SHARK BAIT
HUSTLE, DEFENCE AND A UNIQUE IDEA: HOW TO GET MARK CUBAN TO BITE.
Sometimes all it takes to get investment from Mark Cuban is a cookie. In the case of Florida- based Alyssa’s Healthy Cookies, the owner sent a package of its product to the outspoken serial entrepreneur, who owns the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and makes deals weekly on Shark Tank. Cuban loved the cookies so much he invested in the business, and took the fledgling upstart to in excess of US$ 3 million in sales last year.
Cuban was eating one of those cookies when I met him in Montreal recently, just one example of how he lives and breathes the more than 70 companies in his portfolio ( and that’s just investments made on Shark Tank). He uses their apps, eats their food products, and talks about their technology — including the technology behind two recent Montreal investments.
Cuban was in the city to speak at a fundraiser for iBellieve, a charity started by B. C. native Simon Ibell that raises money for rare disease research. Before his evening keynote, I sat down with a room full of business owners in the city to hear his thoughts on everything from investment, to balancing work and personal time, to the weirdest place he’s been pitched (a urinal).
When it comes to pitching him or any other investor, Cuban said entrepreneurs must focus on what sets them apart.
“They have to know what makes them unique and what makes them different. Every business has competition of some sort, and when you’re pitching to me, whether on Shark Tank or otherwise, you have to know what it is that makes it special. Part two of that is that you have to be able to defend that,” he said. “I don’t need another Uber of something. When there’s 1,000 people investing in something I don’t need to be 1,001.”
When it comes to who he invests in, Cuban said it all comes down to the “grind” — how much they’re willing to do for the business, whether it’s selling door-to-door, learning about industry trends, or seeking out potential partners. One of his favourite examples of s hustle was when the founder of adjustable belt startup Mission Belt Co. came on Shark Tank. Cuban asked him where he sold the product, and he said he knocked on doors — retail, residential, or wherever he could — and that he had actually sold a few belts door-to-door on the way to the Shark Tank studio. That’s the type of hustle Cuban puts his money behind ( although in Mission Belt’s case, fashion mogul Daymond John made the deal).
“If you don’t know what your grind is; if you don’t know what you have to do every minute of every day to push your business, then I don’t want to be an investor because you’re not going to figure it out,” he said.
Known as the tech- savvy investor on Shark Tank, Cuban said when looking for investments he focuses on themes, and this year that’s machine vision — the ability for computers to inspect, analyze, and interpret anything from a product on an assembly line to a video on YouTube. One of his Montreal investments is SportsLogiq, which focuses on analyzing hockey footage and providing automated reports to coaches in real-time. Another is Wrnch, a startup that provides a software development kit to help companies create computer vision applications.
The Dallas-based investor also said he’d rather work with companies outside of Silicon Valley, and prefers to do deals in cities such as Montreal, Toronto, Boston, or Los Angeles. Good news for Canadian entrepreneurs looking to pitch him, especially those that have considered why they’re looking for money in the first place. “Some people think of raising money as an accomplishment. It’s not an accomplishment, it’s an obligation,” he said. “There’s a big difference.”
In terms of what entrepreneurs need to do to move their businesses forward, Cuban said it’s all about innovating and l ooking to what’s next.
“Being able to go a little bit out of control and being able to be a little bit ready, fire, aim, instead of ready, aim, fire, is a necessity as well, because things change,” he said. “And they’re going to change. And they’ll keep on changing whether we like it or not, and you can either stay ahead of it or be a victim of it.”
WHEN YOU’RE PITCHING TO ME, WHETHER ON SHARK TANK OR OTHERWISE, YOU HAVE TO KNOW WHAT IT IS THAT MAKES IT SPECIAL… I DON’T NEED ANOTHER UBER OF SOMETHING. WHEN THERE’S 1,000 PEOPLE INVESTING IN SOMETHING I DON’T NEED TO BE 1,001 — MARK CUBAN