Mark Cuban

Mark Cuban is probably the most recognizable shark on the show. The guy sold Broadcast.com to Yahoo for $5.7 billion in 1999 and then went out and bought the Dallas Mavericks, which pretty much tells you everything you need to know about how he operates.

He grew up in Pittsburgh, went to Indiana University, and got into the tech world early. Before Broadcast.com there was MicroSolutions, a computer software company he co-founded in 1983 that got acquired by CompuServe. That was the first win. Broadcast.com was the big one though, and that Yahoo deal set him up to basically do whatever he wanted for the rest of his life.

And what he wanted was to own a basketball team. He bought the Mavericks in 2000 when they were one of the worst teams in the league and turned them into champions. They won the NBA title in 2011. He was the kind of owner who would sit courtside screaming at refs and getting fined by the NBA, which honestly made him more fun to watch than half the games.

On Shark Tank he’s been there since season two and he tends to go big or go home. He’s not interested in lifestyle businesses or small margin stuff. He wants tech, he wants scale, and he’s willing to put up serious money when something catches his eye. He also has zero patience for entrepreneurs who don’t know their numbers.

Some notable stuff:

• Sold Broadcast.com to Yahoo for $5.7 billion
• Owned the Dallas Mavericks and led them to an NBA championship in 2011
• Named one of Time’s “100 Most Influential People” in 2011
• Founded the Mark Cuban Foundation for business and entrepreneurship education