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The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

Mark Cuban on His Relationship to Wealth and Risk and Why Silicon Valley Investors Are Like Old Hollywood

<div id="block-daadce9d-79c5-44ce-851a-dde3e1abf67c" class= "wp-block block-editor-block-list__block has-selected-ui" tabindex= "0" role="group" data-block="daadce9d-79c5-44ce-851a-dde3e1abf67c" data-type="core/paragraph" aria-label="Block: Paragraph"> Mark Cuban is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and owner of the Dallas Mavericks . His career began with…

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  1. How Did Mark Cuban Start in Tech

    at 2:59 · Transcript

    He got a job selling PC software in Dallas. Mark did not know anything about the software, but he knew how to read the manual and to figure things out.

  2. Does Money Make You Happy

    at 4:57 · Transcript

    Mark Cuban says money does not necessarily make you happy, but it gives you control of your time and enables you to do things, which you might not be able to do without money.

  3. What Is Mark Cuban's Take on Risk

    at 6:28 · Transcript

    Mark's got a great advice from his basketball coach Bobby Knight: "Everybody's got the will to win but it's only those with the will to prepare that do."

    Risk becomes more acceptable if you can understand what the risk entails, instead of just taking a blind risk.

  4. Why Does Mark Cuban Say This Is the Best Time to Start a Company?

    at 9:19 · Transcript

    Mark Cuban tells The Twenty Minute VC that coming out of the pandemic will be the best time in the history of mankind to start a business. Everyone will seem a little crazy, and he calls that the opening. There are no rules. Everything is open for negotiation and for a founder's own vision. He pushes back on the reflex to raise money. He credits Elon Musk for raising a lot of it, then says most great entrepreneurs, Warren Buffett among them, did not. Sweat equity is what matters. If you lost a job or were furloughed, he says you are already home, and when people walk back outside they will be looking for something new.

  5. How Is Our Economy Going to Change Post Pandemic

    at 10:42 · Transcript

    On one hand, when people come out of the lockdown, if they see something new and something different, something exciting, they're going to buy it. There's gonna be some amazing world class companies created in this time.

    Digital meetings and remote healthcare are going to accelerate. Robotics and AI are going to accelerate to compete with overseas overfacturing, ...etc.

    On the other hand, this doesn't necessarily change the macro economics. The trends that have negatively impacted businesses are going to get worse..

    Retail was already struggling with its back against the wall because of digital sales, the Amazons and Walmarts, ...etc. That's going to get worse.

  6. How Does Mark Cuban Think About Startup Investing

    at 13:09 · Transcript

    Mark looks for investments that can return his share in cash flow. For example, if he invests $100K for a 10% of the company, that means this company needs to be able to make $1M in cash flow to give Mark his money back.

    Although this thesis does not guarantee a lot of big exists, it also means Mark is not going to lose a lot of money. He can always work with the entrepreneur to help a business like that to make more money.

  7. What Is Wrong With Silicon Valley Today

    at 16:07 · Transcript

    Mark Cuban says Silicon Valley today is like the old Hollywood. Everybody wants to be an actor, everybody wants to be an entrepreneur. Your employees are there only until they can take a chance to go start something news, or go somewhere else with a better potential return.

    There is a lot of money and investors are just throwing that money at potential companies, in hopes of a good return. This leads to a lot of bad habits and bad culture.

    In Mark's view, almost any successful company that had started in recent past would be more successful by being based outside of Silicon Valley.

  8. Should You Fake It Till You Make It

    at 17:44 · Transcript

    If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you have got to be authentic and self-aware, work hard and take on risks. Faking it does not work.

  9. What Do Founders Misunderstand About Sales

    at 18:51 · Transcript

    They don't think it's important. They think sales comes with any good product. Mark suggest there has never been a company in the history of companies that has ever succeeded without sales; you can't make money without sales.

  10. How Do You Prioritize Company Goals

    at 20:50 · Transcript

    First, know the vision for your organization and figure out how to align people and goals.

    Second, hire slow and fire fast, and put your people to work. You are never going to accelerate unless you delegate.

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