Editor’s note: Given recent developments in AI tech, we wanted to revisit a piece from April.
Below, Chief Research Analyst Matt Clark walks through how one of the most successful tech investors of the 20th century got his start.
And he’s not the only one…
Imagine…
You’re 12 years old, and you just saw a pair of shoes you have to have.
The problem is … you’re 12. Your allowance isn’t enough to buy shoes that are more than $100.
So you have three options:
- Forget about the shoes.
- Save up your allowance and hope the shoes are still there when you have enough money.
- Find another way to make money so you can get the shoes faster.
You love the shoes, so No. 1 isn’t happening.
Your parents only give you $5 a week, so it will take you months to save up enough to buy those shoes.
That leaves the third option … find a way to earn more money.
This was the same decision one of the most well-known “Tech Titans” faced growing up in a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
He parlayed that decision to build a fortune with billions investing in technology innovation.
Garbage Bags, Coins and … Technology?
Our footwear aficionado decided the only way he would get the shoes he coveted was to sell a product that was always in demand.
His choice … garbage bags.
He went up and down his neighborhood selling garbage bags.
It worked.
He made enough profit from selling those bags to buy his dream shoes. But he also realized there was a way to earn even more money…
Over the years, our budding entrepreneur sold stamps, coins and newspapers. He even sold disco dance lessons to sorority girls in college.
He clearly had a knack for selling, which turned into his next opportunity.
In 1982, he founded MicroSolutions, a computer consulting service.
These were the days of the Commodore 64 and Apple Macintosh computers … far from the handheld devices we have now.
In 1990, CompuServe offered to acquire his small business for $6 million. That deal made the Tech Titan his first million at the age of 32.
By 1995, he got another big break in the burgeoning live-streaming industry.
He and a friend from his college days invested in a company called Audionet. The premise of the company was broadcasting live college and professional sports over the internet.
By 1998, the company rebranded itself as Broadcast.com and earned $13.5 million in quarterly revenue.
The company later sold to Yahoo! for $5.7 billion in an all-stock deal in 1999.
That deal made this Tech Titan millions.
Not bad for someone who started by selling garbage bags to neighbors.
This Tech Titan Wasn’t Done
Broadcast.com was just the first of many deals that earned this Tech Titan a spot on Forbes’ list of “World’s Richest People”:
- He invested $1.7 million in RedSwoosh, a file-sharing company, which Akamai acquired for $19 million two years later.
- He funded the online blog network Weblogs Inc., which AOL later bought for between $20 million and $25 million.
- He co-founded the first high-definition satellite television network, AXS TV, in 2003.
- He’s also invested in everything from investigative websites and movie distribution to cryptocurrency … he even bought an entire town.
Have you guessed who I’m talking about yet?
The Tech Titan I speak of is none other than Mark Cuban.
Of course, you may know Cuban better as a member of the panel on ABC’s Shark Tank — where he’s invested around $20 million in various businesses — and as the former owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks.
Cuban used his tech savvy to go from selling garbage bags into a fortune valued at $5.4 billion.
Bottom line: Cuban and other Tech Titans like him can turn a need for revolutionary technology into billion-dollar fortunes.
It’s why investors big and small follow Cuban and other tech visionaries.
Our chief investment strategist, Adam O’Dell, identified another Tech Titan who has a track record of turning small companies with one big idea into business powerhouses.
This Tech Titan founded an artificial intelligence (AI) company that serves major government entities, such as the U.S. Army, the Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Special Operations Command.
The company leverages AI to help make the right decision … quicker than ever thought possible.
It also just secured a key partnership with a cornerstone of the tech world.
And this company is set up to take a massive slice of the AI market — a market that is set to be worth trillions in the coming years.
The time is now to buy into this revolutionary company. To find out more, make sure you watch Adam’s presentation now.
Until next time…
Safe trading,
Matt Clark, CMSA®
Research Analyst, Money & Markets