“They get the right introductions” - Shark Tank investor Barbara Corcoran on why she backs hustlers over heirs

Barbara Corcoran's recent comments regarding the people she chooses to invest in further solidify her reputation as the direct-minded Shark Tank investor who doesn't mince words. When asked how she looks for potential, Corcoran said she isn't impressed by privilege or income. Instead, she searches for resilience, hunger, and the kind of drive that can’t be purchased.

“I don’t invest in rich kids,” Corcoran revealed. “Rich kids come in with a couple of disadvantages, I feel. They’ve had the right jobs because they had the right contacts, so they had the right apprenticeships...They get the right introductions.”

For Corcoran, the difference between a trust-fund entrepreneur and a self-made one isn’t money; it’s mentality. She thinks that the scars of experience, not the ease of opportunity, are what lead to true achievement. She frequently supports underdogs who have overcome hardship on Shark Tank, claiming that they are the ones who know the grind, take more chances, and never forget how difficult it is to start again.

Why Barbara Corcoran prefers hustlers on Shark Tank

Tenacity has always been more important to Barbara Corcoran's investing style than titles. She has a reputation on Shark Tank for supporting founders who have worked their way up and who have learned from mistakes rather than inheritance.

Her logic is straightforward: invention is bred by experience and humility. According to her, business owners who have persevered through adversity typically make wiser, more resilient choices that endure longer than those who have benefited from a fortunate start.

When privilege becomes a barrier to growth

Corcoran contends that rather than encouraging innovation, affluent upbringing frequently fosters overconfidence. She has observed a trend among "rich kids" who make Shark Tank pitches: they frequently have well-developed concepts, but when faced with actual hardship, their motivation wanes. That safety net, in her opinion, lessens the advantage that every successful business needs.

"Rich kids, when starting businesses on Shark Tank...have gone to the finest schools, and what comes with going to the finest schools, especially business schools, what comes is a certain attitude that they know it."

The biggest warning sign, in Corcoran's opinion, is the belief that success can be planned, predicted, or inherited. She is eager to warn young, wealthy founders that hustling cannot be replaced by theory, and tenacity cannot be replaced by pedigree. She claims that the show has consistently demonstrated that genuine development starts where comfort stops.

Betting on the underdogs who’ve been knocked down

Corcoran, on the other hand, gets excited when she encounters founders who have been damaged by failure but aren't giving up. She thinks that hardship turns into a competitive advantage and teaches lessons that riches cannot. According to her, someone who has had to fight for every opportunity is usually more shrewd, hungry, and self-aware of the stakes.

“An injured poor kid is, for me, a guarantee that I’m gonna make money if he’s got the ego to prove somebody else wrong,” she said.

The passion that burns from being undervalued is what she invests in: that unadulterated rebellion. According to Corcoran, a powerful product is secondary to the founder's ethos; success is determined by resilience more than a resume. Throughout the years, her greatest successes have come from resilient businesspeople who transformed adversity into success and rejection into encouragement.

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Watch Corcoran on Shark Tank on ABC.

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