The character arc of Mark Cuban
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born on 31 July 1958 in Pittsburgh. Between then and now sit a degree at Indiana University in 1981, a move to Dallas in 1982 and a job behind a bar, MicroSolutions sold to CompuServe in 1990 for six million dollars, Audionet joined in 1995, Broadcast.com in 1998 and 330 employees by 1999, Landmark Theatres bought on 24 September 2003, an investment in Red Swoosh in 2005, an e-book in November 2011 and Shark Tank from 2012 to 2025. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Mark Cuban?
He was behind a bar.
He was born in Pittsburgh in 1958, spent a year at the University of Pittsburgh and transferred to Indiana University, graduating from the Kelley School of Business in 1981 with a degree in management. In 1982 he moved to Dallas, where he first found work as a bartender at a Greenville Avenue bar called Elan, and then as a salesperson for Your Business Software, one of the earliest personal computer software retailers in the city.
That job became MicroSolutions. It grew to more than thirty million dollars in revenue, and in 1990 he sold it to CompuServe, then a subsidiary of H&R Block, for six million dollars. He was thirty two, and he could have stopped.
In 1995 he and his fellow Indiana alumnus Todd Wagner joined Audionet, which had been founded in 1989 by Chris Jaeb, out of a shared interest in Indiana Hoosiers basketball and webcasting. With a single server and an ISDN line it became Broadcast.com in 1998, and by 1999 had 330 employees and thirteen and a half million dollars of revenue in a single quarter, and helped launch the first live-streamed Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. He has since been a prominent figure in the National Basketball Association through the Dallas Mavericks, including their 2011 championship; bought the 58 cinema Landmark Theatres chain on 24 September 2003; put 1.7 million dollars into Red Swoosh in 2005, which Akamai bought for nineteen million in 2007; was approached by its co-founder Travis Kalanick in 2009 about a company valued at ten million dollars; published a children's book in April 2007 and a thirty thousand word e-book in November 2011; and was one of the investors on Shark Tank from 2012 to 2025.
The moments
Mark Cuban's timeline.
The 1980s
Management at Indiana
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Two universities, and a degree in how businesses are run.
A bar on Greenville Avenue
Milestone, and it changed everything. A bar first, and then a shop that sold software.
The 1990s
Six million dollars
Milestone, and it changed everything. Thirty two years old, and he did not have to work again.
Stop, after the first sale
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: join the strange one, taken, or live on the sale. Audionet became Broadcast.com in 1998 and had 330 employees by 1999.
He joined Audionet
Milestone, and it changed everything. He joined somebody else's company, out of an interest in basketball.
It becomes Broadcast.com
Milestone, and it changed everything. One server and an ISDN line, which was the whole of the internet then.
Three hundred and thirty people
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Three hundred and thirty people, from one server.
The 2000s
Fifty eight cinemas
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Arthouse cinemas, which is not where the money usually goes.
He backed Red Swoosh
Milestone, and it changed his direction. One point seven million in, nineteen million out two years later.
A ten million dollar valuation
Milestone. Ten million dollars, for the whole company, in 2009.
The 2010s
The Mavericks championship
Milestone, and it changed everything. A championship, for the city he arrived in as a bartender.
A thirty thousand word book
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Thirty thousand words, written to be given away cheaply.
Shark Tank
Milestone, and it changed everything. Thirteen years of hearing pitches on television.
The line reaches today still adding to itself, which is why it is drawn now rather than at the end. What it has set moving started behind a bar on Greenville Avenue: he took a selling job at a software shop because it was there, and the whole line runs out of that one ordinary decision.
What he wrote
Books by Mark Cuban
- 2011
How to Win at the Sport of Business
Thirty thousand words, written as an e-book in November 2011 and described by him as a way to get motivated. Its subtitle, If I Can Do It, You Can Do It, is the whole argument.
Your turn
Every line draws a unique story.
His was tending a bar in a new city at twenty four. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Mark Cuban: frequently asked questions
What people ask about his line.
What is Mark Cuban's character arc?
What was Mark Cuban's first company?
What is Mark Cuban's Broadcast.com?
Did Mark Cuban turn down Uber?
How long was Mark Cuban on Shark Tank?
What did Mark Cuban do before the first sale?
Does Mark Cuban own a basketball team?
Where does this timeline of Mark Cuban's life come from?
More character arcs
Lives that rhyme with his.
Sources
- Mark Cuban, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
- CompuServe acquisition of MicroSolutions, 1990, and the Landmark Theatres purchase of 24 September 2003.
- Indiana University Kelley School of Business degree record, 1981.