[dustineichler]

Today seeing Mark Cuban speak completely changed my opinion of him. I also assumed wrongly he'd be an ass, but damnit he's now my hero. Really insightful and hysterical funny. His advice was spot on and I loved the honesty.

Highlight from today's tc50 "Maybe I’m missing something, but that just sounded like the biggest bunch of bullshit I’ve ever heard in my life." Reference below to Imindi.

(http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/09/imindi-wants-to-get-ins...)

[thorax]

That particular comment made me walk away thinking he was rather jerkish. I didn't know who he was at the time of tuning in live, but there's about 10 different ways to say that without making the poor startup guy feel like a humiliated loser. He has a dream-- maybe Mark will bring him back down to reality, but I personally think the same sort of response could have been said about Wikipedia, Knol, About.com, Mahalo, etc.

Just because Mark and Kevin Rose didn't quite follow the long-term vision, it doesn't mean it can't catch on or grow. Hopefully the imindi guys will figure out a better way to present/grow their technology such that people won't have that kind of reaction, but that kind of comment didn't give me any new respect for Mr. Cuban. (I did enjoy the transcript of his one-on-one interview, though.)

I guess I have a lot of dreams like the imindi guys and can empathize with them. I also think there's a lot of long-term value in gathering cross-related/semantic data.

[ojbyrne]

How did Kevin Rose get into the conversation? No exit yet, lots of hype so far, and screwing me was a big part of it :-(, whatever "it" is. But it does reinforce the point - a lot of it is luck. Cuban wants to come back as himself? I bet the odds are 1000-1 he wouldn't have the same success. And he'd probably admit that.

[rokhayakebe]

Had Mark Cuban been a quite guy everyone would have called him a genius. He has been right several times and has created or made investements in winning companies that were ahead of their time ( Live Broadcast on net several years ago, HD several years ago,a better distribution model for small movies a few years ago and you can bet there is a need for this one, Redswoosh, selling a hedge fund 3 years in). I mean seriously, most VCs cannot tell you they have had this much success. Most VCs are not billionaire. Frankly if you started with zero dollars and made a Billionaire out of yourself, you are one smart guy.

[ojbyrne]

Survivorship Bias.

[fallentimes]

Maybe not the same success, but certainly a lot of it. Selling garbage bags, teaching disco, Microsolutions, Broadcast.com, selling a Hedgefund, angel investments, Mavs, etc. He's been hustling since he was a kid. Sure a lot of his wealth is due to timing and luck but it certainly wasn't on accident.

[ojbyrne]

You're right, though I'm sure the story has grown in the telling. The point is that there's lots of other people who do that and aren't billionaires. Its necessary but not sufficient. However I should have been better in giving him respect because he'd probably agree with me about luck.

I just react badly to anything that includes "Kevin Rose" in the same class with a billionaire.

[fallentimes]

I've known the story for 6 years; it hasn't changed at all. Cuban is much better known in the sports scene than in the tech scene.

When do you get to tell us what Rose did or am I just ignorant?

[ojbyrne]

I tend to be cagey about it, because a. I still own some stock, b. I'm still subject to a legal agreement and c. I'm too busy to actually figure out in detail how b affects what I can and can't say.

[thorax]

Kevin Rose was on the panel with Mark Cuban when he said that in response to imindi.

[dustineichler]

All I'm going to say is, if you can't handle the truth, you're in the wrong business. Now,they'll probably go back having gotten an honest response and make it better.

[DenisM]

Go read his blog, you'll love him. http://www.blogmaverick.com/

He has a great post up on how the inside of wall street works. And he is qualified to speak - he is on the inside.

[kul]

thanks for the tip, I'm just about to start investing in the market and I'm glad I read this first.

[fallentimes]

Don't, unless you have insider information (not in the illegal sense). If you have money laying around outside of general savings start a Roth IRA. Fidelity and Vanguard are both excellent and very low cost.

[dustineichler]

I second that, Roth RIA is really good place to start.