There is no sport as competitive as business said Mark Cuban, Shark Tank investor and CEO of the Dallas Mavericks. At TechCrunch Disrupt 2014, Cuban shared some words of wisdom on getting funded (even by him) and building a company.
Stay competitive
Whether you’re a seasoned entrepreneur or newbie to the startup world, you’ve got to stay sharp because there are plenty of sharks circling the waters and happy to take you out “…all these young kids are trying to kick your ass,” Cuban said. “I want to kick your ass! F*** you all! I just want to win!”
There are smart people everywhere
While talent continue to be perceived only found in the Valley, New York or Los Angeles, the fact is that talent is everywhere, Cuban said. “I don’t have the problem extracting talent…there are just as many smart people outside of the Valley.”
[youtube]http://youtu.be/72gfmBOAmI0[/youtube]
Don’t tell me you’ll be millionaires with 1/10 of the market
If you have this language in your pitch, “We are entering a billion dollar market and if we take only 1/10 of that market, we will reach a revenue of …” You might want to rethink those phrases according to Cuban. “The reality is that it takes no thought to make that statement, it’ll turn me off,” he said. Instead, he said to focus on “telling me your core competency, tell me what you are good at and tell me how protectable your product is.”
Silicon Valley has ADD, make it interesting
If you do find your company in San Francisco to raise money, when you prepare your pitch, keep this in mind: Silicon Valley investors tend to have the attention span of a child-look something shiny! Cuban said that, like in Hollywood, “everyone in Silicon Valley will talk and listen to you about your project. But while they are standing there, right in front of you, they are not looking at you. They are looking past you to the next project where they can raise/sell more. Where they can be a bigger star. There is always a bigger fish. Who ever is standing in front of them is hopefully just the bait.” (blogmaverick.com)
