Before they appeared together on Shark Tank, Spanx founder Sara Blakely and investor Kevin O’Leary participated in a panel discussion about the business.
This week Blakely published retrospective film on Instagram and explained why she still believes what she said 12 years ago CNBC Town Hall Event titled “Back to Business”.
In the clip, O’Leary says he is battling the competition and taking an aggressive approach, saying, “Business is war.”
“You wake up in the morning and think, ‘How am I going to kill my opponent?’” O’Leary said. “How am I going to pour boiling oil on them? Compete, win, fight, win, compete.”
Blakely disagreed, but despite the introduction of the Spanx brand in 2000, at the age of 27 with 5000 dollars in saving and transforming it into a company value billions of dollars until 2012, he claims, I used to be nervous to talk up, especially in front of Mr. Wonderful.
“I did it completely differently,” she said. “I wasn’t obsessed or focused on the competition and destroying it. I was focused only on my own quality. What can I offer that is the best and what gives value?”
The resistance paid off. Spanx is now one of the biggest brands sold on to consumers in the world. Blakely was a guest investor on Shark Tank in 2017 and returned there multiple times, even sitting next to O’Leary, who has since turn into a judge on Shark Tank 2009.
Sara Blakely and Kevin O’Leary. Credit: Eric McCandless via Getty Images
Blakely says he still stands by his words and that obsessing over the competition is the incorrect approach.
“I really don’t believe that business is war,” she said. “I think you should focus on your consumer, what can you do better for your consumer, how can you give them a better experience, a better product.”
“Be honest, be authentic in what you create for them and give back,” she added. “What is there in that that is like war?”
Blackstone Investment Fund bought majority stake in Spanx in 2021 at a valuation of $1.2 billion. Blakely is now value estimated $1.3 billion.