ALBAWABA – Billionaire and American investor Mark Cuban, aged 65, tasted the bitterness of failure at the age of 27 when he teetered on the brink of bankruptcy. However, just five years later, he became a millionaire.
Nearly 40 years ago, Cuban embarked on his first entrepreneurial endeavors through a programming company called MicroSolutions.
At that time, Cuban had $82,000 in his bank account, but he fell victim to theft by his secretary, leaving him with only $2,000.
According to Cuban, the secretary had been forging checks supposed to be handed over to suppliers, diverting the funds to herself from the bank. This resulted in wiping out the balance of MicroSolutions’ account.
In essence, Cuban’s personal funds also ran dry as he took complete responsibility for the project, refusing external funding except for a $500 loan from a former client.
Nevertheless, Cuban described what happened to his company as the best thing that ever occurred to him and his collaborators. He emphasized the importance of maintaining composure, returning to work, and trying again.
How did Cuban overcome the crisis? It didn’t take long for Cuban to recover financially. He noted that his daily work wasn’t always glamorous, spending hours testing and comparing new technologies.
Amid these efforts and alongside the sale of his software at a time when home computers were gaining popularity, Cuban succeeded in selling MicroSolutions to CompuServe for $6 million in 1990, when he was 32 years old.
Following this, Cuban played a role in founding AudioNet, which later became Broadcast.com. Yahoo acquired it for $5.7 billion in 1999, making Cuban a billionaire at the age of 40.
According to Forbes estimates, Cuban’s current net worth amounts to $5.1 billion.
Even if Cuban were to lose all his wealth, he has no doubt that he would become a millionaire again. His selling ability is what primarily made him wealthy.
He added, “I was going to get a job as a bartender at night and a sales job during the day.”
He continued, “Once you learn how to sell, it doesn’t matter what you’re selling. You’re a business owner in the making.”
Cuban’s journey serves as a testament to resilience, determination, and the power of learning from setbacks in the world of entrepreneurship.
