Kevin O'Leary on Why DJ Khaled Should Be a Guest "Shark"

I'm with Kevin O'Leary, who I'm going to change your nickname right now. I did it before when I interviewed you last, but you are now Mr. Young Hollywood.

Oh, thank you. Forget Mr. Wonderful.

Well, it could be Mr. Young Wonderful Hollywood. That would be good, too. Combining both brands. That would be terrific.

Oh, that's not bad. Okay. I mean, this is the epitome of Young Hollywood right here. I like that. It's not about age, it's about attitude.

I think you're right. You know, and I I'm a young 22, so it's just great. Um so, season 8, it's been a crazy ride, right? I mean, you've been from the beginning. How would you say over the years, you know, your style of investing, your standard for entrepreneurs coming into the tank has it evolved over the years?

Well, this year, there's two uh every year is different, obviously. This year, there's two themes. I've grown a large platform of companies that are involved in special moments of people's lives. For example, weddings, HoneyFund, Plum Fund, Divorce Fund. Yeah. That's a huge business for me. I do Bottle Breacher, which are gifts for grooms. Wicked Good Cupcakes. All the special events in people's lives. And then now LovePop cards. So, what we've done is we've created a new platform called The Something Wonderful Platform. We share names. So, I'm looking for more companies that fit in that mold. And so, those that's one area. And the other thing I've announced a new relationship with QVC. Um so, I'm doing a new show called The Something Wonderful Show. Wonderful Discoveries is its actual name. And uh all my Shark Tank companies are coming on that including O'Leary Wines where we're doing, I think we're the number one provider of wine on QVC now because the laws have changed, we can ship direct. It's bad news for Lori because she, you know, she was the queen.

No, I was going to say, what does Lori think about it?

And now I'm the king and the rules of the monarchy are very strict at QVC. She has to step three steps behind me all the time and she's not allowed to talk unless I ask her a question. I wish I could change those rules, but they were drawn up decades ago by the Knights of the Round QVC. Oh my God. What can I do? It's a tragedy, but you know, we're going to work together. It's a tragedy.

But I was going to but you know, another thing is you do get a lot like you're you're kind of mean in the tank at times. You know, people say that, but it's not true.

I'm the only shark that tells the truth. Okay. And I think we need a little truth on here, you know. What's the point of telling somebody, oh, you know, I'm not going to give you any money. Come by ya. Keep doing what you're doing and then they go bankrupt because their businesses are really a bad idea. I'd rather say, you know what, your business is a really bad idea. Stop doing what you're doing and try something else. And then you're dead to me. That's fine. Well, that has been something I've said in the past, but I'm not sorry for it because they are dead to me. Um, and then I have to go back to the wine thing for a second because I know that you are part of a secret society called the The Chevalier de Tastevin, which means the Brothers of the Tastevin, which is the wine tasting cup founded, you know, in secret times in medieval times. And to become a member is a very long process. You have to prove that you have a really strong knowledge of the Burgundian wine region. And become a buyer of Burgundian wines, a collector, a trader of those wines. I do all of that. I love that society. But, you know, I'm the only shark that drinks wines. The rest are just bores. They drink beer. They don't know anything about it. What can you do?

Do you have meetings at that society?

We do, we do have those meetings. Most recently I went over to Beaune, the the headquarters in France of the Burgundian region. I met with the brethren. We had a very special meeting. I bought a whole ton of wines and I launched a new Pinot O'Leary in honor of the Burgundian grape, the Pinot grape, which I grew here in California. It is nectar from the nipple of Aphrodite.

I don't know what any of that means, but I'm just going to pretend that I do.

It's really good. I like wine, but I don't I don't know

Then just go to my QVC website, try my wines. It's free shipping. You can't believe how great it is. I will do that. Um, and then I also saw the other day that you were on DJ Khaled's Snapchat.

Yes.

Can we do you know that like you've made it. Forget your businesses. I mean, you've made it in life when you're on DJ Khaled's Snapchat.

I was holding court in a cabana at the Beverly Hills Hotel, which I often do on dark days.

You do. I notice that. Yes. And and I love to do that. Like you're you're social.

Yeah. And so his um one of his guys came over and said, hey, do you guys would you like to meet? And I said, I love this guy. And my son's crazy about him, so is my daughter. So, we ended up having a lot in common. We had a lot of fun together. He came over, you know, we toasted a few glasses together. We talked and uh we did a little Snapchat, a little social media, and you're right. I couldn't believe the response. That guy's huge. He's huge. He's probably the number one dude on Snapchat. I mean, he's got so many followers. Anyways, then all of a sudden, my whole thing lit up and I I said, wow, you know, I I could learn a lot from him. He's huge.

I think you're saying. Do you think he could be a good guest shark at some point?

I think I think he'd be great because what I like about him, he's so honest. Yeah. You know, he's just straight on. Tells it like it is, kind of like me. I think we're brothers. Brothers from another mother. Exactly. Right. Um, and then entrepreneurs versus wantrepreneurs. Yeah. How do you when they come into the tank, do you know immediately that this is somebody who really has their stuff together versus not? That's a great question. The truth is, over the years, it's almost like a spider sense. I can smell the BS. And, you know, it's it's sort of great companies have some structure. They've got some sales, they've got a team, they've got a track record. They may be falling on good and bad times, but at least they're in business. When an entrepreneur comes in and says, look, give me a million dollars and I have an idea, that's not the same. I prefer to work with people that have felt the sting of failure before, so they're motivated to succeed in the future.

That's interesting. Do you have a favorite quote that you live by? On your final thoughts? You know

Other than you're dead to me. No, I, you know, I I I like to tell people, look, at the end of the day, being an entrepreneur is a huge sacrifice, but it's not about the money, it's about the freedom. That's what I tell people. Entrepreneurship is about achieving freedom. So, you work really hard now so that down the road one day, you're free. And that's why everybody comes on this carpet. They also want to be free. It's a very powerful visceral experience to watch it happen. I'm honored to be a part of it. You know, a young girl that was 11 years old came up to me in San Francisco Airport a couple of weeks ago and she ran up to me and said, Mr. Wonderful, Mr. Wonderful, you should have done a convertible debenture up 20% on last night's deal. And I, how would she even know what that is? It's a very complicated financial structure. And her mother came running up to me and and I said, how would she know what a convert is? And her mother said, she doesn't. She's a math whiz, but she saw it on the show last night and she spent the whole morning on the internet learning about it. And she just happened to run into you. If we can help young kids in America start to think about entrepreneurship and understand the structure of finance like that. They don't even teach that in high school. You got to get past college to learn what that is. I was blown away and I'm so proud to be a part of it.

That is amazing. Well, thank you so much and season 8. I'm excited. I'm nervous. I'm scared of you. Thank you.

No. The big thing on the big theme on season 8 is the deal sizes are huge. Huge. Huge.