It’s truly a story that inspires. Mark Cuban, one of the world’s wealthiest men, wasn’t always dripping in gold. The owner of the Dallas Mavericks came from humble beginnings and he sat down during an episode of Shark Tank to talk about how he made it to the top.
“I grew up in a working class family,” Cuban said. “People thought I might go work at a mill. My mom wanted me to learn how to lay carpet because she was concerned about my future…Nobody had high hopes for me, but I was a hustler.”
And hustle he did, after attending Indiana University he soon found himself in an odd situation. He kept getting fired. He decided that it was time to branch out on his own and he developed the software system named MicroSolutions, which he would later sell to CompuServe in 1990.
Cuban had another problem on his hands. As a proud alumni he wanted to listen to Indiana University sports, but due to his residence in Texas, it was hard to do so. Cuban also decided to take action to solve this. Alongside another Indiana University alumni Todd Wagner, the pair developed a new technology named Broadcast.net.
The pair would sell the company to Yahoo for a staggering 5.7 billion dollars in 1999. Which with inflation adjusted for time would be unimaginable now. Later Cuban would buy the Mavericks for 285 million.
“Everybody said, ‘You are an idiot because the Mavs suck and that was the largest price ever paid for any sports team ever.’ I was like, ‘I don’t care,’” Cuban said.
“It was just a dream come true. Since then, we have never had a losing record.”
Sources
https://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/20/how-mark-cuban-went-from-working-class-to-self-made-billionaire.html
