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Before appearing together on Shark Tank, Spanx founder Sara Blakely and investor Kevin O'Leary sat on a business panel.
This week, Blakely posted the throwback video on Instagram, explaining why she still believes what she said 12 years ago at a CNBC Town Hall event called “Getting Back to Business.”
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In the clip, O'Leary says he's going to war with the competition, taking an aggressive approach: “Business is war.”
“You get up in the morning and think, 'How do you take out your competitor?'” O'Leary said. “How do I pour boiling oil on them? Compete, win, fight, win, compete.”
Blakely disagreed, but even though she founded Spanx with $5,000 in savings in 2000 at age 27 and turned it into a billion-dollar company by 2012, she says she was nervous about voicing her opinion, especially to Mr. Wonderful.
“I did it very differently,” she said. “I wasn't obsessed or focused on crushing the competition. I just focused on my own quality. What can I offer that is the best and creates value?”
The resistance paid off. Spanx is currently one of the largest direct-to-consumer brands in the world. Blakely was a guest investor on Shark Tank in 2017 and has appeared several times since then. He even sat next to O'Leary, who has been a judge on Shark Tank since 2009.
Sara Blakely and Kevin O'Leary. Photo credit: Eric McCandless via Getty Images
Blakely says she still stands by her words and that focusing too much on the competition is the wrong approach.
“I really don't think business is war,” she said. “I think you should focus on the consumer, on what you can do better for the consumer, how you can give them a better experience, a better product.”
“Be genuine, be authentic with what you create for them and give back,” she added. “What about it feels like a war?”
Investment fund Blackstone bought a majority stake in Spanx in 2021 for $1.2 billion. Blakely is now worth an estimated $1.3 billion.
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