Go For The Shark

Shoot Your Shot is my personal series where I ideate in public for brand partnerships that I would love to make happen or see come to life...You miss 100 % of the shots you don't take

I just finished reading Mark Cuban's book, How To Win At The Sport Of Business, and thought to myself, why not. It's been on my mind for quite some time anyways, why not find a way to pitch Mark Cuban. What's stopping you from getting in contact from him. Looking at my network, I think I'm 1-2 connections away from at least getting a line to his team.

In his book, he talks about the importance of sales and not thinking small when it comes to business if you truly want to succeed. There will be failures but you only have to be right once.

It takes just as much effort to pitch a small fish as it does a big shark. Why not go for the big shark!?!?

One piece of advice that I always take to heart when it comes to connecting with sharks that I've received is: Be authentic, Be efficient, Do your homework, Always have an ask but more importantly an offer. By offer, not soliciting your services [that will eventually come if it's meant to be], I mean a value add to something they might need help with or to take off their plate. You might be thinking just like I do, what value can I provide a billionaire that has all the resources to take care of whatever he/she needs. That's where doing your homework comes into play. Whether you are meeting a shark, a recruiter, a prospect, etc...this advice will serve you well just as it's served me.

So outside of trying to get time with Mark Cuban...this is how I'm going to shoot my shot to Mark Cuban [indirectly] and how you can to.

Mark Cuban has built a conglomerate and is involved in over 70 companies whether as an advisor, investor, strategic partner, founder, etc. If you go to his website [Mark Cuban Companies] you will see a full list of the companies he's part of. He literally tells you which companies he's involved in, and even gives a quick synopsis of each one.

My plan is a simple 4 step process :

1. Look through the list of companies on his website and curate the companies I feel I have a good shot with. This means, do I like the brand, do I know enough about the category, is there any way I can provide value, is there a play to be made?
2. Curate the list and organize accordingly; Creating simple labels such as company, website, contacts, socials, quick notes, value add, synergy ...will help me be more efficient in my approach
3. Brainstorm different ways where synergies make sense
4. Shoot shots like Luka [most people would say Steph right here but just incase this comes across Mark Cuban's plate, I remember one episode on Shark Tank where a group lost a deal because they were trying to be funny]

For example, one company under Mark Cuban's portfolio is Degreed, a skills first revolutionary platform. I would/will pitch them for potentially doing UGC content using my background as a lifelong curious learner who continued school while playing and continues to build skills in my post athletic career. This is just one example.

There are about 70 companies from his website that I will be shooting at. If you want to be part of the process, make sure you subscribe to this newsletter but more importantly my personal newsletter where we will get more in depth throughout the year on how this process goes.

What do you think? Any recommendations on how I should approach this? Any companies from the list that you like?

Side note: something every athlete can learn from Mark Cuban. Always be selling !!

If Mark Cuban can create an Amazon storefront so can you. If you need help building this out with a plan in place, don't hesitate to reach out.