How Mark Cuban Wins with Data for Affordable Drugs, Sports, and Developing AI Talent

The Data Chief

Key Moments:

• The road to entrepreneurship (1:00)
• Bringing transparency to the prescription drugs industry (4:30)
• Analyzing in-game sports data to shoot for new heights (20:00)
• Changing the world by making data and AI accessible to everyone (25:00)
• How LLMs can build curiosity for the next generation of tech talent (33:00)

Key Quotes:

• “As with all things technology, everybody has access to the information, but few people take the time. But those who do tend to have an edge. If you're curious, if you love to learn, you're going to do pretty well. But how do you find those people when they're kids and how do you try to just capture their imagination and get them excited about the technology? That's why we started the bootcamp.”
• “I wanted to make technology accessible to people who otherwise couldn't get it. It doesn't matter what you look like, who you are, what your ethnicity is, what your background is. There are just going to be people who don't have access. I wanted to open that door for them. I'm a big believer in diversity, and that when you look at places where other people aren't, that's when you find brilliance that can change the world.”
• “The path to least resistance to learning AI is simple. All you’ve got to do is use it. You can use it in ways that you can’t possibly imagine. You can learn how to use large language models to start your own programming and teach yourself how to do it. The sky's the limit. Better way to put it, there is literally next to nothing you can't teach yourself using a large language model. You can even train and educate the model. It’s a virtuous cycle. It can surge curiosity with kids.”

Mentions:

• Cost Plus Drugs
• The Master Algorithm: How the Quest for the Ultimate Learning Machine will Remake our World
• Mathletics: How Gamblers, Managers, and Sports Enthusiasts Use Mathematics in Baseball, Basketball, and Football
• Mark Cuban AI Bootcamps

Mark Cuban Bio:

Mark Cuban has been a natural businessman since age 12, when he sold garbage bags door to door. He went on to found MicroSolutions right out of college, selling it to H&R Block.

From there he became an active stock trader, building a track record, starting a hedge fund and selling it a year later. In 1995, he and Todd Wagner started the first commercial streaming company, AudioNet, which became Broadcast.com. They later sold the company in 2000 for 5.7B dollars.

Mark acquired the Dallas Mavericks in 2000. The Mavs competed in their first NBA Finals in 2006, won their first League title in 2011. Mark sold majority ownership in 2023, but still retains a significant stake. During his time as majority owner, the Mavs had the second best record in the NBA.

Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.