Cold Hard Truth
CBC Books | CBC | Posted: July 11, 2017 7:27 PM | Last Updated: July 12, 2017
Kevin O'Leary
Can you make millions just by "visualizing yourself rich" as some business prophets suggest? Don't buy it, says Kevin O'Leary. If you want to be a successful entrepreneur and amass wealth, you're going to have to work for it. But the good news is: with the right guidance, focus and perseverance, you can turn entrepreneurial vision into lucrative reality and have the personal freedom that only wealth can buy.
Kevin O'Leary would know. The much-feared and revered Dragon on the immensely popular show Dragons' Den (and Shark Tank in the U.S.) started his company in his basement with a $10,000 loan from his financially savvy mother. A few years later, Kevin sold that company for more than four billion dollars. In this compelling, candid and above all else, brutally honest business memoir, Kevin provides engaging, practical advice and lessons that will give anyone a distinct competitive edge. (From Anchor Canada)
From the book
I have to admit that on more than one occasion during the shoot, I thought I had made a mistake aligning myself with this strange TV show that had originated, naturally, in Japan. Back then, the pitchers were corralled in a hot tent in the middle of an industrial pit in downtown Toronto. We were fed bad food, worked long hours, and, frankly, were less than impressed with the quality of business ideas being brought to us. I'd seen the British version of Dragons' Den, which by then was heading into its second successful season, but I wasn't sure that a show about venture capitalism would really take off in Canada. I find the world of venture capitalism to be the most exciting arena known to man. But it's also full of dry jargon, where you bat around terms such as ROI (return on investment), EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization), and valuation (what you think your company's worth). Riveting stuff to my ilk. But I worried that producers would have to cut out the business essentials in order to make a show like this palatable to the average viewer, thereby alienating its core audience of business fans.
From Cold Hard Truth: On Business, Money and Life by Kevin O'Leary ©2012. Published by Anchor Canada.