Papers Gallery

Mark Cuban is a self-made billionaire entrepreneur who made his fortune through the sales of successful start-ups Micro Solutions and Broadcast.com. As a child he had the ability of a great leader and this helped him establish diverse businesses. Born in to a family where his father worked at a car upholstery shop and his grandfather selling products from his truck, he proved to be special and his rise to success was no surprise. He was motivated to work on his own business after an argument with his store manager. Mark Cuban’s investments show that any entrepreneur can establish different businesses in Sports, TV, Internet, and Computers.
Early Life
Mark Cuban was born on July 31, 1958, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He had a middle-class childhood and his parents worked hard at their jobs to support their family. Mark had similar traits to his grandfather who displayed a tenacity for making a deal and selling things. Starting small with the opportunity and resources at the time, sold garbage bags door-to-door because of self interest in money. After high school, Mark enrolled in the University of Pittsburgh for full time studies which he then transferred to Indiana University after freshmen year. During his studies Mark used his savings to buy a bar for $15,000. Being a risk taker, this was his first business and it was the most successful student bar in town. Being interested in machines and networking, it wasn’t until 1982 when he moved to Dallas to form his own business, Micro Solutions.
Micro Solutions
Mark first started working for business called “Your Business Software” in which he developed his sales skills. He had a promising career and finalized a large software purchase with a customer but was unable to open his own shop during the time due to timing and resources. He lost his job in which he then started his gorilla start-up called “Micro Solutions” which was a system integrator and software reseller. During the 1990’s everything was changing, and the internet was at its early stages, it was the perfect opportunity to create a business that sold innovative software. Being the lead entrepreneur Mark kept good relationships with his suppliers, vendors, and customers. He didn’t have to spend a lot on his marketing plan as most of his customers came from his previous job. After seven years of hard work he sold Micro Solutions to CompuServe in 1990 for six million dollars. Using this money, he invested with another partner to create Broadcast.com that made him a billionaire entrepreneur.
Broadcast.com
It wasn’t until 1999 when Mark became famous around the world. Cuban’s love for basketball is his reason for investing in Audio Networks which later turned into ownership of Broadcast.com. He recognized the opportunity of live streaming and using profits from Micro Solutions, he invested and created Broadcast.com with his business partner Todd Wagner. In four years, the business grew to 330 employees and $13.5million in revenue. In 1999, during the dot com boom Cuban decided to trade the business for $5.7 billion in Yahoo Stocks. Being a serial entrepreneur, he diversified his wealth in case of a market crash.
Recent Businesses and Investments
As an entrepreneur, Cuban wasn’t done in investing and creating businesses. After his successful sale of Broadcast.com he had earned himself enough to invest in his other interests. In 2000, Mark purchased a below average NBA sports team called the Dallas Mavericks. The team had experienced more than a decade without seeing the playoffs and Cuban changed that. Having ownership and control over the business he took responsibility and revamped the team. Being the enthusiastic person, he changed the culture of the team, players, and wages. He revamped the team’s stadium which attracted new customers and built a new business model based on this opportunity. Every business as its life cycle, and in 2012 the basketball team had won its first championship then the team started to decline. These business ideas and trigger events led him to create other start-ups which were radio talk shows and children’s books.
Key Learning
There are lessons to be learned from Mark Cuban’s business ventures and start-ups. Success is not an easy path that can be given to you, it comes from hard work and persistence. Being a natural born businessman, his leadership and decisions guided him to becoming a self-made billionaire. As an entrepreneur you should believe in your skills and what you can offer to the world. Cuban’s strength came from his hunger to be successful. In an interview Mark said before he was even close to success he had failed six times miserably such as being fired from a software job and one time during his life where he did not have the funds to pay his bills (Mimaroglu, 2017). Although he failed many times in his life he still believed in his craft and that eventually led him to where he’s at now.