Davie Fogarty - Shark Tank: Look, It Was A Little Bit Ugly, Comfort Over Style.

Shark Tank is back with all new sharks including 28 year old multi-millionaire Davie Fogarty, the man behind The Oodie. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Shark Tank is back tonight seven thirty on Channel ten.
I think it's a whole new tank of sharks. Yeah,
and one of them is Davy Fogerty. He's joining us
right now.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good morning, Good morning. Now you.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
The man behind or inside the UDI which has been
a hugely successful product. Was it an overnight success story, Davy?

Speaker 2 (00:28):
It was an overnight success. Six years in.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
The maze, okay, yes, about.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Six yeah, six failures and a lot of lessons along
the way.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
So did you yourself, you know, take it to people
and say I've got this great idea and did anyone
just laugh you out of their office? And did you
keep trying? And how did it come about?

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Mum?

Speaker 3 (00:52):
My Mum's usually probably one of my most supportive fans. However,
I didn't think she really loved Beauty initially, really, I think.
But I think you've got to remember it was quite
a shocking product before the game mainstream, you know, no.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Influencers would work with us.

Speaker 3 (01:10):
It was a little bit it was a little bit ugly,
you know, comfort over style.

Speaker 4 (01:14):
Oh, absolutely, yeah, I'm there for that, David. You mentioned
about failure mane. You know, do people just see the
success and don't see the failed attempts at various things,
whether it's this or other ideas you've had.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:24):
Look, I try to talk about failure a lot because
otherwise people get discouraged, they get the wrong idea about entrepreneurship.
It's it's not luxurious, it's really really difficult, and you
know you're going to fail a lot.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
Yeah, and if you are scared off by failure, then
you're not going to end up succeeding. What do you
think of this this modern day thing? If everyone gets
a participation medal, Davy, does that discourage or encourage?

Speaker 2 (01:52):
Look?

Speaker 3 (01:52):
I think we should be embracing exceptionalism. I think, yeah,
you know, but at the same time we should be
embracing creativity as well. The grading system is doing the
opposite that we wanted to, so I think, yeah, we
should be celebrating people's creativity in solving problems.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
All right, So Shark Tank tonight seven thirty, did you
have to think long before when they gave you the
call and said, hey, do you want to be in
our tank?

Speaker 2 (02:20):
Now? I was a yes straightaway.

Speaker 4 (02:23):
You're a bit of a fan of the US version
of the show too, so you were in yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
Correct, watching it themselves in school, which is good.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
Right, Which isn't that long? You make it sound like
all those years ago, you know, when we had to
wind up the TV with a thing on the side.
You've done very well in a fairly short amount of time.
If people are looking at going into starting a business
right now, what are the best industries to look at

(02:52):
doing something in twenty twenty three going into twenty four.

Speaker 3 (02:56):
Look, I don't know if it's industry specific thevention. I
think it's more around distribution and the Obviously advertising on
social media is a great way to go about things,
so learning that as a skill.

Speaker 4 (03:09):
Yeah, Hey, David, what's it like being on the show?

Speaker 3 (03:12):
Mate? Now?

Speaker 4 (03:12):
I was going to say young hopefuls, but hopeful so
it can be of any age coming on the show
and you think this idea is actually crap? How do
you how do you break the news to them? And
you just say, I'm just not involved, just don't want
to get involved. And how do you do that because
you don't want to discourage people.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
Yeah, we definitely just give out honest feedback, but we
also understand that it's a huge moment for these entrepreneurs
being on the show, So yeah, definitely definitely gentle them
if we have critical feedback.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
But yeah, they were, they were really great about it.

Speaker 3 (03:41):
You know, they took it on board, and people that
implement it will probably be more successful.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
One of the key things that you personally look for
in a pitch.

Speaker 3 (03:51):
Yeah, probably the first thing is that the entrepreneur do
they have what it takes to hustle and get it done,
get it over the line first and foremost. And you
probably look at the invention and is it adaptable for
social media?

Speaker 1 (04:04):
So remember you are promoting yourself, not just your products.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 4 (04:08):
Yeah, And David, is it possible to be a successful
entrepreneur and any of these kinds of ideas that people
are coming up with without them being obsessed with it?
Do they have to eat, breathe, live, sleep with it.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
Look, I think passion's overstated.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
Initially for your first business, they think you'll just get
passionate about learning the trade and how to sell. So
but then obviously as you as you get more successful,
you need to start being more passionate about your ideas.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
I guess it's a fine line because if you're you know,
if you're too passionate, any little criticism, you're just going
to be sort of overwhelmed by all right, well, Shark
Tank starts seven thirty to nine on Channel ten. We
look forward to seeing what's on offer and what you're
interested in. Davy, thanks for your time.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
You're good and talking men perfect