C. David Moody Jr. once turned down an investment from Michael Jordan for his construction business.

Since 1987, Moody, a Howard University alum with a Bachelor of Architecture degree, has been leading C.D. Moody Construction. He launched the Atlanta, GA-based venture seven years after serving as a staff architect and field engineer at Bechtel Power Corp.

Moody was in his early 30s at the time of the company’s launch. While speaking with AFROTECH Brand Manager Will Lucas on the “Black Tech Green Money” podcast, he admitted he had a team of three — which later scaled to more than 60 individuals — and launched with low capital. In fact, he and his wife had to borrow a couple thousand dollars to get C.D. Moody Construction off the ground. Moody said his saving grace was financial advice from his father, who served as a professor and later vice provost of the University of Michigan.

“My dad grew up in the depression, and things were tight and he grew up very poor in Louisiana,” Moody explained. “He always taught me to save. He said, ‘I don’t care if you save but $10.’ So when I started my business — which we started under-capitalized like all of us pretty much do — whenever I made a few dollars, I was scared to spend it. I did reinvest it and made sure I could take care of my family.”

While building up his company, Moody received an opportunity to bring on NBA legend Michael Jordan as an investor. However, he rejected the offer, as he wasn’t interested in having stakeholders at the time and wanted to run a one-man operation.

“Well I use the stock market for my investments, but I think I couldn’t have a partner, not because I’m difficult to work with. I just wanted to run my own show. I mean, Michael Jordan was going to invest in my company in the early ’90s,” he said on the “Black Tech Green Money” podcast. “I still got the picture where he signed ‘congratulations and good luck’ to our construction company. At the last minute, I went to his financial guy and turned him down. He said, ‘You the first person to ever turn ’em down.’ Now I said ‘I turned ’em down ’cause I wanted to know what I could do on my own.'”

Ultimately, C.D. Moody Construction Co. improved its financial positioning over the years. It has landed clients that include Disney and Home Depot as well as projects such as the Olympic Stadium, Morehouse College Leadership Center, Turner Baseball Field, and Philips Arena, the company states.

What’s more, it has scaled its revenue from $1 million annually to $70 million annually. In 2020, Shoppe Black reported the company had completed over 200 commercial projects valued at nearly $3 billion.

To check out the full interview, click here.