I was rejected on Shark Tank – now I manage a $ 2.5 million company

Years ago, I entered the set of Shark tank Thinking that I had understood everything. I had built a brand of electronic commerce and a website from zero, I had income, traction and a mission. I left without agreement – and a bruised ego.

But this moment ended up being one of the best things that happen to me.

Today, I have built four companies, including a rapidly growing job software company that generates more than $ 2.5 million in annual recurring income. It was used by more than 5,000 small businesses across the country to find and hire better candidates, without the need for a full -time recruiter.

The truth? Most of my greatest breakthroughs came from errors I did along the way. Here are five of the most difficult and most precious lessons I learned – and how you can apply them to develop your business faster and more intelligently.

In relation: I started more than 300 companies. Here are 4 things that I learned about scaling up a business.

1. Visibility is worthless without preparation – always recruiting

After Shark tank Friends, our website crashed. We had thousands of visitors, emails and online orders – but I did not have the job bench or the systems to capitalize at the moment.

We rushed. I had no recruitment pipeline, no integration playbook and no way to scale our customer support.

Now I recruit as if my life depends on it – because it is. Whether I actively recruit or not, I keep a list of players with which I want to work with. We invest in structured dashboards, references always on supply and internal references.

If you wait until you are desperate to hireYou are already too late.

2. The scaling without culture is only accelerating towards the collapse

At one point, I hired quickly to meet the demand. I brought people with the right skills, but not the right values. What followed was the tension, Communication ventilation And a toxic underlying current that I did not notice until my best member of the team has left. It crushed me. The comments were exactly what I needed: “I lost my goal in your business.”

We have since built our job software, Avahr, around what I now call “cultural marketing”. It is not only a question of attracting talents, it is a question of presenting the values ​​you live and of filtering those who will not align.

Protect your culture at all costs, including the slowdown in your growth. Say no to customers if it will force you to hire bad people.

Your culture is either your greatest asset or your greatest responsibility. Choose early.

3. “Culture Fit” is a lazy filter-define it or abandon it

I used to hire people who “felt like us”. They shared hobbies, personalities and work styles. It made a friendly environment, but we have become a echo room.

Now we are looking for “adding” culture ” – people who share our fundamental values ​​but question our hypotheses. We define these values ​​with precision and assess the candidates against them with structured interviews and peers’ journals.

If you hire depending on the intestine, you play. Define what you represent and measure it.

In relation: The marketing strategies of “ mad men ” are back and here to stay – here is what you need to know

4. You cannot delegate the hiring as long as you do not master it

One of my largest early errors has been to outsource hiring before having a reproducible system. I gave interviews to managers who had no framework and no clear definition of success.

We paid the price in bad hiring, low morale and lost time.

I finally built our entire process – job dashboards, interview kits and compensation frames – and it was only then that I delegated it. Today, we form each job manager to use the system. This is our operating manual for Build very efficient teams.

You cannot evolve what you have not documented. Period.

5. If no one challenges you, you have formed the bad team

For years, I thought that harmony meant progress. I surrounded myself with people who agreed with me, or at least I did not postpone.

But companies do not develop in echo rooms.

Today, I wonder to hire people who respect my decisions respectfully, ask difficult questions and reflect differently. It’s not always comfortable, but it’s always better.

If you want to create a big business, hire people who make you uncomfortable – in the right way.

Your failure can be your best future asset

I did not get an agreement on Shark tank. But this rejection forced me to rethink everything: my land, my positioning, my process and, above all, my leadership. It was a punch – and exactly what I needed. This humiliating moment did not end my trip; He redirected it. Over time, this has led to the creation of a software company which now generates millions of income and helps thousands of small businesses to compete with the best talents.

So if you are in a moment that looks like failure, do not panic – Document it. Think about it. Dig into what he tries to teach you. Each error, misstep and missed opportunity is a raw material for something better – if you are ready to learn from it.

Your failures will not define you, but the way you answer them. These are the moments that shape the next version of you – the version that creates something stronger, smarter and more resilient.