"Failure and innovation are kissing cousins" — When Shark Tank's Barbara Corcoran made a bold move after a $77,000 mistake

During her TEDxBarnardCollege talk on December 31, 2013, Barbara Corcoran, an investor on Shark Tank and a real estate entrepreneur, emphasized the close connection between failure and innovation. She stated:

"I have found that failure and innovation are kissing cousins; you get one, you work on one, you automatically get the other."

Her career illustrates this principle, as she has used setbacks as opportunities to develop new approaches in business. One notable example she shared during the talk occurred when she invested $77,000 into a marketing strategy that did not succeed. Instead of abandoning the concept, the Shark Tank investor modified it and ultimately gained a significant advantage in her industry.

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How Shark Tank Barbara Corcoran turned a $77,000 mistake into an industry advantage

A marketing strategy that did not work as planned

Barbara Corcoran initially intended to enhance customer convenience by recording video tours of available apartments. The idea was that clients could review properties without visiting them in person. She allocated $77,000 to produce videotapes featuring property listings along with her sales agents' contact details. However, the tapes did not achieve the expected outcome.

The Shark Tank investor explained:

"One month later, I’m standing in the basement of one of my shops… with $77,000 of money I blew stupidly on tapes nobody wanted."

The issue arose because sales agents were hesitant to distribute the tapes, fearing that potential clients might contact a different agent instead of them. This made the initiative ineffective, leaving Corcoran with a significant financial loss and an excess of unused videotapes.

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Adapting the concept to a new platform

Rather than viewing the failed video campaign as a complete loss, Corcoran mentioned that she reconsidered its potential after a conversation with her husband, Bill Higgins. He had recently returned from a military exercise in South Korea, where he described how his team had used the internet for real-time operations. This discussion led Corcoran to explore the internet as a new platform for her business. She stated in her talk:

"I took all my videos, I shoved them on the internet, I put them online—I didn’t even know what online meant then—and boom, within the first week I had two sales out of London."

This shift allowed her to reach a broader market, demonstrating how repurposing an unsuccessful idea in a different context can lead to unexpected benefits.

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Gaining a competitive edge

After recognizing the potential of online real estate listings, Corcoran took an additional step to strengthen her business position. She registered multiple domain names related to her competitors, ensuring they would have to go through her if they wanted an online presence. The Shark Tank investor explained her methods to her audience, saying:

"I immediately registered every one of my competitors’ URLs so that they would have to call me and ask for the URL as they discovered the thing that was about to change the real estate industry."

This decision gave her an advantage by allowing her company to establish an online presence before competitors could do the same.

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Ultimately, what began as a costly mistake resulted in a significant strategic gain. Corcoran's experience illustrates how unsuccessful ventures can lead to valuable insights when approached with adaptability. Her decision to adjust her strategy after a financial loss reinforced her belief that failure and innovation are closely linked, as one often leads to the other.

Watch Shark Tank every Friday at 8 PM ET on ABC, or stream anytime on Hulu.