Haha @elonmusk I’ve gotten beat’: Mark Cuban admits that after pumping $20,000,000 into 85 startups on Shark Tank, he’s down across all those deals combined — 3 simple lessons to take into 2025
I like this thread. It is appropriately negative. Thank you, M123. For quite some time, startups weren't failing. They were bad ideas, run by morons, and they kept on going. Look at Nicola. That stock is definitely a pusher. Nicola exists because fools pumped an infinite supply of money into it. Now it's just a shell that is dying slowly. Hey... buy the dip. Look at Rivian. They are still in business after 15 years. Remember when they were going to put Tesla out of business? lol! They've never made a penny and yet money continues to be injected into that turd. Further deep dive at Rivian... let's say, as a thought exercise, Rivian eventually does become sufficiently profitable as to not go out of business. Who's going to run it? It won't be someone who has ever had to save a business. It won't be someone who has been hardened in the crucible of existential survival. Is that operator going to cut sufficiently when the company returns to losing money? He's never had to before. He was always able to get money from investors and partners. "We lost another few billion? No big deal... bonuses all around!" There are a ton of corporations which should be dead but are not. Over 80% of small business fails. People have an idea. Sometimes it's clever. Sometimes it's stupid. Maybe they have the chops to run a business. Maybe they are ignorant. They try. They fail. The very odd one succeeds. Often, failures spawn new business attempts. It's the circle of life. I was sent a prospectus of a company that wanted to create electric show removal blades that also had heat elements which would melt snow and ice, leaving dry pavement. This venture pivoted on a new, free, unlimited energy supply... batteries. They had investors, too. Get in on the ground floor! These ignorant jack wagons wanted to risk other people's money on the foundation of their complete lack of comprehension of energy storage density. If there was a P.Eng anywhere in the group, I hope he lost his professional endorsement because he should not be practicing engineering. Businesses should fail. Not everyone is smart enough to succeed at anything. Even the people who are smart enough will struggle to succeed and will often fail. If you can increase your net worth by investing in penny stocks, there is a problem. Why do people reject incumbents? Everyone wants to put their money on the under dog but it's the proven successful business that are far, far more likely to move forward and earn money.
