Several months ago, I attended a free talk by Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and self-made dot-com billionaire. I knew he had a reputation for being extremely intense and wild at the basketball games, but also for being a shrewd businessman. Among many of the funny things he related during the talk, he mentioned that after he was a billionaire, he started wearing T-shirts all the time because he was so rich that he could get away with it! He came off as being extremely personable, yet a great business mind. After the talk I think just about everyone in the audience wanted to hang out with him afterwards… he seemed like the kind of guy who, if he had time, would be a blast to have a few beers with. Anyhow, I had promised my friend who invited me to the talk that I’d write up my notes that I took and give them to him… so finally I am delivering on that promise! Mark is a wonderful speaker, so I encourage you to see him if you can. Without further ado, the notes:
An inefficient market is (or leads to) an opportunity.
Don’t lie in order to sell yourself. Be honest, because you will need to deliver once you get funded!
Just because you are the biggest/best/fastest will not secure your success because someone can always be bigger/better/faster.
Do your homework! Research as much as you can about the field you are interested in.
The numbers and the business plan are not so important.
Your principles are more important than your cash.
Customers are your business, so find customers and you won’t need to raise as much money first.
Sales cures all… sales people are key to raising money. When Mark bought the Mavs, he quadrupled the sales team and the tickey sales skyrocketed. They were selling fun, not basketball.
Don’t listen to customers too much. You need to predict where things are going in the future, and your customers are mostly concerned with what they want for the present.
Look for ways your competition can beat you, and preempt them.
Vendors (anyone who wants to sell you something) are a good source of input.
“Sweat equity” leads to trust.
Find partners who compliment your style.
When Mark was developing broadcast.com, they used entertainment as content as a proof-of-concept, and then sold the product to businesses for much more money than consumers would pay for entertainment.
That’s it! I tried to clarify some of my cryptic notes, but for the ones that are still cryptic… your guess is as good as mine. Now go start a business and sell it for a billion dollars!
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