Mark Cuban on the NBA, Cost Plus Drugs, and How to Fix Politics
The a16z Show9 Sep 2025

Mark Cuban on the NBA, Cost Plus Drugs, and How to Fix Politics

What happens when AI collides with salesmanship, streaming-era sports, and healthcare?

In this episode, Erik Torenberg is joined by Mark Cuban, entrepreneur, Dallas Mavericks co-owner, and founder of Cost Plus Drugs.

Topics include fiery group chats and how dissent sharpens thinking, the sales playbook of modern politics, and concrete fixes for U.S. healthcare like ending PBM opacity, publishing real prices, and government-backed patient financing. Mark also explains how AI is pushing media from “social” to algorithmic, why he expects millions of models, and why ESOPs are an underrated wealth engine. He shares what he’d build today and weighs in on NBA economics under the new collective bargaining agreement.

Timecodes:

00:00 Introduction

00:47 Salesmanship, Politics, and Social Media

04:05 AI, Algorithms, and the Future of Media

06:29 Fragmentation of Social Platforms

09:04 Political Messaging & Economic Populism

12:05 Wealth, Equity, and Employee Ownership

16:39 AI’s Impact on Education and Healthcare

21:32 Fixing the US Healthcare System

29:39 Entrepreneurship in the Age of AI

33:38 Business Success, Sports, and Investments

35:32 NBA Economics and Team Building

50:44 Personal Priorities & Closing Thoughts

Resources:

Find Mark on X: https://x.com/mcuban

Stay Updated:

Let us know what you think: https://ratethispodcast.com/a16z

Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/

Follow our host: https://x.com/eriktorenberg

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

Stay Updated:

Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube

Find a16z on X

Find a16z on LinkedIn

Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify

Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episoder(1000)

What's Missing Between LLMs and AGI - Vishal Misra & Martin Casado

What's Missing Between LLMs and AGI - Vishal Misra & Martin Casado

Vishal Misra returns to explain his latest research on how LLMs actually work under the hood. He walks through experiments showing that transformers update their predictions in a precise, mathematical...

17 Mar 47min

AI Startups vs. Big Chatbots — With Olivia Moore

AI Startups vs. Big Chatbots — With Olivia Moore

In this episode, originally aired on Big Technology Podcast, Olivia Moore discusses whether AI startups can compete with the big chatbots, why American sentiment toward AI is so negative, and what she...

16 Mar 56min

Marc Andreessen on the Mindset of Great Founders — with David Senra

Marc Andreessen on the Mindset of Great Founders — with David Senra

Marc Andreessen joins David Senra for a conversation about entrepreneurship, history, and what drives some of the world’s most ambitious builders. In this conversation with David, Marc reflects on pat...

15 Mar 1h 49min

Emil Michael: Iran, Anthropic and the Future of AI at the Pentagon

Emil Michael: Iran, Anthropic and the Future of AI at the Pentagon

This conversation with Emil Michael, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering and acting director of the Defense Innovation Unit, was recorded at the a16z American Dynamism Summit in Was...

13 Mar 27min

Palantir CEO Alex Karp on the Zero-Sum AI Race

Palantir CEO Alex Karp on the Zero-Sum AI Race

This conversation with Alex Karp, cofounder and CEO of Palantir, was recorded at the a16z American Dynamism Summit in Washington, D.C. Karp discusses the role of technology in modern warfare, Silicon ...

12 Mar 32min

What It Takes to Clear a Million Crimes a Year with Flock Safety's CEO

What It Takes to Clear a Million Crimes a Year with Flock Safety's CEO

In this episode, previously aired on Cheeky Pint, Garrett Langley describes how a stolen gun in his Atlanta neighborhood led him to build Flock Safety, now deployed in more than 6,000 cities and invol...

11 Mar 1h 46min

The Top 100 Gen AI Consumer Apps

The Top 100 Gen AI Consumer Apps

Anish Acharya speaks with Olivia Moore about the latest edition of the a16z Top 100 AI Apps report. They cover why ChatGPT is still 30 times bigger than Claude on web, how the three major platforms ar...

10 Mar 40min

Andrew Huberman: Peptides, Sleep Tech, and the End of Obesity

Andrew Huberman: Peptides, Sleep Tech, and the End of Obesity

Daisy Wolf speaks with Dr. Andrew Huberman, professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford University and host of the Huberman Lab podcast. They discuss how the pandemic sparked a consumer he...

9 Mar 51min

Populært innen Business og økonomi

lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
stopp-verden
dine-penger-pengeradet
e24-podden
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
rss-borsmorgen-okonominyhetene
livet-pa-veien-med-jan-erik-larssen
pengepodden-2
finansredaksjonen
pengesnakk
tid-er-penger-en-podcast-med-peter-warren
stormkast-med-valebrokk-stordalen
utbytte
morgenkaffen-med-finansavisen
liberal-halvtime
okonomiamatorene
rss-politisk-preik
rss-markedspuls-2
lederpodden
rss-sunn-okonomi