"Use sweat equity" - Shark Tank's Mark Cuban urges new owners to avoid funding initially

Mark Cuban, the Shark Tank investor, recently revealed his advice to young and budding entrepreneurs who are seeking to have some funding for the growth of their companies.

He asks these founders to wait some more before getting in the cash flow that they are hoping to get. Especially talking about Black women business owners, Mark Cuban talked to ESSENCE and told them his thoughts about what they should do instead of looking for funds.

Shark Tank's Mark raised a successful business for himself when he rode on the wave of the intended boom in the 90s with his company Broadcast.com. He later sold it in shares to Yahoo at $5.7 billion.

This paved the way for his future companies and investments such as the Dallas Mavericks which he bought in 2000 and led them to winning the NBA in 2011. Thus, having the Shark Tank investor advise on this subject was worthwhile. Talking about funding, he said,

"I would tell you not to look for funding. You have to figure out a way to use sweat equity to build it on your own, even if it means starting smaller and slower, because there is a learning process, and it’s twofold. One is learning about your business and making it loanworthy. Then two is learning the language of those making the loans.”

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Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban advises young business owners to not get funding too soon

Cuban's advice is simple yet profound. He wants the owners to first work out their finances themselves before letting a third party enter their business and potentially cause stress.

Shark Tank's Mark wants the founders to understand that they should have enough funds with them so that it does not affect their business even if what they are funding gets rejected initially. Talking about the same, Mark says,

"You can’t rush it. You have to take whatever time to get it right, because if you go into that bank, if you go somewhere to try to get a loan and you don’t get it, you still got to be in a position to work and go forward.

He added,

What’s even worse, and this is something I think is the most important point—there’s a lot of predatory lending out there, and it’s awful. The lenders see people who may not have the financial literacy or understanding, and they’ll say, ‘Oh, yeah, I’ll make you a loan.’”

Mark Cuban, the Shark Tank investor, warns young entrepreneurs against people who act as loan sharks and extract large amounts of money from the businesses which then ultimately go bankrupt.

This is the reason he wants everyone to have financial literacy about their business because of such "predatory" loan givers who will exploit the company if they notice that the founders do not have a clue about what they are doing. Thus, seeking out funding should be a secondary thing according to Shark Tank's Mark Cuban.

Tabitha Brown, who was also present at the conference with him, motivated the young owners to start their dreams if they keep on thinking of it.

She urged them to put in the work towards their calling and not wait for the climate to be right because it will never be. However, she also warns against rushing towards it and asks listeners to work towards their goals one day at a time.

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Shark Tank season 16 episodes are released every week, on ABC, 8 PM ET on Fridays. They are later available to watch on Hulu.