In a matter of hours — two, to be exact — UTC professor Ryan Russell’s digital marketing class had a real-life lesson in the power of social media, nabbing a virtual interview with world-renowned entrepreneur and host of the television show, “Shark Tank,” Mark Cuban.
In addition to “Shark Tank” fame, Cuban is known as a part owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, co-founder of the video portal Broadcast.com and the owner of Cost Plus Drug Co., which he created in an effort to lower prescription drug costs.
This April, Forbes.com listed him as the 577th richest person in the world, with a net worth of more than $5.4 billion.
For Russell, Thursday started with a last-minute guest speaker cancellation. But instead of wasting the class time, he posed a challenge to his students.
“I asked, ‘Who do you want? I’ll give $1,000 for whoever you want,'” Russell said. “Somebody said ‘Mark Cuban,’ and I said ‘Let’s go.'”