Mark Cuban always seems to come out on top.
His first job was tending bar in Dallas. Then he took a gig as a computer salesman. He was fired — and he realized he "was never going to be a very good employee."
So he started his first company, MicroSolutions, which he sold for $6 million.
He did even better with his next company — about 1,000 times better. He founded Broadcast.com and sold it to Yahoo for almost $6 billion.
Almost immediately, Cuban sold all of his Yahoo stock netting $2 billion in cash for himself. Weeks later, the market crashed.
Since then, Cuban has continued to work and invest. He owns the Dallas Mavericks and a cable channel, plus he's all over the media — taking bites out of would-be entrepreneurs on ABC's pitch show "Shark Tank" and lighting up the conference circuit.
Cuban is known for saying what other people only think. Here are some of our favorite quotes.
On making a billion dollars
"The billion was, 'I can't f---ing believe it.' Literally, I was sitting in front of a computer, naked, hitting the refresh because we were close — waiting until my net worth hit that billion when the stock price got to a certain point, and then I kinda screamed and jumped around and then got dressed."
[Business Insider, August 2014]
On his approach to each day
"My dad says it over and over, 'Today's the youngest you’re ever going to be. You've got to live like it. You've got to live young every day.' And that's what I try to do."
[Business Insider, March 2014]
On his management style
"I micromanage you until I trust you. It's a back and forth continually… If I send you 30 emails I expect quick responses and direct action. Then we'll go to weekly reports. And I want the bad news first. I want to read, 'God dammit, we lost this sale.' I want to know the setbacks so that I can help you."
See the rest of the story at Business Insider