It isn’t often that two giants of the streaming age share nuggets of practical wisdom before an audience. But SXSW attendees were treated to that on Sunday when Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban, and Andrew McCollum, CEO of streaming platform Philo, were interviewed by Inc Editor at Large Christine Huaghney Dare-Bryan about their exploits in building a company.
Cuban offered some blunt career advice for would-be founders, particularly those just feeling out their paths. “Don’t follow your passion,” as a career guidepost, he said, contradicting one of the most popular entrepreneurial platitudes of our age. He noted that his adolescent passion to play pro basketball or baseball were, well, pipedreams.
His message is to not confuse passion with aptitude-and that following the latter might be more rewarding.
“Everybody’s got their passion and that’s not necessarily what you’re good at.” Instead, he added, it’s best to do what you’re good at, provided of course you get some measure of enjoyment out of it.
“Follow where you spend your time because that is your greatest indication of where you’re going to have your success,” he said. “I’m a big believer that everyone’s got that one thing they can be amazing at.”
Cuban, who first gained notoriety through broadcast.com, an early pioneer in online streaming that put radio on the web, is an investor in Philo, which was launched in 2010 by Harvard University students Tuan Ho and Nicholas Krasney. McCollum is also an investor in the company, an internet-based cable streaming service, and assumed the CEO position in 2014.
As one of the co-founders of Facebook, who was in the trenches at the company during its chaotic early days, McCollum understands that failure is an ever-present consideration in a founder’s mind.
“Every startup has huge ups and downs,” he said. “Even Facebook, which by all external assessments was a rocket ship success, was…a huge rollercoaster ride. There were times when we felt like this all could blow up and turn into nothing.”
Cuban echoed those anxieties of entrepreneurship, and his relatability could provide relief to anyone grappling with the frenetic grind of starting a company. “When you talk about Jeff Bezos and Facebook feeling like they’re close to the edge–that’s just part of running a company as a CEO or an entrepreneur,” he explained.
The takeaway, Cuban urged, is that turbulence is normal. “You talk about anxiety levels,” he said. “You’ve got to be able to understand that nothing is a straight line in business. You’re going to have zigs and zags that you don’t expect, but you just have to know that’s just part of the deal when you” “re running a company.”
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