Getting Rid of the Rear-View Mirror
I’m sure you’ve seen Shark Tank, the reality competition series that gives entrepreneurs the chance to find financing from a panel of investors called “sharks.”
The popular show is now in its 14th season. According to one estimate, one of the sharks—Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban—has struck more than 200 on-screen deals worth more than $61 million.
I recently watched Episode 1409 (the ninth episode of the current season).
On Episode 1409, co-founders Stephen Fazio and Austin Hillam pitched their product, ZipString, a toy that combines gravity, lift, tension, and drag to fly a standard loop of string in the air. They asked the sharks for $100,000 for 10% equity in the company. This valued the company at $1 million.
One shark, Robert Herjavec, loved the product and quickly offered what Fazio and Hillam asked for: $100,000 for 10% equity.
You would think that Fazio and Hillam would have immediately closed the deal. But they didn’t.
This gave another shark, Kevin O’Leary (aka “Mr. Wonderful”), the opportunity to offer a better offer than Herjavec’s: $100,000 for 9%!
Now, at this point, you would certainly think Fazio and Hillam would have immediately accepted O’Leary’s offer and closed this deal. After all, it’s a better deal than they wanted.
But, still, they didn’t.
The delay gave Herjavec and O’Leary the opportunity to rethink their initial competing offers and to consider the benefits of teaming up. They then offered $200,000 for 20% of the company.
This new, combined offer still valued the company at $1 million. However, this offer forced Fazio and Hillam to give up twice as much of the company than they had probably wanted to (though, in return, they would receive twice as much help from the sharks).
Herjavec and O’Leary’s new offer caught the ZipString founders off guard: “Uh, your previous offers? Are those still available? Are those still on the table?”
Herjavec clapped back with a great response—"There is no rear-view mirror in my life. You gotta let go.”
With that, Herjavec’s offer of $100,000 for 10% was off the table. O’Leary’s better offer of $100,000 for 9% was unavailable, too.
Fazio and Hillam ultimately gave up 20% of their company to Herjavec and O’Leary to get financing for their company.
But what I remember most from this episode is what Herjavec said: “There is no rear-view mirror in my life. You gotta let go.”
“There is no rear-view mirror in my life. You gotta let go.” - Robert Herjavec
Herjavec’s quote is a take on the saying, “It is hard to drive forward looking in the rear-view mirror.”
The lesson is that trying to drive a car forward while looking backwards can be an ineffective and dangerous thing to do. After all, most people trying to drive while looking in the rear-view mirror end up in preventable accidents!
The saying is also an analogy for the difficulty we face when we live today while carrying the psychological burden of things that have happened to us in our past.
This saying is instructive whether you’re taking the bar exam for the first time or retaking it.
For first-time takers, you may not want to dwell too much on your law school performance. If you did well in law school, then great! But you don’t want to give yourself a false sense of security and ease up on the work and diligence that might have led to better grades. If you didn't perform as well as you had wanted to, then preparing for the bar exam creates a clean slate.
For repeat takers, you may not want to constantly reflect too much on your previous results, which can cause an unnecessary amount of stress and anxiety. While it’s important to assess what worked—and what didn’t—during your previous preparation, it’s also important to digest that information and then move ahead so that you can properly focus on the upcoming exam without the distractions of the past.
