Don't start a company unless it's an obsession and something you love. If you have an exit strategy, it's not an obsession.

Cuban frames entrepreneurship as a vocation that demands intrinsic motivation rather than a purely financial or strategic calculation. By contrasting “obsession” with an “exit strategy,” he implies that founders who begin with a plan to cash out may lack the persistence needed to endure the long, uncertain grind of building a company. The quote elevates love of the work—product, customers, problem-solving—as the fuel that sustains risk-taking and resilience. It also functions as a warning against treating startups as short-term vehicles for liquidity, suggesting that the best outcomes often come when the founder’s primary commitment is to the mission and day-to-day execution, not the eventual sale.