, that I didn’t know.

Barbara Corcoran: Yeah, I don’t think people will… It’s hard to make it clear, but it would be good if people knew, because I think a lot of people wonder why we are always so greedy trying to take control. The thing is we are just trying to make the numbers make sense you know. Can I tell you the truth. I wish we could play with the money, I think it would jazz up the show.

WatchMojo: When it comes to investing, is your style very hands-on, or are you more hands-off passive investor?

Barbara Corcoran: I am very hands-on building a business, but I don’t have the time to be hands-on. So, I am being particularly choosy about who I pick as a partner. There is a CEO as a firm; they are the ones just going to drive it across the finish line. So, I am paying very careful attention to the attribute of the entrepreneur, the attributes to the entrepreneur.

That’s really the main pick for me, more than the business. Because, you know what I see more entrepreneurs with us, our business sense is not right. But, if they are great entrepreneurs then you’ll have to turn it, twist it and make it right.

WatchMojo: Yeah. That’s why ofetntimes the investors look at the market, if the market is big enough then you could always navigate differently.

Come back tomorrow when we chat about Barbara’s forte: the real estate market.