Don't start a company unless it's an obsession and something you love. If you have an exit strategy, it's not an obsession.
Interpretation
Starting a company should be driven by passion rather than a profit-driven exit plan.
Mark Cuban emphasizes that true entrepreneurial success comes from passion and love for what you do. If starting a company is merely a means to an end—like having an exit strategy—then it lacks the essential obsession required to thrive in the competitive business landscape.
In practice
This quote can inspire aspiring entrepreneurs at startup meetups.
If the pitch starts with a sob story, I'm out. If the pitch talks about personal issues, I'm out. If the pitch starts off with how big the market opportunity is, I'm out. If the pitch tells me what is unique about the product, how it can make a profit, and it's an area where I have expertise, I will read on.
Leaders don't look backwards to condemn what has already been done; they look forward to create a better future.
It doesn't matter how many times you fail. You only have to be right once and then everyone can tell you that you are an overnight success.
I think you’ve got to be very, very careful when you start making blanket statements about what people say and think, as opposed to what they do. It’s a very, very slippery slope.
Creating a close connection to those you do business with has its many risks, rewards and consequences._x000D_ _x000D_ There are few things in business I have encountered that are more difficult than firing someone, particularly if that someone has always been, or has become a friend._x000D_ _x000D_ On the flip side, I have been rewarded with many friends.
I'm always afraid of failing. It's great motivation to work harder.
Every business is successful exactly to the extent that it does something others cannot.
Congratulations. I knew the record would stand until it was broken.
Over time, I learned that how a quarterback moves the chains and leads his team to touchdowns is about as important as whether he actually does it or not.
That man is a success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much.
He is the richest man who enriches his country most; in whom the people feel richest and proudest; who gives himself with his money; who opens the doors of opportunity widest to those about him; who is ears to the deaf; eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame. Such a man makes every acre of land in his community worth more, and makes richer every man who lives near him.
Opportunity is latent in the very foundation of human society. Opportunity is everywhere about us. But the preparation to seize upon the opportunity, and to make the most of it, is to be made by every one for himself ... he will be self-made or never made.
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