⏰ Quest Minutes : Mark Cuban

The Big Shark Formula

Feb 19, 2021

This piece is written by Felix Wong, Editor & Writer at The Quest.

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Mark Cuban is a billionaire serial entrepreneur, investor, media mogul, and television personality. He is known as:

One of the main “shark” investors on the ABC reality television series, Shark Tank
Majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team
Co-owner of 2929 Entertainment
Chairman of AXS TV

Justin reached out to Mark in the nascent days of Justin.tv, seeking a potential investment. While they were not successful, Mark remained as a source of inspiration and a pioneering figure in the Internet streaming space. His empire has transcended sports and media into pharmacy, networks, and blockchains over the years.

Young Shark

Since an early age, Mark did whatever it took to seek success. He described himself as a “hustler and a grinder”, values which were instilled in him as a young boy by his father.

“It was six, sometimes seven days a week that he was working. He was always in pain when he came home. He always tried to let me know that the one thing in life you don’t own is your time if you’re working for somebody else.”

Nothing could stop his work ethic. Mark was buying and selling anything he could get his hands on - from trash bags door to door, to baseball cards, to stamps and coins.

Taking his father’s words to heart, Mark was driven by a desire to work for himself and have his money buy time rather than take it away.

AudioNet & Broadcast.com

Mark was an early believer in the potential of the Internet. With the help of his college buddy, Todd Wagner, he built AudioNet to listen to basketball games online.

Mark slowly found himself committing more to the company, and correctly prophesized that the Internet would become the next big broadcast medium.

“I was like, oh, this shit could be big. This could really be the real deal, and that's when I decided to go for it.”

AudioNet quickly became the dominant player in early Internet streaming. The company was renamed to Broadcast.com in 1998 to reflect their growing capabilities, and subsequently acquired by Yahoo for $5.7 billion the following year.

Staying Curious

Mark is well-known for his involvement and keen ability to stay on top of emerging technological trends.

“Steve Jobs famously said, ‘everything's a remix.’ That's what I learned early on when I was first getting started. I told myself that there's two people in the world when it came to technology: there's the people who created it, and there's everybody else.”

As a successful investor, Mark believes it is vital to constantly evolve our understanding and knowledge of technological processes. We can then apply our knowledge to capitalize on potential business opportunities.

“I keep up with it, whether it's artificial intelligence, or blockchain, or tokens…I’m going to understand it. And then the Shark Tank side of me says, ‘what type of applications can I use to create from all this stuff that could be a good business?'"

Failure

All of Mark’s failures were invaluable teaching moments throughout his life.

Getting fired taught him lessons about dealing with outcomes, how to treat other people, and what to focus on. Living with six people in a three bedroom apartment taught him that he had nothing to lose while he was still young.

“From the places where things on the surface seem to go wrong, I learned what not to do. Sometimes that's just as important as what you [actually] do.”

Thick and thin

The value of lasting and genuine friendship is something that Mark cherishes.

“What's been most important is just knowing that they're still my friends… there's still that sense of normalcy and it's still the same nicknames and shit-talking.”

When he was a broke college student, Mark’s friends were there - from helping him pay for a semester of school to bringing home extra food from a restaurant they worked at so they could all eat.

Through the trials and tribulations and beyond the success we see today - his friends have always been there for him, and they know that Mark will be there for them too.

Taking on healthcare

Mark and his business partner Alex are currently running the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs Company in response to the high-cost and inaccessability of generic, life-saving drugs.

“What we decided to do was look at generic drugs that were hard to get and had been overpriced so that when you multiply the two together effectively, we would have the greatest impact.”

It won’t be an easy journey especially with PBM’s in the way. But Mark believes that by taking it one step at a time, they can revolutionize public access to medication and address some of the most glaring issues and shortcomings in American healthcare.

Image result for mark cuban cost plus drugs

Always be learning

This is the most important lesson Mark has learned throughout his life.

From his days of hustling and getting fired from his jobs, as an entrepreneur and investor, and especially now as a father. The only certainty is that change is constant.

“Most people stop putting in the time to keep on learning…you can turn into a dinosaur in a heartbeat in this industry, in tech and in business, across the board.”

Whatever path you’re taking on in life, never stop learning.