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Donald Trump is a legend in his own mind. Yes, the legend has it that he knows the cost of everything. He could walk into a hotel under construction, and would

Donald Trump is a legend in his own mind. Yes, the legend has it that he knows the cost of everything. He could walk into a hotel under construction, and would know the cost of the faucet used in the bathroom sink, and would have a sense that it could be gotten $1 per unit cheaper with tougher negotiating skills. Knowing the true cost of things is a great asset in negotiation with suppliers. But lets me honest. His success as a real-estate mogul is spotty. The casino company that bears his name (Trump Entertainment Resorts) has filed bankruptcy 3 times, and only owns 10% of the company currently and it's run by other people - mostly for the use of his name. It seems the smartest thing he did was try to tie his name with luxury in the mind of the consumer. He does TV shows to reinforce his reputation as a ruthless businessman. He puts his name on every building he can - Trump this, Trump that. He's some type of marketing genius, not the king of real estate. The second smartest thing he did was aggressively try to buy even undesirable property in Manhattan on the belief that even the port-lands would some day become places people would want to live. While everyone was focused on downtown, he was looking at the cheaper edges with a big vision of what it can become. So what is the lesson for startups? While everyone is fighting over what they think is hot now (social! location! photos! online tv!), try and find what will logically be hot next and work there. And put your name on everything. A better lesson than "know the price of everything".

stfu 14y ago
The thing I find most fascinating about Trump is how he is always stomping on the edge of being a joke and being a serious business guy. That level of not-giving-a-crap of what other people think and ruthless self promotion is in my opinion very rare among internet centric people. Most are way to concerned about their personal and professional reputation to take a stand on borderline "controversies" such as Trump did with the birther issue. Even Thiel seems to be somewhat coy when it comes to his support for Ron Paul.
larrys 14y ago
"Donald Trump is a legend in his own mind." I've been following Trump since before he built Trump Tower. Which opened in 1983. Interestingly the wiki page on Trump Tower says this: "He also renovated the Trump Tower in New York City and several other residential projects." Of course didn't renovate it. He built it from the ground up, acquiring the land and pushing through the project much to the chagrin of his father (who developed other buildings). Trump learned much from his father (and he also graduated Wharton undergrad). He spent time on job sites and learned the construction business from the ground up. I remember when Trump Tower was built. It was a big achievement for someone his age at the time (and would be now as well). And it was done in NYC with red tape, unions and all the obstacles that building in NYC brings. This is not like putting up a small structure in the suburbs by any means. While many, including you, might feel Trump is a "legend in his own mind" I respectfully disagree having watched him for many years. He's had his failures but he's come back. He's mastered the art of self promotion and I have to tell you he did this at a level nobody had ever seen before at least for real estate development. Incidentally it is known in real estate circles that wealthy people will generally pay more to live in a Trump building than "brand x". That's part of the reputation that he has among people with money to burn. It's hard to believe that he is pulling the wool over the eyes of so many people and not providing value to them. Oh, by the way as far as the casinos? Trump suffered a huge loss when he was starting out in NJ in that the man that he hand picked to run his casino business was killed in a helicopter crash prior to (or around) the opening. He was so devastated he named his 6000 seat arena after Mark. He didn't have to do that and it certainly shows the value of that person to the organization and knocked him off balance. I remember the news stories from that time. Add: Mark Etess was the executive. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etess_Arena http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etess_Arena
- unreal37 14y ago
  I don't think anything I said was at all unfair to him. He's had many successes and a few failures (like most people). He made a legitimate name for himself in the early days building buildings and not just selling t-shirts. I think what sets him apart from other billionaire businessmen is the amount of ego he shows while doing it. There are investors in casinos, golf courses and Manhattan residential buildings who are more successful than Trump who's name we don't know. Also Trump is a bit bombastic about certain topics such as politics, going on and on about birth certificates 4 years after the President was elected. Another person who is similar is Sir Richard Branson, who often jumps out of planes and such in order to make a grand entrance into a press conference, while having several Virgin businesses that outright fail (such as Virgin Charter, the jet timeshare, and Virgin Record Stores) that we don't hear about so much. But Richard Branson doesn't come off as egotistical so much as just a good marketer of himself and his personal brand. I actually agree with you that he is cultivating a brand for rich people, by making the non-rich people look up to him as some type of real estate God. Sure, I bet he has high standards for the multi-million dollar apartments he sells and so no one is getting crap products.

stfu 14y ago

The thing I find most fascinating about Trump is how he is always stomping on the edge of being a joke and being a serious business guy. That level of not-giving-a-crap of what other people think and ruthless self promotion is in my opinion very rare among internet centric people. Most are way to concerned about their personal and professional reputation to take a stand on borderline "controversies" such as Trump did with the birther issue. Even Thiel seems to be somewhat coy when it comes to his support for Ron Paul.

larrys 14y ago

"Donald Trump is a legend in his own mind." I've been following Trump since before he built Trump Tower. Which opened in 1983. Interestingly the wiki page on Trump Tower says this: "He also renovated the Trump Tower in New York City and several other residential projects." Of course didn't renovate it. He built it from the ground up, acquiring the land and pushing through the project much to the chagrin of his father (who developed other buildings). Trump learned much from his father (and he also graduated Wharton undergrad). He spent time on job sites and learned the construction business from the ground up. I remember when Trump Tower was built. It was a big achievement for someone his age at the time (and would be now as well). And it was done in NYC with red tape, unions and all the obstacles that building in NYC brings. This is not like putting up a small structure in the suburbs by any means. While many, including you, might feel Trump is a "legend in his own mind" I respectfully disagree having watched him for many years. He's had his failures but he's come back. He's mastered the art of self promotion and I have to tell you he did this at a level nobody had ever seen before at least for real estate development. Incidentally it is known in real estate circles that wealthy people will generally pay more to live in a Trump building than "brand x". That's part of the reputation that he has among people with money to burn. It's hard to believe that he is pulling the wool over the eyes of so many people and not providing value to them. Oh, by the way as far as the casinos? Trump suffered a huge loss when he was starting out in NJ in that the man that he hand picked to run his casino business was killed in a helicopter crash prior to (or around) the opening. He was so devastated he named his 6000 seat arena after Mark. He didn't have to do that and it certainly shows the value of that person to the organization and knocked him off balance. I remember the news stories from that time. Add: Mark Etess was the executive. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etess_Arena http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etess_Arena

unreal37 14y ago
I don't think anything I said was at all unfair to him. He's had many successes and a few failures (like most people). He made a legitimate name for himself in the early days building buildings and not just selling t-shirts. I think what sets him apart from other billionaire businessmen is the amount of ego he shows while doing it. There are investors in casinos, golf courses and Manhattan residential buildings who are more successful than Trump who's name we don't know. Also Trump is a bit bombastic about certain topics such as politics, going on and on about birth certificates 4 years after the President was elected. Another person who is similar is Sir Richard Branson, who often jumps out of planes and such in order to make a grand entrance into a press conference, while having several Virgin businesses that outright fail (such as Virgin Charter, the jet timeshare, and Virgin Record Stores) that we don't hear about so much. But Richard Branson doesn't come off as egotistical so much as just a good marketer of himself and his personal brand. I actually agree with you that he is cultivating a brand for rich people, by making the non-rich people look up to him as some type of real estate God. Sure, I bet he has high standards for the multi-million dollar apartments he sells and so no one is getting crap products.