Mark Cuban Says The ‘Path’ To Getting Rich Starts With 2 Things — Have Your Own Business And Know How To Sell, Then You Can Become A Millionaire

Mark Cuban has heard every version of the same question over the years. How do you get rich? How do you build a billion-dollar company? What’s the shortcut? On most podcasts, the answers come packaged as business advice. On Bobbi Althoff‘s show, they arrive somewhere between awkward silence and dry humor.

That contrast is part of what made a 2023 episode of “The Really Good Podcast” stand out. Althoff, known for her signature deadpan delivery and intentionally uncomfortable interview style, steered the conversation from Cuban’s early days sleeping on floors with roommates into a blunt question about her own future.

“Do you think I could be a billionaire one day?” she asked.

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Cuban told her yes — with a reality check attached.

“If you want to be,” he said. “But being a billionaire takes luck. I mean you could be rich. I mean you can be well off if you bust your a**. And that’s not to say a lot of people bust their a** and don’t make it, but there’s like a path.”

The Difference Between Billionaire Luck And Getting Rich

Cuban’s answer drew a line he has talked about for years. Billionaire status often comes down to timing, scale, and luck. Getting rich, he said, is more repeatable.

Cuban fans know his own fortune was built during the dot-com boom, when he sold Broadcast.com to Yahoo for $5.7 billion — a deal he’s often credited with closing at the perfect time, just before the bubble burst.

“There’s like a path if you have your own business and you know how to sell,” Cuban told her. He added that building sales skills and growing a business creates the foundation for wealth long before anyone starts thinking about billions.

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“If you get good at selling and you can build your business then you can start as a millionaire,” he said. “And then if you get lucky then you never know where it takes you from there.”

The exchange fit neatly into Althoff’s style. When Cuban pointed out she had not been strong at selling yet, she replied with a flat “thank you,” keeping the tone somewhere between joke and business lesson. Cuban responded the same way he often does with founders and entrepreneurs — monetize the opportunity.

Sales First, Wealth Second

The conversation circled back to a theme Cuban repeats often across interviews and startup discussions. Sales comes first. Everything else follows.

Early in the episode, he told Althoff that waiting for advertisers to come to her podcast was backward. Founders, he said, have to ask for business and explain why someone should spend money with them. That same mindset applies whether someone is launching a podcast, building a side business, or investing in startups.

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The idea is simple even if the execution is not. Ownership builds equity. Sales generates income. Combine the two and wealth becomes possible.

Cuban also made clear that hard work alone is not a guarantee. Plenty of people work hard and never reach extreme wealth. But learning how to sell and building something of your own, he said, gives people a real shot at becoming financially comfortable.