Entrepreneurial Interview

Brandon MathieENT 200

Who?

Someone who has had many experiences as an entrepreneur (different industries)

Serial Entrepreneur – Multiple businesses

Not just a millionaire entrepreneur, but what about a billionaire entrepreneur?

Someone like the entrepreneurs on Shark Tank (my favorite show)

Mark Cuban

Why Mark Cuban?

Just got done reading his book “How to win at the Sport of Business” (highly recommend)

He is worth billions from multiple business start ups

He has a very interesting story

He is now a “Shark”

And it’s Mark Cuban? Who wouldn’t

want to interview him?!

How?

I emailed him at mark.cuban@dallasmavs.com

He responded in less than an hour

He asked not to make them obvious questions

I sent him a list of unique questions

This is a mix between what he responded with and his book “How to Win at the Sport of Business”

The Dream

Had a dream to run his own business if he ever grew up

He believes: After graduation “Get Paid to Learn”

After graduation from Indiana University he took a job in Pittsburgh working on computers, he hated it

Moved on to Dallas, Texas in search of “Fun, sun, money and women.”

Rough Living

No Job

No place to live, lived on his friends floor

Got hired selling PC software at $18,000 a year

Had to sweep the floors, open and close the store

Started job not knowing anything about the IBM PC

So, he read all the manuals for all the software programs front to back

Continued….

Within 6 months became an expert at the stuff

Began to get clients wanting him to install it at their office

Fired for not opening the shop

Decided that he was going to start his own business

It is here he noticed that “It’s the little decisions that have the biggest impact”

Starting his first business

MicroSolutions, Inc. – helped sell personal computers and software and help install them at homes and offices

Made $15,000 first year

Secretary stole $83k of $85k of MicroSolutions bank account

He said oh well and went right back to work

Later sold MicroSolutions for $6 million

Audionet…...Broadcast.com

Started as a webcast for Indiana Hoosier college basketball

Turned into Broadcast.com in 1998

Which grew to 330 employees

Sold to Yahoo! in the dot com boom for $5.9 billion

Other start ups and investments…

Bought a $40 million Gulfstream V jet

Landmark Theatres

AXS TV – First High-definition satellite TV network

Magnolia Pictures

Dallas Maverick - $285 million

Shark Tank

Read, Read, Read

What do you do daily to continue your growth as an entrepreneur and businessman?

“I read like a mother****** . Everything I can get my hands on I try to read. Because we live in an information and knowledge based business world, the more information and knowledge I have the more successful I can continue to be.”

The sport of Business…

Heard a quote that he would never forget:

“In sports, the only thing a player can truly control is effort.”

The same applies to business. The only thing any entrepreneur, salesperson or anyone in any position can control is their effort.

You Only Have to be Right Once!

One of my favorite quotes I have heard Mark say over and over is:

“In business, to be a success, you only have to be right once. 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 from those around you because…..All that matters in business is that you get it right once.”

Sell! Sell! Sell!

Learn to sell

In business you’re always selling – to your prospects, investors and employees

Don’t sell your product. Solve their problems.

If you can sell, you can get a job or create one

Prepare!

What is the most important quality of a great entrepreneur and what is the best way to cultivate that quality?

“Willingness to prepare: To put in the hours and to be honest with themselves about their performance. The best way is to go out there and do it.”

Prepare! #2

What is one sentence of advice that you would give to a young aspiring entrepreneur?

“Whatever business you want to get into make sure you know more about your business than anyone else. Otherwise you are at the risk of the person who knows more kicking your a**.”

Start without Investors

Great companies start without investors

Apple, Dell and Microsoft as a few examples

“Business happens over years and years. Value is measured in the total upside of a business relationship, not by how much you squeezed out in any one deal.”

A great idea and a great vision does not need an investor

The Best Equity is Sweat Equity

Sweat equity is the best startup capital

Two reasonable sources of capital for startup entrepreneurs:

Your own pocket

Your customers pockets

Work your butt off and its ok to start slow

No business plan??

Mark started all businesses by:Spreadsheet of expenses to find needed revenues

Wrote overviews of what he was selling

Why I thought it made sense

Overview of competition

Why the product or service is important to customer and why they should buy or use it

Equity

How would you resolve the challenge of bringing more people with ideas and funding on who want a significant percentage of the ownership and decision making versus having more control and less support both financially and conceptually?

“People who start and run their own business while also providing the vision for the business is always going to be in control, even if they don’t own more than 50%. They have the option of walking away and taking the heart and soul of the biz with them.”

12 Cuban Rules for Startups

1. Don’t start a company unless it’s an obsession and something you love

2. If you have an exit strategy, it’s not an obsession

3. Hire people who you think will love working there

4. Sales cure all. Know how your company will make money and how you will actually make sales

5. Know your core competencies and focus on being great at them

6. There is 24 hours in a day, use every hour wisely

Continued…7. Use open offices, they keep everyone in tune to what is

going on

8. Use the technology that you know, if you know Apple use it. If you know Windows, first ask yourself why, then use it

9. Keep organization flat. No managers reporting to managers

10. Never buy swag, focus on making money than impressing the public eye with a logo polo shirt

11. Never hire a PR firm. You can do it yourself

12. Make the job fun for employees.

Conclusion of Mark Cuban:

Know how to sell!

Know your business and industry inside and out

Be honest with yourselves

Always be prepared

Have goals set and don’t worry about anything but those goals

“Read like a mother******!”

Thanks!