Mark Cuban's Fundraising Advice for Startups
Jul 23, 2025Mark Cuban co-founded Broadcast.com and sold it to ​Yahoo!​ for $5.7 billion in 1999. He is an investor in numerous companies, and is known for his appearance on *Shark Tank” and ownership of the Dallas Mavericks.
Here are some of his best quotes on fundraising:
- Raise the minimum you need: “‘Raising money is not an accomplishment, it’s an obligation.’ You have to ask yourself, ‘Why do I need the money and what am I going to use it for?’ Just take that amount. The less you take the more you keep.”
- Start with Sweat Equity: “The biggest mistake entrepreneurs make is making how much money they think they need to raise part of the equation for starting a business. They come up with an idea and their next thought is, ‘How much money can I raise?’”
- Raise to grow, not to build: “Start small. Create that product or service that you can sell…and then you’ll see you have so many resources available to you that you can grow it from there…’If you’re growing so quickly that you need funding, that’s when the funding will find you.”
- How to get an investor excited: "The first thing I want to ask when I invest is, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Secondly, I look for an entrepreneur who I think with a little bit of juice I can turn into something special. That gets me excited and inspires me."
* References/ recommended deep dive: His ​blog​, interviews ​1​ ​2​ ​3​
