'Shark Tank' Investor Robert Herjavec, Now Worth $600M, Never Planned to Get Rich. 'I Just Didn't Want to be Poor.'

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It's not uncommon to hear entrepreneurs say they spent their whole lives dreaming of making millions or billions of dollars. That wasn't the case for "Shark Tank" investor Robert Herjavec, who recently said his only financial goal was to lift him and his immigrant parents out of poverty.

"I just didn't want to be poor," he said on an episode of YouTube talk show "Hustle Meals."

Herjavec has accomplished that goal, and then some. Recent published reports put his net worth could be as high as $600 million, which would make him the third-wealthiest "Shark Tank" panelist behind Daniel Lubetzky at $2.3 billion and $6 billion for Mark Cuban.

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Early immigrant struggles made Herjavec ‘want more'

Herjevac was born in former Yugoslavia in a rural village called Zbjeg.

"It was really hard, only in hindsight," he said of his early childhood. "I didn't know we were poor until we came to Canada."

After his father was repeatedly jailed for speaking out against the Communist government, his parents moved to a family friend's basement in Toronto. The journey and his parents' difficulty in navigating their new home played a huge part in Herjevac's drive to make more money.

"The struggles coming to Canada is what made me want for more," he told "Hustle Meals."

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‘You have to have the ability to take care of yourself'

When asked what specifically about poverty drove him to "want more," Herjavec said his main inspiration was being able to look after his parents.

"I just didn't want to be taken advantage of," he said. "I didn't want to feel like I wasn't in control of my own destiny and my own world. And it wasn't for me at that age, it was for my parents."

He recalled one instance when his mom, who didn't speak English, was tricked into buying a new vacuum cleaner with a monthly payment that was a third of their rent.

"Some crappy salesman conned my mom into signing this agreement to buy this vacuum cleaner," he told "Hustle Meals."

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That helped him realize he needed to make more money so he could protect his loved ones.

"In North America, you have to have the ability to take care of yourself," he says. "You don't have to want to be a billionaire or millionaire, but you have to make a certain amount of money to take care of the ones you love."

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From dirt floors to penthouses

Herjavec has come a long way from the dirt floors he once slept on as a child, but it wasn't without its hardships. He worked several side jobs to help pay the bills, and worked in sales at IBM without any pay for six months.

In 1990, he founded BRAK Systems, a software integration company he later sold to the former AT&T Canada for 30.2 million Canadian dollars ($20 million). He founded The Herjavec Group in 2003, helping it grow from CA$400,000 in sales in its first year to CA$200 million in annual revenue.

Herjavec became a household name when he joined "Shark Tank" as one of the show's regular investors, and also appears on the Canadian and Australian versions.

His most successful deal on the show is with Tipsy Elves, which makes holiday clothing and accessories. He invested $100,000 in the company for a 10% stake. Tipsy Elves had more than $160 million in sales in 2024.

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This article 'Shark Tank' Investor Robert Herjavec, Now Worth $600M, Never Planned to Get Rich. 'I Just Didn't Want to be Poor.' originally appeared on Benzinga.com

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