The CEO of a highly successful Halloween company shares the business advice she got from Mark Cuban
It was by far the biggest investment for the show at the time, and remains one of its largest. But it's paid off.
Founded in 2009, Ten Thirty One was built on its flagship LA Haunted Hayride, which it brought to New York City last year. These two attractions, combined with an interactive experience called the Great Horror Campout, are scheduled to bring in $5 million in revenue this year, according to Fortune.
"The ultimate long-term goal is to have a Ten Thirty One attraction in every major metropolitan area in the United States," Carbone told Business Insider in 2014.
Cuban has admired Carbone's ambition from the beginning, but he gave her a piece of advice from the start of their partnership that Carbone said became embedded in her head: "Don't drown in opportunity."
"Because after 'Shark Tank' I guess it's common for a lot of those companies to start getting inundated with emails from people who want to partner with them," Carbone said.
She said that she's always been the type to jump at every big opportunity that came her way, but Cuban's advice has helped her grow as an entrepreneur.
"I think about that every single day, because sometimes you have to cut some opportunities loose, and it's a little painful," Carbone said.
She's taken the advice seriously, and has selectively made partnerships, like this year's tie-in with the Universal Pictures film "Ouija" for the LA Haunted Hayride, and is steadfast in her long-term goal of taking over the American horror attraction market without letting her ambition stretch beyond her capabilities or vision.
As Cuban wrote in his 2013 book, "How to Win at the Sport of Business": "If you are adding new things when your core businesses are struggling rather than facing the challenge, you are either running away or giving up. Rarely is either good for a business."
