The Determined Society with Shawn French
How He Lost $300M and Came Back Stronger
Mon, 02 Jun
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Serial entrepreneur Derik Fay joins Shawn French to share the raw, unfiltered story of how he built 33 companies from the ground up after growing up in poverty. From losing $300M and facing betrayal to defining what true leadership and integrity look like, this episode is a masterclass in accountability, resilience, and long-term vision. If you're an entrepreneur or dreamer, don’t miss this. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: How did Derik Fay become a successful entrepreneur?
Everybody overestimates what they can do in a year and underestimates what they can do in 10. It's 10 years. If you're 18, that means you're 28. If you're 28, it means you're 30. If you're 30, it means you're 48. Who gives a shit? Sir French, what up?
Bis zum nächsten Mal.
Was ist up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode. I am your host, Sean French. Today I have with me a good friend, Derek Fay, who is a serial entrepreneur, been an entrepreneur for most of his life. In 2002, he founded 3F Management, which is a venture capitalist company. And this guy has built over 30 businesses and helped them exit successfully with seven, eight, nine figure payoffs.
He is a dude that, you know, I hold dear to my heart. Good dude. And the thing that I love about Derek is he started from nothing. He was born into poverty and made his way. And by 2023, he was worth some amazing, obscene amount of money. But the thing that I love about him mostly is you would never know it. Humble dude. Super excited to have him on the show. Derek, welcome, buddy.
My friend, we finally did it. Dude, we've only been trying for what, three years? Three years. So it's funny because like I walked in, I walked in, the team's like, You got Derek today, right? I was like, Jace did. And I'm like, yeah, man. He's like, dude, long time coming. Holy shit, man. How long did that take? I was like, well, you know what, man? I could think of it like that. Right?
Because, you know, we've been talking about it for quite some time. Hey, let's do this. And then it just didn't work out. And then, but what I really boiled down to, I was like, no. This is when it was supposed to happen. Everything happened. You know, because now the show is in such a different place than it was three years ago.
I'm like, why burn the interview if it doesn't need to be where it's at right now? So I'm jacked to have you on at this point, man. Sometimes, too, the easiest things are the hardest things to get done. Yeah, dude, seriously.
We'll do it, we'll do it, we'll do it.
You live like 20 minutes from each other and it's almost like I see people in West Virginia more than I see you. So it's just like, it's crazy. But dude, so what's been going on, man?
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Chapter 2: What lessons did Derik learn from losing $300M?
The hard ones, the hard conversation with business partners, the hard conversations with the kids and your spouse, like all these things become very doable because you're executing discipline in every single area of your life. And I just think that
Leute, und ich weiß, es ist eine Generalisierung, aber wenn Leute zu mir kommen und sagen, wie tust du das, weil ich einfach nicht so früh aufstehen kann und es machen kann. Ich bin so, nein, du erzählst dir eine Geschichte. Du lässt eine Stimme gewinnen. Das ist richtig. Don't listen to that voice. That's right. Prove them wrong. That's what's keeping you where you're at. That's it.
100%.
I had a really interesting conversation. I was at the Sugar Shack. I went there a couple weeks ago. First time I've ever been. It was actually really great. Not sponsored by Sugar Shack. No, absolutely not.
It can't be if you want it to be though. Price is right. That's right.
And a friend of my fiance was there, a highly educated man, really great, charismatic, and instantly thought he was just an entrepreneur. He was telling me that he works at a company, he's been there for 25 years, he's cultivated all of the relationships, he has all the contacts, he laid out a business model, and I'm like, you're gonna crush. He goes, and my wife told me I had to do it.
So he had the wife's buy-in, and he goes, I just can't do it. And I said, let me recap. And I listed all of the positives. And I said, so why can't you do it? So he looked at me. That's kind of like an awkward moment of silence. But I'm really good at sitting in silence. You'd be surprised how much comes out of silence. And he just said, very quiet. First time the whole night he was really quiet.
He goes, I'm scared. And I go, I know. Of what? Und er sagt, was, wenn ich verliere? Und ich sage, 100% agree. Ich habe gesagt, mach mir einen Favorit. Mach das jedes Mal, wenn du sagst, was, wenn ein Negativ ist. Sit in it, absorb it, but then counter it with, what if I don't? Every time you say, what if, and it's a negative, give yourself the opposite side.
And over time, that's always going to win. Every single time. And he looked at him, he goes, you know what, man, maybe I'm going to do this. Whether he does or doesn't, that's not the point of the story. But even I still have that what if negative. But it's always outdone by the what if positives.
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