Mark Cuban’s Book Recommendations: 13 Seminal Titles
Mark Cuban has often described himself as a lucky billionaire, and many people have run with that tag without pausing to consider his incredible hard work and strategic business decisions. When you watch him drilling entrepreneurs on the Shark Tank show, you probably marvel at the depth of his business acumen, and you may be curious about Mark Cuban’s book recommendations. After all, who doesn’t want to be as smart, savvy, witty and humorous as this daring investor?
Unlike other entrepreneurs who believe in following their passion, Mark Cuban believes in following opportunities. That was what he did when he bought Broadcast.com, took it public, and later sold it off to Yahoo in the middle of the “dot com” bubble. This crazy deal made him a billionaire, but on the flip side, turned out to be one of Yahoo’s worst purchases in its history.
A True American Self-Made Man
Mark Cuban really is the embodiment of a self-made billionaire. He started off selling garbage bags, then went on to teach disco dancing before he got a job as a salesman with a software company called Your Business Software.
Mark saw an opportunity to learn software programming. He took it, and when his boss laid him off for closing a deal without his approval, Mark started his own software company and took as many of his old clients as he could along with him.
His new company, MicroSolutions grew rapidly, and he later sold it for $6 million. Next, he ventured into building Broadcast.com, one of the pioneer audio and video streaming platforms. He turned it into a publicly traded company in 1998, and the following year, he sold it off to Yahoo! for about $6 billion.
Ever since then, Mark Cuban has invested in countless business ventures, including Dallas Mavericks, Magnolia Pictures, AXS TV, Landmark Theaters, Cyber Dust, etc. When he’s not looking for opportunities to make money, this billionaire spends time reading and expanding his knowledge. We would like to introduce some of Mark Cuban’s favorite books in different niches.
Mark Cuban’s Book Recommendations for Budding Entrepreneurs
1. The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
The Lean Startup is one of the most prominent books on Mark Cuban’s reading list. It teaches the strategies for building a successful business by creating a minimum viable product, testing it with customers, and using customer feedback to improve on your product quality. Using a “build-measure-learn” feedback loop, the author explains how small businesses can grow by continuously improving their product.
2. Hopping Over the Rabbit Hole by Anthony Scaramucci
After building several successful businesses, Anthony Scaramucci shares his experience and the knowledge he acquired in the process, in this book. He uses his experience to teach the reader how to navigate the hurdles of starting and running a successful business. These include how to build strong teams, raise capital, manage funds, and generally prevent your business from falling into the rabbit hole.
3. Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
Of all Mark Cuban’s book recommendations, Rework is one of the books that he has talked about over and over again. In this book, Basecamp’s co-founders Jason Fried and David Heinemerier bring a fresh perspective to entrepreneurship and business growth. This text shows entrepreneurs why they should focus most of their energy on building great products and impressing clients, instead of aiming for funding rounds and speedy scaling.
4. The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christensen
The Innovator’s Dilemma is a popular business book that explores the dangers established businesses face when they stall or fail to innovate and disrupt their industry. The author argues that when great businesses focus on satisfying existing customers and fail to identify new technologies and emerging markets, they could fail abysmally, while smaller startups will displace them in their industry.
5. Cashing in on the American Dream by Paul Terhorst
If you’re aiming to retire early and spend the rest of your years enjoying the rewards of your hard work, this book is for you. After achieving financial success and retiring in his 30s to travel the world, Paul Terhorst, shares practical guidelines on how to achieve financial independence. He gives some tips on making profit, saving, making smart investments, and living frugally.
Mark Cuban’s Book Recommendations for a Career in the Sports Industry
6. The Sports Gene by David Epstein
The Sports Gene argues that genetics holds a greater influence on an athlete’s strength, endurance, and overall performance than practice. This is one of Mark Cuban’s favorite books, and he believes that all athletes and sports professionals should read it.
7. Tales from Dallas Mavericks Locker Room by Jaime Aron
This book provides behind the scenes tales of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team. It explores some of the challenges that the players and the entire team have faced over the years, how they surmounted them, and went on to become one of the most formidable NBA teams in history.
8. This Year is Different: How the Mavs Won it All by Bob Sturm
After 31 years of disappointing seasons, the Dallas Mavericks finally found the magic wand and won their first NBA championship. In this book, Bob Sturm shares extensive interviews he had with the team and crew, where they narrate the strategies they used to achieve such a great feat.
9. Ali by Jonathan Eig
This book explores the complex inner story of one of the world’s greatest athletes, Muhammad Ali. This book serves as a guiding light to every athlete who’s trying to navigate through sports and life in general.
10. The Blindside: Evolution of the Game by Michael Lewis
The Blindside tells the story of Michael Ohar, who went from being a homeless boy to becoming a professional player. It elaborates on the evolution of left tackle in football, and provides insight into the financial aspects of the game.
The Midas Touch: Mark Cuban’s Career as an Author
Some of Mark Cuban’s book recommendations include books that has written himself, which makes sense, as they obviously touch on issues that he feels strongly about and have also influenced his career.
11. How to Win in the Sports of Business
In this book, Mark Cuban compiles various blog posts he wrote over the years, where he shared his insights on business, entrepreneurship, and leadership.
12. Kid Startup: How You Can Become an Entrepreneur
Mark Cuban tries to catch them young in his book “Kid Startup.” He aims to teach young people how to develop an entrepreneurial spirit, and uses stories of successful investors to show them how to build their business.
13. Gambling Addiction Cure and Recovering of Your Life
In this book, Mark Cuban explains how people go from making a small bet to becoming chronic gamblers. He also provides a guide on how to recover from this addiction.
But these are not the only books this prolific writer has written. Some of his other books include:
- Life is Half Random
- How Any Kid Can Start a Business
- Entrepreneur to Millionaire
- Making Your Own Luck
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If you found Mark Cuban’s book recommendations inspirational, why don’t you create a Blinkist list of Mark Cuban’s Recommended books today, and start your journey towards becoming a great entrepreneur?
