Serial entrepreneur and "Shark Tank" investor Mark Cuban discussed tech, investing and his life during a fireside chat Wednesday in downtown Phoenix.
Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks team owner who has invested in at least two Valley companies, was one of the speakers at the Arizona Tech Innovation Summit.
Wearing shark socks and answering questions from Jack Selby, Thiel Capital managing director and chairman of InvisionAZ, Cuban's hour-plus talked about his lifelong quest to be an entrepreneur.
"I was that kid in the neighborhood always trying to sell you something," he said.
In college, he threw big parties with a cover charge to help pay for school, until the parties got raided and shut down because of all the underage kids drinking.
He recently learned to rap on the TNT show "Drop the Mic" and said he did the show because he wants to do fun things he'll remember when he's old.
"Hell yes I should have done that," Cuban said. "It was fun."
As for his Valley investments, fellow "Shark Tank" investor Lori Greiner joined Cuban in November 2017 on the popular pitching show to invest in Phoenix-based Bravo Tip or Pay.
He also invested in MistoBox in 2013, a former Phoenix-based coffee subscription service. MistoBox has since moved to San Francisco and had $3 million in revenue last year, Cuban said.
Cuban's talk covered a variety of topics. He said he's not running for president, he believes in hiring for diversity to celebrate people's strengths, and he has given out close to $6 million to help military families with needed expenses through his Fallen Patriot Fund nonprofit organization.
Here are more highlights from Cuban's discussion:
On reading: Cuban reads an average of three hours a day, which he added his wife isn't happy about. Recent books read include a machine learning for idiots, one on storytelling and another on Vladimir Putin. He has three kids, and when they want something Cuban often bribes them by telling them to read a certain book first before he'll buy them what they want.
"I want to get them excited about learning," he said. "I want them to have a thirst for learning. Not everyone knows how to learn."
On investing in movies: He wouldn't suggest it if you want to make money. His first two movies — "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" documentary and the George Clooney-directed "Good Night, and Good Luck" — earned him seven Academy Award nominations for executive producer. He did it more to share interesting stories, and to hang out with Clooney.
"It's hard and there's no formula for it," Cuban said.
On cryptocurrency: Cuban said investing in cryptocurrency is a "crap shoot," because it's only worth what someone else wants to pay for it, like baseball cards or comic books. He did admit cryptocurrencies have at least a "technological value" behind it, but wouldn't suggest it as an investment opportunity.
"It's about supply and demand," he said.
On artificial intelligence: Cuban said AI is changing everything. Every business, no matter their size, should be incorporating some type of AI, learn how it can work for them and have a general understanding of how it can help. He said if you don't use AI, you're going to be at a disadvantage and competing with that 23-year-old college graduate.
"We're limited by the time or access to information. AI can take that unlimited amount of data and do something with it," he said. "It allows companies to compete in bigger ways. You need to do this now."
On health care: For the past couple years, Cuban has been working on developing a medical self-insurance plan known as a "safety plan," in which individuals can put in money outside of a traditional insurance company. The money you put in depends on how much money you make, capped at 10 percent of your income. No taxes would be raised. No need to start a GoFundMe account when big medical issues arise. No dealing with rising insurance administration costs. Instead of Obamacare, and insurance premiums, people will use a sort of health savings account instead.
"That's what I want to be my legacy; health care for all," Cuban said.
