Hello class, I am Pablo Rangel and I will be talking about Mark Cuban.
As many of you know Mark Cuban is famous for being owner of the Dallas Mavericks and is a star on the TV show "Shark Tank".
Mark was born in Pittsburgh on July 31st, 1958. He graduated from Indiana University in 1981.During his undergrad he bought a bar named Motley's for 50,000 dls and quickly became the most famous bar during his stay in college. Mark quickly moved to Dallas after college and landed a job selling software. After a few years of working for someone else, Mark decided he had enough experience to start his entrepreneurial career.
By 1990 he sold his first company for 6 million dollars. Mark was 32 years old and a Millionaire. But he was far from over. In 1995 he and Todd Wagner, his college buddy from Indiana University, started a company named Audio Net, which started by his desire to listen to college basketball games online. The company revolutionized the media by being the first one to start streaming live events on the internet. It started getting partnerships with fashion shows, NBA, NFL, NHL you name it. And the best part was that he was the first one in the industry, so he was always ahead of his competitors.By 1998 the company had changed its name to Broadcast.com and was going public at 200$ a share. It was later sold to Yahoo for nearly 6 billion.
Mark is not your typical guy who sells out 1 or 2 times and decides to retire. He is an ENTREPRENEUR, he loves what he does. For Mark, being an Entrepreneur is a lifestyle, he has fun with it.
In 2000, Mark saw an opportunity in a basketball team that had been damaged by poor management. Mark being a lifelong basketball fan and millionaire decided to buy the Dallas Mavericks for 285 million. Cuban took his entrepreneurial mindset to the basketball court. The Mavericks were a team that was coming off a more than a decade of non playoff appearance. He quickly turned everything around. Unlike many owners, Mark attended practice almost everyday and made sure his employees (players) were performing the way they should. He also had fun along the way, often challenging players to HORSE game and developing strong relationships with players and coaches. He also started giving all star treatment to his players. He raised the budget for hotel accommodations, bought a 757 jet for the team and made sure every player had special treatment. Mark also brought some innovation to the NBA by becoming the first owner with an open blog to chat with their fans about the team.
All that showed in the team's performance during the following years. Since Cuban came to the Mavs, they have won at least 50 games each season (2nd best in the NBA) , and won a championship.
It is obvious that success follows Mark everywhere he goes, he has that vision and mindset that all entrepreneurs dream of having.
Mark is also a great example of how entrepreneurs often face criticism for their challenging attitude. Mark has changed the status quo in the worlds of media technology and sports. And along the way he had to face some adversity as well. He has been fined more than 2 million dollars in the NBA for making comments and trying to change things in the organization. He was investigated for insider trading by the SEC in 2004, the case got dismissed in 2009 and Cuban plead not guilty.
So Mark has a mindset of changing the way things are done around him and he is not gonna let anything get in his way. A trait that a lot of entrepreneurs need. That fire that Mark has is why he is so successful, he likes it when people don't believe in him. He believes that if everyone thinks you are crazy, you gave a chance of doing good "The more people think im crazy and out of my mind... typically the better I do".
He like to treat business as sports, "In basketball its 48 minutes, in business its 24/7 and the whole world is trying to kick your a**. Mark has disrupted every business he has touched and plans to keep fighting.
Question
1.- Do you think its good to have that much passion when it comes to business?
2.- When is it too much?
3.- Mark is successful because he found his passion in sports, what is your passion?
Links
http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/columns/story?id=4793301
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1171860/bio
http://www.biography.com/people/mark-cuban-562656#controversy
Great article Pablo, I like to follow what Mark Cuban is up to as a fellow Pittsburgher who has also relocated to Texas. I have read great articles with Mr. Cuban in them and one in particular was how he wants to add larger universities to the Austin area. In Pittsburgh there are many large, competing universities but in Austin, UT takes over the entire city. Mark Cuban sees a lot of potential in this city and I agree with his reasoning and practice of bringing in ideas from other cities.
ReplyDelete1.- Do you think its good to have that much passion when it comes to business?
Yes, of course it is good to have as much passion as Mark Cuban does when it comes to business. If you love what you do, you will definitely excel in that field. If you are not passionate about your idea then it will not go very far in my opinion. I am not sure who said but I have heard it from a speaker or an article in our class about how you should not pursue a venture that is a good idea unless you are passionate and really interested in the idea. I have thought of what I think are ‘good ideas’ but I really was not motivated to pursue it because I want to pursue something else that I will be excited to work on everyday. I know that not every part of a starting a business is going to be fun but at least doing something that highly interests you will help.
2.- When is it too much?
The only time that it is not great to have too much passion is when it disturbs your everyday life. You have to take care of your health and give attention to your loved ones because life is too short to make business your number one priority. However, I think that during the beginning startup stages and other important events, it is necessary to direct all of your attention to the business.
3.- Mark is successful because he found his passion in sports, what is your passion?
Everybody tends to ask questions such as this one, but I am not a fan of them. This is because I never know the answer to this question. I guess I have not really found something in life that I am 100% passionate about yet. I think this is because I am still young and have not explored and had the vast number of experiences that older generations have had due to their time on this earth. I am interested in things such as traveling, sports, my family, languages/cultures, and innovating. I am very passionate about innovating but I do not have anything specific in mind at the moment. I eventually will find something I am very passionate in life about but I just have to gain more experiences, meet new people, and see different places.
Comment Above was authored by Derek D
DeleteInteresting post, I don't know that much about Mark Cuban, yet I hear his name and all the great things he has done tossed around all the time. To answer the first question, I firmly believe that it is important for anyone who is running a business to be extremely passionate about the work they do. That being said, it is important to know what you are truly passionate about because if you go into a venture you think you are passionate about and realize that it becomes "work" then you will have problems.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you can ever have enough passion in business if you are following your true passion. However, it is important that you identify the ways you allocate your passion towards your business in the most beneficial way.
After working for a commercial real estate company for the past 9 months, I have found an activity that I am passionate about. I am passionate about this business because every time I go out to do something I am constantly looking for available spaces and thinking about who would do well in that space. As I further my career, I want to be able to drive by a site and say that restaurant, retailer is there because I did that deal, its really satisfying when that tenant is very successful.
I enjoyed this blog and reading about Mark Cuban.. Go Mavs!!
ReplyDeleteI definitely think that having passion is really important when it comes to being an entrepreneur. I can't imagine going through the difficulty and uncertainty of starting a company without passion driving you. I also feel that part of the beauty of entrepreneurship is that you get to do something with your life that you are passionate about instead of taking some boring job because it's the only choice.
On the other hand, I think that with passion, there has to be a balance. This reminds me of the story that our guest speaker told us about the lady that was really successful at helping people with carpal tunnel, but she wasn't very good at running the business. If there is something you are passionate about and really good at, that passion can only get you so far. I think an entrepreneur should take the time to channel that passion and learn about how they can make it useful.
I think it might be pretty obvious to anyone who has had more than one entrepreneurship class with me, but I am pretty passionate about riding my bicycle. For me it's exercise, release when I'm stressed, a means of meeting so many new people in this city and exploring Austin, and even though it can be a slight pain when things go wrong, I still love it. I would love to one day own some kind of business related to cycling, but it's not the only path I see myself going down. I think that there is always room for finding new passions in my life.
1. I definitely think it is very important to be passionate about the business you are in. A passionate manager/entrepreneur is much more likely to excel and give it his/her all in order to make that business float on rough waters. However, I do believe it is also very important how to manage your emotions and try to leave them aside when it comes to decision-making. A passionate entrepreneur should not be a stupid one; he/she should be able to differ enthusiasm with the time to shift your efforts towards what the customer is responding to after the BML feedback loop has been placed.
ReplyDelete2. Passion towards your business and the particular product/service it is catering, is just too much when the entrepreneur does not pivot his/her efforts despite having clear signals that he/she is going under with current operations. If your minimum viable product is having some or strong feedback and the entrepreneur decides he will stick with his current idea without altering anything, I think that is just too much.
3. My passion is definitely sports too, particularly football. Not the one with oval ball where you play with your hands, the real one where you dribble a round ball with your feet and shoot on a goal. Its just the way sports make you feel part of something bigger that drives every athlete to try to excel in their sport. At least that’s my case. Soccer has the ability to join everyone- the rich and the poor, the black and the white, the police and the crook, the husband with his mother-in law-EVERYONE for one cause. I would really enjoy working in a business that promotes putting children through school while training them in the game of soccer. This would be my ultimate goal.
Eduardo M
Mark Cuban is an exceptional entrepreneur and a great person to look up to when aspiring to become successful also. I do believe that it is very important to be passionate about your entrepreneurial venture because it take enormous amounts of hard work to startup a successful business and if you are not passionate about your idea you will quit as soon as you hit a few bumps in the road. That is why you always hear about entrepreneurs advising young entrepreneurs to find an industry they are passionate about because that passion will carry them past those bumps in the road and lead them toward success.
ReplyDeleteThere can be times where a person is overly passionate about their venture for instance they can be so overly obsessed with their project that they do not eat, drink, or sleep and divert all of their energy towards their business. This is not healthy at all and can be very detrimental to a persons health. Being overly passionate is perfectly find if you balance your time between working on your passion and spending time relaxing and focusing something other than that for several hours per day in order to not go crazy and become overly obsessive over their business.
Unfortunately I have not found my major passion in life but I do have certain hobbies that I greatly enjoy doing. The first that comes to mind is exercise. I have always been an active person and exercise makes me feel like I have accomplished something that day because I spent time improving my physicality.
-Louis Mendoza
Mark Cuban is inspirational and I love watching him on, my favorite show, Shark Tank. I found a brief YouTube video, from a month ago, with an interview of Mark Cuban on the Queen Latifah show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdoDDWzvon4
ReplyDeleteThis video lists 3 life lesson's from Mark Cuban that totally make sense. Mark also goes into greater detail on how these lessons influenced his success. The lessons were:
1. Work like there is someone working 24 hours a day to take it away from you.
2. It doesn't matter if the glass is half empty or half full, all that matters is you're the one pouring.
3. People doing something the way its always been done.....that's just a big red flag to me.
I totally agree with Mark on all these life lessons he pointed out in the brief video. My favorite life lesson would be number 2. I always look at life half full but I never thought of myself as the one "pouring." We are all in full control of the view or outlook we have on life. If we aren't happy change, its really that simple.
To answer your question: Do you think its good to have that much passion when it comes to business?
I believe, without a doubt, yes. If you are not passionate about what you do, why are you doing it? I have had the opportunity to work in a variety of industries before pursuing my degree in Entrepreneurship. One thing I have learned is not to waste my time with jobs that I have no passion for. You always start strong with a new job or opportunity but if you are not passionate about your tasks you loose momentum and interest fast. Life is too short to waste time on anything you don't enjoy or find passion in. We create and fulfill our own happiness with the lifestyles we choose. Find a career or venture to launch that motivates you and your passion. Live life to enjoy it not just to exist.
This was a great blog post and I like Mark Cuban a lot and enjoy watching him on Shark Tank too. Thanks to Shark Tank I have had the opportunity to learn how he thinks and how he analyzes potential business ideas from many different perspectives. What I feel about him is that he is a little explosive with his responses going from pretty good comments to really bad ones, but that is the whole point of the show and the whole point of being an entrepreneur. Sometimes you need to be prepared to hear really bad feedback from successful entrepreneurs because most of them have experienced the same problems and lived through them to become successful. I think being passionate about a business is used as great fuel and energy to make the business go up and running forward to success. Like everything in life, if you feel passionate about something and dedicate great part of your time to it will lead to success. This is way Mark Cuban has been really successful because he only works on things that he feels passionate about.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I think that sometimes passion cannot be the only thing that drives your business. Someone could be really passionate about a business idea and feel that it could work but instead that business idea is driving you to failure and maybe bankruptcy you have to stop and think rationally what is the best for you. Passion is great, but is way better when it is combined with rational thinking and logic.
My passion I would say are many different things. I really enjoy music; sports such as golf, soccer, baseball, tennis; fitness and working out. The many the things that I consider my passion, then I will have many possibilities to enter into business and someday have my own related with one of these categories. I believe that most successful people in the world are because most of them have followed their passion and worked hard to make it bigger and bigger
-David Arismendy-
Can't believe I missed this post!
ReplyDeleteMark Cuban is one of the best entrepreneurs of our time and someone I have an incredible amount of respect for.
1. It is very important to be passionate about your business. You are more likely to put in greater effort and therefore see better results. Starting a business is incredibly difficult and you shouldn't make it harder on yourself by working on something you don't care about. Passion leads to creativity and innovation. Working on a project you are passionate about is much more fulfilling than the alternative.
2. The only way too much passion could be a problem is if it is affecting your lifestyle and health. However, it would be pretty hard to actually be "too passionate" about something you are working on. If anyone claims you are, you shouldn't necessarily listen. The key for many entrepreneurs' success is disagreeability.
3. My passion is in fashion and music. Ideally, I will start working in the music industry and eventually start my own luxury streetwear clothing line once I am more successful and have more connections in place.
- Jeran S
I truly agree with Alia about not wasting time with jobs you aren't passionate about. I think Mark Cuban is an example of what true success can be if you become hyper involved and passionate. There are times when boundaries need to be respected in a business (in the case of something falling outside of your range of expertise), but there needs to be a commitment to ensure that people are dedicated to the cause. Passion and enthusiasm can be contagious. In the case of Mark Cuban and the Mavericks, that is apparent. If you have someone leading you who is a debby downer and completely unmotivated it is difficult to feel excited about something because the person who is supposed to guide you doesn't offer much support.
ReplyDeleteTurning around a business is never easy. There are problems and dynamics that must be faced that you had nothing to do with and can be projected onto you. Mark Cuban has an amazing amount of dedication to really turn the team around. He's hands on, and that could have initially been difficult because some could have seen this gesture as smothering.
As an owner of a business you have to be engaging and available. Treating people right is important so that they'll treat you right in return, and if they don't then maybe they don't belong within the company. I'm sure Mark Cuban had to get rid of a few bad apples to get the staff he wanted.