Mark Cuban on Crypto, NFTs, Billionaires, Luck, Taxes, Alexa, ChatGPT

• Mark Cuban says it takes luck to become a billionaire, and the super rich should pay more taxes.
• The “Shark Tank” investor says crypto needs a killer app, and NFTs will stage a comeback.
• Teaching people how to make full use of Alexa and ChatGPT is a lucrative opportunity, Cuban says.

Mark Cuban underlined the role of luck in becoming ultra wealthy, called for the super rich to pay higher taxes, and revealed how he would make money from scratch during an episode of Wired’s “Tech Support” released this week.

The “Shark Tank” investor and Dallas Mavericks owner — who sold his internet-radio startup to Yahoo for nearly $6 billion in 1999 — also flagged Alexa and ChatGPT as business opportunities, bemoaned the lack of a killer app for cryptocurrenciess, and struck a bullish tone on non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

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Here are Cuban’s six best quotes, lightly edited for length and clarity:

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1. “The reality is, in order to become a billionaire, the one thing you have to have is luck. Any billionaire who tells you they could just do it again, no. You have to be lucky.”

2. “Billionaires should pay more in taxes. I would not be in this position without this country, because nothing happens that’s great — whether it’s healthcare, teachers, roads, you name it — without people paying their taxes. It may be painful when you write that big check, but just think about how you got there. One of the most patriotic things that you can do when you’re wealthy is pay your taxes.”

3. “I am really, really, really good at sales. I’m gonna find a sales job, and I’m gonna learn more about that industry than anybody on the planet. And I’m gonna set a commission as high as I possibly can. And three months in, when I’ve demonstrated that I am the best salesperson in the history of that company, I’m gonna walk into my boss’ office and I’m gonna tell him or her, ‘You’re either gonna pay me this amount of money to keep me, or I’m gonna start my own business selling this stuff.’ That is exactly what I would do. Everything always goes back to sales, no matter what.” (Cuban was asked what he would do if he only had $500, a phone, and six months to make as much money as possible.)

4. “Alexa has so many capabilities, and so many people have them, but they have no idea how to use any of the programming or scripting capabilities. You can go and start a business where you could go to your neighbors, to car dealerships, to businesses, and show them for 50 bucks an hour or more, how to use their Alexa in their homes to save energy, to save time in their businesses.

“The same thing is happening with large language models like ChatGPT. There’s new features coming out in ChatGPT and its competitors every single month. So if you just get involved and stay ahead, you’re gonna be the person in demand, selling your services on how to prompt ChatGPT to help a business, or even to tutor kids on how to best use it for school.”

5. “Crypto has some problems. Most people, when they think crypto, they think speculation. That’s not what crypto’s really about. Crypto is really about creating new applications that make things better and easier. What crypto is missing is that one application that grandma really wants to use.

“Think back to the iPhone. It came out in 2007, but it wasn’t until the best apps like Instagram and Snapchat and Facebook went mobile, that the App Store and the iPhone really took off. Crypto is still waiting for its Instagram moment.” (Cuban gave the example of NFTs being used as tickets so their original owner receives a cut every time they’re resold.)

6. “The NFT market sucks. You know how many other industries have sucked? There was a time after the internet stock market crashed, where Amazon was selling for $5 a share, Microsoft was selling for hundredths of what it sells for right now. I’m not gonna tell you what you should or shouldn’t do, other than to say with NFTs, the best time to buy is when you’re a collector and you love the NFT.

“Don’t buy to speculate. You know what happens to speculators? They get their ass handed to them. Someday you’re gonna turn around and say to yourself, ‘I should have bought those damn NFTs when they were next to nothing.'”