CHICAGO, February 5, 2012— Donny McCall is a true patriot. He did not play in the Super Bowl. He is not a progressive phony patriot who believes paying more taxes is love of country.
He is a Navy veteran of the Gulf War, but that is not the only reason he is a patriot.
“I take great pride in my country and fellow Americans, whatever their background and history. If you are here in America, I want you working.”
Donny McCall is an American entrepreneur who firmly believes in the patriotic principle of "Made in the United States." Mr. McCall developed a product called Invis-A-Rack, a detachable folding cargo rack system for pick-up trucks.
Donny McCall scored an opportunity to appear on ABC’s Shark Tank, a purported reality television series, where entrepreneurs present their business or product ideas to a panel of five venture capitalists, competing for funding from one or more of them.
Mr. McCall was seeking $100 thousand in capital in exchange for a ten percent stake in his company.
The panelists kept insisting that it would be wise if Mr. McCall had his product manufactured overseas. Mr. McCall refused any consideration of taking his manufacturing overseas.
Mr. McCall produces his product in his home state of North Carolina and wants to keep making his products in America with American workers.
Each of the five venture capitalist passed on the Invis-A-Rack, claiming he did not want to do what it took to take his business to the next level. They thought they were making him look like a fool for not doing the smart thing, the intelligent thing, or the most profitable thing.
The panel thought wrong.
Mr. McCall unwittingly scored a public relations coup over the smartest guys in the room. Outraged viewers fired up the show’s message boards angrily criticizing the panel.
Emotionally arguing for shipping jobs overseas versus keeping jobs here struck a negative chord with the public.
While the supposed smartest guys in the room treated him like a rube, Mr. McCall became a hero. The panel came off looking like mooks and mamalukes to the American public.
Mr. McCall’s homespun eloquence, and his insistenceon keeping manufacturing jobs in his community, won over the public and even some in the media. The panel looked like prototypical unpatriotic businessmen.
The five panel members may be very successful, having made their fortunes in the United States. They are deca-millionaires and billionaires. They are also politically naive, unaware, and deaf. If they were truly the smartest guys in the room, they would not have been so argumentative and strident in their insistence he move his manufacturing overseas.
They never heard the one magic word Americans are concerned and angered about; that other smartest fella, Joe Biden’s, famous three-letter word-J-O-B-S: American jobs. In their rarified circles, the panelists must pay no attention to the angst and anger of ordinary people seeing good American jobs being outsourced overseas.
Mr. McCall may not be the most financially savvy entrepreneur on the planet. He may not be a hardened numbers cruncher. But, he is sincere in his patriotism and his business model which is making his product in the United States using American workers.
The argument to manufacture overseas at a lower cost, providing higher profit margins is sound business strategy. But, the attitude and demeaning nature of the panel versus the honest sincerity of Mr. McCall created a firestorm of controversy.
The airing of the show last Friday generated publicity for his company and over one thousand dollars in contributions. Mr. McCall has set up a crowd funding* page on Kapipal after many people called to donate money to his business.
Mr. McCall may have lost $100 thousand in venture capital, he may have lost partnerships with some very successful and business savvy people, but he won his case in the court of public opinion, the only court that counts.
He also earned his business and product some terrific free publicity, the kind no amount of money could buy.
His comment, “I want to take care of my own,” resonated with viewers, making him the brightest star in the room, if not the smartest guy.
The panelists were diminished.
During an interview on Fox News with Eric Bolling (See video below), Mr. McCall proudly stated, “It’s high time that somebody stood up and not just bow down to the automatic of going to overseas to do anything.”
The panel of Shark Tank is composed of people who made it big in America, including Mark Cuban, high flying billionaire and owner of the Championship Dallas Mavericks.
Where the panel faltered was their stridency and even anger over Mr. McCall’s intransience. If they had been more sensitive to the winds of public opinion, they could have refused him in a more conciliatory manner.
There is a very big difference between doing something right and doing the right thing. Mr. McCall is trying to do the right thing- taking care of his own. That is the American way.
Mr. McCall should be proud. He did not lose $100 thousand. He gained public respect for his integrity and for doing the right thing.
Somethings are more valuable than money.
*crowd funding- a collective method of raising money for causes or businesses through the internet and social media to help or finance the endeavors of others.
Peter V. Bella is a retired Chicago Police Officer, freelance writer and photographer, cook, and raconteur. He likes to be the sharp stick that pokes, prods, and annoys. His opinions are his and his alone.
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