Future news title: Story of how "cold email to Mark Cuban turned into investment" results into thousands of cold emails with BS business ideas send to Mark Cuban.
The guy (Cuban) is on TV for heaven's sake, and has a blog. I am sure he gets a zillion pitches already
It's not just that... he has, in the past, very publicly stated that he's open to cold-email pitches. He even puts (or did put) his email address up on the big displays in the arena during Mavericks games.
I imagine it's very annoying to get pitched to everywhere you go. Just tell them, "Hey, I know you're interested in X. I'm working on a product that does X. Can I email you about it?" Once that's out of the way you can have a normal conversation.
And actually to be even less annoying might even want to skip saying anything when you meet in person. (Unless of course you are somewhere where it's expected and appropriate).
Just send the email and say you saw him and didn't want to bother him. Or actually don't even say that. Why make it seem like you weren't motivated until you saw him either in person or on TV. [1]
[1] I did two deals with someone who is on a reality TV show. I didn't even mention that I watched the show. I just went right into the pitch (which worked). Everyone is different but that is what has worked for me (on several occasions) in the past.
This is nothing new. Mark Cuban has always looked into investment opportunities he receives via email, and has publicized the fact that he does just that. He came very close to investing in Siasto while I was a cofounder there.
What a coincidence. I was just holding his cofounder, Drew Schiller's card in my hand at the time I read this headline on HN. Clicked through the link and saw it was for Validic!
For those who don't know, Validic is a very nice API for health data. I met Drew at the Novartis Heart Health hackathon in SF and he was very proactive in troubleshooting our issues with their API, on the spot. Congrats!
Good to see awesome Durham companies getting attention here.
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Yes it is. Can't wait to see the Adzerk IPO announcement here on HN!
I think word is slowly trickling out that NC is more than just a bunch of rednecks running around drinking beer, shooting guns, and doing donuts with their 4WD pickups.
Not that I have a problem with beer, guns or 4WD trucks.
:-)
Picked up an investment from Mark much along these lines. I had a product to show off, knew there was a chance he'd be interested, and rather spontaneously sent him an email. If he finds something about what you've said intriguing, he really does get back to you amazingly fast.
He doesn't beat around the bush, so if you email him, make sure you know what you're looking for. I made the mistake of not having a number in mind, and while it didn't ruin the process, it certainly could have. He also won't read everything in a long email, so don't waste his time or yours, definitely keep it short and to the point.
I've found he's a really great business partner. He makes himself available (by email) at all times, responds quickly, is always interested in finding new ways to promote your business (he networks his investments where he can), and he's a patient investor.
I'd be interested to see one of these companies break out. If they can improve the healthcare system, then it's a huge win at little/no cost to society.
However, there don't seem to be any real standouts yet, it seems like there's a bunch of companies doing the same thing with no clear, unique, value.
Yeah, that sounds about right. I briefly worked at a startup where the founder had received funding from Mark while they were at a Superbowl party together. He'd be an interesting guy to meet.
I had a chance to meet Mark at one of those VC /investor panel things, where he was the keynote speaker. After his speech, he hung around to talk to people. By and large, he struck me as a cool guy. He was in jeans and a polo shirt, and was seemed pretty laid-back for a billionaire. If you had not known who he was, you really wouldn't have realized that he was a celebrity or super-rich (well, other than the crowd of people mobbing around him, trying to get a piece of his attention).
He did also emphasize to the crowd that he does check his own email, reads it all, and is open to cold pitches. He even claims to have done deals entirely via email before, without even meeting the person on the other end face-to-face. So yeah, I'd say this story isn't exactly a surprise, given that it's Mark Cuban.
FWIW, I got to speak to him briefly about my startup, and his response was "Sounds good if you can just execute". We weren't pitching to raise money at the time, but if we ever do start trying to raise a round, I figure it'll be worth shooting him an email.
Edit: I just finished reading TFA and see that this actually is one of those cases where Mark invested without meeting face-to-face. Very cool. Also cool to see that Validic are locals here in the Raleigh/Durham area. Way to represent the Triangle! Congrats to you guys, if you're reading.
"and was seemed pretty laid-back for a billionaire. "
Reminds me of what my mom said many years ago when she met Jay Leno. She remembered how nice he was to her and how she didn't expect that.
I think that when you are a public person like that you probably have to try to make extra sure that you aren't a "dick" or a "tool" lest word gets around that harms your image. Especially when you are on TV.
I'm not saying that he isn't (I don't know him from before he was famous) but I would imagine that you have to go to a conscious effort to be on your best behavior or suffer (as we might see from time to time with celebrities) the consequences of not treating people in a really nice way. And to not seem as if you are above them.
For example I was at a restaurant last night, didn't like something, and complained. I'm sure if I was famous or well known I would have thought twice about what I said and did. And if I did complain I would have done so in the most charming and deferential way.
That's a fair point, and I don't claim to know him well enough to make any strong claim one way or the other, regarding whether he's a "cool guy" or a total asshole. All I can say is that, given my one brief encounter with him, he came off as an OK guy. Maybe that's natural, maybe it's manufactured, who's to say about such things?
His company is a good fit for an area Cuban has expressed interest in things he's written-about and spoken about - health-related topics, and measuring things previously not measured using sensors.
MC was the sole investor in the first startup I worked for -- while I think he has his positive and negative sides like any investor, the best advice I can give anyone is to not pursue a specific investor or set of investors, no matter how much you think they are the "perfect" fit for your startup. The more popular the investor, the more likely you are wasting your breath (or email). You are also more likely to get depressed when your "ideal" investor turns you down or ignores you altogether.
That said, you definitely won't get what you don't ask for, unless you have so much traction already that investors are beating down your door.
The thing I find most surprising is that he attached the deck to the first email. I've always operated on the assumption that I should never attach anything to an email until I've established some trust with the person I'm emailing. I would imagine a high-profile target like Cuban is at high risk of a targeted malware attack.
I just read his "Success and Motivation" series on his blog. Great stuff. Sounds like he's a grinder. He works at a problem until it gets solved. Great business mindset.
Allowing software to understand what you mean for them to do with out the user having to learn commands.
Why are you doing it?
Devices, Computers, Cars, are all "dumb" they don't understand as much english as a 3 year old. That limits their usefulness.
What’s your traction?
We are in the market. People are paying for our api's. Over a quarter million people use our Apps, and big companies are using us instead of Google or Bing for search results.
I would add a fourth question. Where do you see this going in 5 years?
This is the next PageRank. Math has done a great job faking its ability to do English, but it is time to use a real understanding of English to do what Math just plain can't. I will be sad if this isn't changing a half dozen industries in 5 years, because I'm ready for everything to be voice addressable, and to not be tied to the tedium of taking unstructured data and having humans type answers in to data entry fields.
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 16.0 ms ] threadFuture news title: Story of how "cold email to Mark Cuban turned into investment" results into thousands of cold emails with BS business ideas send to Mark Cuban.
It is nice to see it work out for someone.
It's not just that... he has, in the past, very publicly stated that he's open to cold-email pitches. He even puts (or did put) his email address up on the big displays in the arena during Mavericks games.
He listened and engaged, but said, look, send me an email, I read every email I get. Cool to see that play out with a positive outcome for this guy.
Should just say "I will email you about it".
And actually to be even less annoying might even want to skip saying anything when you meet in person. (Unless of course you are somewhere where it's expected and appropriate).
Just send the email and say you saw him and didn't want to bother him. Or actually don't even say that. Why make it seem like you weren't motivated until you saw him either in person or on TV. [1]
[1] I did two deals with someone who is on a reality TV show. I didn't even mention that I watched the show. I just went right into the pitch (which worked). Everyone is different but that is what has worked for me (on several occasions) in the past.
For those who don't know, Validic is a very nice API for health data. I met Drew at the Novartis Heart Health hackathon in SF and he was very proactive in troubleshooting our issues with their API, on the spot. Congrats!
https://validic.com/
Good to see awesome Durham companies getting attention here.
Yes it is. Can't wait to see the Adzerk IPO announcement here on HN!
I think word is slowly trickling out that NC is more than just a bunch of rednecks running around drinking beer, shooting guns, and doing donuts with their 4WD pickups.
Not that I have a problem with beer, guns or 4WD trucks. :-)
He doesn't beat around the bush, so if you email him, make sure you know what you're looking for. I made the mistake of not having a number in mind, and while it didn't ruin the process, it certainly could have. He also won't read everything in a long email, so don't waste his time or yours, definitely keep it short and to the point.
I've found he's a really great business partner. He makes himself available (by email) at all times, responds quickly, is always interested in finding new ways to promote your business (he networks his investments where he can), and he's a patient investor.
I'd be interested to see one of these companies break out. If they can improve the healthcare system, then it's a huge win at little/no cost to society.
However, there don't seem to be any real standouts yet, it seems like there's a bunch of companies doing the same thing with no clear, unique, value.
He did also emphasize to the crowd that he does check his own email, reads it all, and is open to cold pitches. He even claims to have done deals entirely via email before, without even meeting the person on the other end face-to-face. So yeah, I'd say this story isn't exactly a surprise, given that it's Mark Cuban.
FWIW, I got to speak to him briefly about my startup, and his response was "Sounds good if you can just execute". We weren't pitching to raise money at the time, but if we ever do start trying to raise a round, I figure it'll be worth shooting him an email.
Edit: I just finished reading TFA and see that this actually is one of those cases where Mark invested without meeting face-to-face. Very cool. Also cool to see that Validic are locals here in the Raleigh/Durham area. Way to represent the Triangle! Congrats to you guys, if you're reading.
Reminds me of what my mom said many years ago when she met Jay Leno. She remembered how nice he was to her and how she didn't expect that.
I think that when you are a public person like that you probably have to try to make extra sure that you aren't a "dick" or a "tool" lest word gets around that harms your image. Especially when you are on TV.
I'm not saying that he isn't (I don't know him from before he was famous) but I would imagine that you have to go to a conscious effort to be on your best behavior or suffer (as we might see from time to time with celebrities) the consequences of not treating people in a really nice way. And to not seem as if you are above them.
For example I was at a restaurant last night, didn't like something, and complained. I'm sure if I was famous or well known I would have thought twice about what I said and did. And if I did complain I would have done so in the most charming and deferential way.
Named Inc's entrepreneur of the year, this year, Box started off with a cold email from Aaron Levie to Mark Cuban: http://zurb.com/soapbox/events/27/Aaron-Levie-ZURBsoapbox
That said, you definitely won't get what you don't ask for, unless you have so much traction already that investors are beating down your door.
Example:
Hi Mark,
I'm fundraising for my widget startup, WidgetWorks.
The short version:
* WidgetWorks has a working prototype and payingn customers * I like whacky people with money, hence this email to you * see attached PDF w/ pitch.
Thanks in advance for reading!
Joe
P.S. May the Mavericks crush their opponents in the finals
Allowing software to understand what you mean for them to do with out the user having to learn commands.
Why are you doing it?
Devices, Computers, Cars, are all "dumb" they don't understand as much english as a 3 year old. That limits their usefulness.
What’s your traction?
We are in the market. People are paying for our api's. Over a quarter million people use our Apps, and big companies are using us instead of Google or Bing for search results.
I would add a fourth question. Where do you see this going in 5 years?
This is the next PageRank. Math has done a great job faking its ability to do English, but it is time to use a real understanding of English to do what Math just plain can't. I will be sad if this isn't changing a half dozen industries in 5 years, because I'm ready for everything to be voice addressable, and to not be tied to the tedium of taking unstructured data and having humans type answers in to data entry fields.
So what are your answers?
So what is it?