Mark Cuban

         Mark Cuban once said, “It doesn’t matter how many times you fail. It doesn’t matter how many times you almost get it right. No one is going to know or care about your failures, and neither should you. All you have to do is learn from them and those around you because... All that matters in business is that you get it right once. Then everyone can tell you how lucky you are.” Instead of getting it right once, Mark Cuban got it right numerous times, propelling him to the top of the business world. His outlandish personality and business savvy is why Mark Cuban is my favorite entrepreneur.

         Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and raised in Mt. Lebanon, a suburb outside Pittsburgh, Cuban got into the business early. At the age of 12, he sold garbage bags to pay for a pair of basketball shoes. Some of his other jobs included a bartender, party planner and collecting and selling stamps, which he did in order to pay for college. He graduated from Indiana University in 1981 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration.

         A year after his graduation, he set off for Dallas, Texas where he soon started his empire. His first company was called MicroSolutions, a system integrator and reseller of software. Cuban later sold the company to CompuServe for $6 million. He soon became a billionaire with a new company, Broadcast.com. Along with his partner Todd Wagner, the broadcasting company grew to the point where the two of them sold it to Yahoo! for $5 billion.

         Now a billionaire, Cuban has pursued many projects and invested money in various places. Alongside Wagner once again, the two started 2929 Entertainment, a company which produces and distributes films. For a short time, Cuban had a reality television show called The Benefactor, which was a game show with contestants trying to win $1 million by performing different contests judged by Cuban. He made an unusual, but interesting investment in the San Francisco based company, Brondell Inc. Brondell Inc. was developing a new toilet seat called the Swash, which was like a bidet, but on a regular toilet seat. One of his biggest and current operations is being the co- founder of HDNet, the first high definition television network. The network, using 1080i, shows programming of all genres in high definition and different platforms and channels often pick up the feed.

         Perhaps his most notorious ownership and most well known endeavor is the Dallas Mavericks. Cuban purchased the majority of the NBA franchise on January 15, 2000. Since then, the team’s dismal performance with former owner H. Ross Perot, Jr. took a 180-degree turn, with a trip to their first NBA Finals in 2006, where they lost to the Miami Heat. Besides putting the team in the news for their improved play, Cuban has put himself in the headlines over controversies with league policies. He has been fined numerous times for his fiery attitude on the sidelines, often yelling at officials and criticizing the league and certain players.

         Our upbringings are alike more or less. We both grew up in a suburb to a middle class family. Neither of us grew up with too much adversity or anything unusual. He grew up a regular guy, like myself, both trying to make some money here and there. He took jobs like bartending and disco dance instructing, while I stick to tennis instruction. Once college hits, our lives go in opposite directions. He majored in business, while I am majoring in medicine, and what he did after his degree propelled him to become a billionaire.

         As shown in his ownership of the Mavericks and his business history, Cuban shows the passion and drive of someone who always wants to accomplish more. In that aspect I can relate a lot to him. I always want to have a goal or objective to accomplish. Mark Cuban never settled down, he continues to take on new tasks. For example, he has recently shown interest in owning another sports team such as the NHL team the Pittsburgh Penguins and MLB team the Chicago Cubs. Another thing I admire about Cuban is his ability to speak his mind and not let others impede on his opinions and thoughts. He is never afraid to “give it” to a player who he thinks wronged his team or players.         

         Although Mark Cuban is sometimes misunderstood with his antics and behavior, he has proved himself to be one of the premiere entrepreneurs of the New Age. His business moves with the internet companies, investments in other companies, and team ownership brings Cuban to a level only a few can reach. We can only wait and see what the future has to bring Mark Cuban and his empire.