# Real Estate Mogul: Barbara Corcoran

- Show: [How I Built This](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this)
- Published: 2017-04-24
- Length: 50m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2017-04-24-real-estate-mogul-barbara-corcoran

## Summary

Barbara Corcoran, founder of The Corcoran Group, explains how she built a real estate empire starting with $1,000 from partner Ramon Simone, using creative marketing like the Corcoran Report to gain credibility. She details the painful split with Simone, who cheated with her secretary, and how she used the resulting insult as fuel to launch her own firm on the 11th floor. Corcoran describes scaling the business by hiring aggressively during market crashes, turning competitors' failures into her growth, and eventually selling the company for $66 million to focus on motherhood and her second career as a Shark on Shark Tank.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2017-04-24-real-estate-mogul-barbara-corcoran#t=0) Introduction: Barbara Corcoran and The Corcoran Group
- [2:41](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2017-04-24-real-estate-mogul-barbara-corcoran#t=161) Early Life and Meeting Ramon Simone
- [7:06](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2017-04-24-real-estate-mogul-barbara-corcoran#t=426) Starting Corcoran Simone with $1,000
- [15:20](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2017-04-24-real-estate-mogul-barbara-corcoran#t=920) The Split with Ramon Simone and Launching Her Own Firm
- [24:38](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2017-04-24-real-estate-mogul-barbara-corcoran#t=1478) Creating the Corcoran Report for Credibility
- [32:15](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2017-04-24-real-estate-mogul-barbara-corcoran#t=1935) Surviving the 1987 Crash and Selling Bernie Mendix Apartments
- [39:41](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2017-04-24-real-estate-mogul-barbara-corcoran#t=2381) Selling The Corcoran Group for $66 Million
- [44:05](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2017-04-24-real-estate-mogul-barbara-corcoran#t=2645) Post-Sale Life and Becoming a Shark on Shark Tank

## Topics

- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Marketing & brand](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/marketing-and-brand)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Growth, exits & acquisitions](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/growth-exits-and-acquisitions)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)

## Most relevant to

founders before launch, companies scaling up, large enterprises

## Mentioned

- The Corcoran Group (company)
- Shark Tank (product)
- Ramon Simone (other)
- Bernie Mendix (other)
- Larry Silverstein (other)
- Douglas Ellman (company)
- Brown Harris Stevens (company)
- U.S. Bank (company)
- Citibank (company)
- Bergdorf Goodman (company)
- New York Times (other)
- Gift Rep My Face (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Founder Feature: Erica Groussman of Trubar](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2025-12-05-founder-feature-erica-groussman-of-trubar) (The Startup CPG Podcast)
- [Founder Feature: Emmanuel Waters and Courtney Tucker of Old Hillside Bourbon](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2026-03-06-founder-feature-emmanuel-waters-and-courtney-tucker-of-old-hillside-bourbon) (The Startup CPG Podcast)
- [079: How To Start Selling Your Product Then Scale](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2021-06-09-079-how-to-start-selling-your-product-then-scale) (Product Startup)
- [#80 From turning down Shark Tank offers to raising $2.7 million for Nopalera with Sandra Velasquez](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2023-02-21-80-from-turning-down-shark-tank-offers-to-raising-2-7-million-for-nopalera-with) (The Startup CPG Podcast)
- [#68 How to Raise $10 Million: Fundraising Aura Bora Style with Paul Voge](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2022-11-08-68-how-to-raise-10-million-fundraising-aura-bora-style-with-paul-voge) (The Startup CPG Podcast)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2017-04-24-real-estate-mogul-barbara-corcoran. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to How I Built This.