Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban shared his experience of starting a business with almost no capital and offered advice to aspiring entrepreneurs in a similar situation.
Mark Cuban's First Failed Venture Taught Him One Key Lesson
Cuban recounted his early entrepreneurial endeavors Emma Grede‘s “Aspire” podcast in July. Before founding his successful software company, MicroSolutions, Cuban, then 24, attempted to sell powdered milk with less than $20 in his pocket. After a month of unsuccessful sales, he abandoned the venture.
Despite the failure, Cuban learned a valuable lesson about persistence. He advised aspiring entrepreneurs in similar situations to focus on “sweat equity.” He suggested identifying a service that matches their skills and the needs of others, such as tutoring, freelance writing, or graphic design.
“If you don’t have any money, most likely [your business] is going to be a service,” stated Cuban
“If I was 16 years old or 25 years old and broke sleeping on the floor again, I’d be all about AI,” stated Cuban.
If Cuban were launching a new business today, he would harness artificial intelligence—using free AI chatbots to sharpen his prompt engineering skills and guiding small-business owners on applying the technology to boost profitability.
When the host asked Cuban if he had a 1000 bucks and a laptop, would he go all in on AI. Cuban replied, “If I had access to a library…and zero dollars, I would be all about AI. I’d be in there till they kicked me out eating my ribs.”
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Cuban Sees AI as Key Skill, Trillionaire-Maker by 2030
Cuban’s current interest in AI isn’t surprising. He has previously stated that AI will be a “baseline skill like email” in five years and that it is a crucial tool for small business owners to stay competitive.
In July 2025, Cuban also expressed his belief that schools need to evolve their curricula to keep pace with AI. He argued that if a school’s assignments can be solved by a general-purpose model, the problem lies with the assignment, not the student.
Earlier that same month, Cuban predicted on the “High Performance” podcast that AI could create the world’s first trillionaire. He speculated that this groundbreaking innovation might come from an unexpected source, perhaps even “one dude in the basement.”
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