#0004 – The Mark Cuban Episode

In this fourth installment of the Startup of the Year podcast, Established's Frank Gruber, Jen Consalvo, Lori Thiel, and Rich Maloy discuss the man who's been a true Maverick in every sense of the word, Mark Cuban, beginning with a dexterous exploration of his impressively curated and notably diverse portfolio. Companies we discuss include the following: Dropbox, Magnolia Pictures, IFTTT, Grypmat, Zoba, Combat Flip Flops, Monkey Mat, Veggie Mama, uBeam, ilumi, and My Croft AI. But first the gang checks out the recent SVB Startup Outlook Report for 2019 as it has some interesting findings and trends related startups. Then, Frank speaks with the self-professed lifelong learner about everything from his excitement over machine learning and neural networks, to the pitfalls startups can fall into, to his 2024 political aspirations. A quick teaser... Here's the first thing Mark looks for when potentially investing in a company: "It's always the same. I want something that's unique/differentiated. Something that makes you say, 'Why didn't I think of that?' or 'It makes perfect sense, I'm shocked no one's done it before.' That's first." Also, here's his advice for aspiring NBA team owners: "Make a lot of money."