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Mark Cuban is undoubtedly the ultimate billionaire entrepreneur. At the age of 24 he was working as a bartender in Dallas, Texas but today he is one of the most prolific billionaires in the world purely and simply because of his portfolio of business ventures and investments. With a personal fortune of $2.8 billion, Cuban has undoubtedly traveled the rocky road to success and moved beyond it. His sheer hard work and fantastic business knowledge and instinct have reaped high rewards.

Humble Beginnings

Mark Cuban was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on July 31, 1958. His family was working class and had little cash to spare when he was growing up. As such, Cuban had to pay for anything he wanted that was not a necessity. This led to his first foray in business at the age of 12. He loved basketball and wanted a new pair of shoes to play in. As a result, he had to sell garbage bags to earn a little cash. Throughout school the entrepreneur worked job after job to be able to afford to go to college, including bartending, party promotion, and buying and selling stamps. He was certainly resourceful if nothing else.

Mark Cuban was a gifted student and enrolled in the University of Pittsburgh after his junior year, although he transferred to play basketball at Indiana University. He graduated with a degree in business administration in 1981. After moving to Dallas, the entrepreneur worked behind a bar and as a Your Business Software salesperson before starting his own business. MicroSolutions did well, gaining large clients like Perot Systems. In fact, that business earned him his first millions when he sold it in 1990 for $6 million.

Millionaire To Billionaire

Although Cuban’s first venture was successful, the entrepreneur was to achieve major success with his future businesses that far exceeded that initial one. For example, he started a website called Audionet with Todd Wagner, whom he had met at Indiana University. Although they only had a single server and a love of basketball to hold it together in 1995, the entrepreneurs developed the website and renamed it Broadcast.com in 1998. The following year it’s revenues exceeded $100 million. This garnered the interest of Yahoo!, who then bought it for stock worth a staggering $5.9 billion.

From there, Cuban decided to guard his newfound wealth against any economy slump. This business sense has undoubtedly ensured that his wealth has grown since the turn of the Millennium. For example, the entrepreneur invested in the Landmark Theatres chain, purchasing all 58 of the company’s art houses in 2003 after setting up 2929 Entertainment with Wagner. He also co-founded the first high definition satellite cable network after the introduction of High Definition Television. HDNet is now extremely popular and can be found in millions of homes all over the country.

However, Cuban is best known for one particular investment that combines his entrepreneurial interests perfectly with his love of sports. The entrepreneur bought the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks in 2000 for $285 million. This is not only a personal as well as financial investment for Cuban but also a fantastic boost for the Mavericks. Since the entrepreneur invested, the team’s win percentage has improved by an average of 29% and they have repeatedly reached the playoffs.

Mark Cuban is a perfect example of the entrepreneur who wanted to be exactly where he is now. He did not fall into wealth, and he took the appropriate steps to achieve it. His NBA investment is a shining example of that because it was a boyhood dream that he strived to achieve. Mark Cuban is also a great example of what is possible if you have good business sense, and you are in the right place at the right time.