Mark Cuban, a well-known billionaire investor and television personality, has offered career guidance aimed directly at recent college graduates. In a post on social media platform X on Wednesday, Cuban emphasized that new graduates should consider small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) as their primary employment targets. He articulated that within these smaller companies, graduates can contribute the most significant value, especially by leveraging emerging technologies such as AI agents.
Cuban pointed out that new graduates possess the ability to assist SMBs in utilizing AI agents to automate and enhance processes that companies previously handled manually, either because they lacked the resources or the capacity to optimize these tasks effectively. According to him, these companies often do not have the time or financial wherewithal to implement such automation without the fresh perspectives and technical skills that recent graduates bring.
In contrast, Cuban noted that larger corporations typically do not require new graduate talent specifically for these AI-related improvements since their scale and existing infrastructures may already address such needs differently. Instead, Cuban sees entrepreneurial and smaller firms as prime environments where graduates can immediately add value by introducing innovative AI applications that the companies might not have initially recognized as necessary.
Expanding on the role of AI agents, Cuban highlighted that these virtual assistants can autonomously complete tasks from beginning to end without constant user intervention. This means that businesses incorporating agentic AI can streamline many business functions previously dependent on manual efforts. The adoption of such technology is rapidly growing, as evidenced by a study conducted by Jellyfish, a software engineering management service, which found that among over 400 companies analyzed, the implementation of agentic AI increased significantly from 50% in December 2024 to 82% by May 2025.
Industry leaders have endorsed this trend, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang declaring in January that we have entered 'the age of agentic AI,' and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman describing AI agents as akin to junior employees within companies. Financial institutions are also projecting the economic influence of AI, with a Morgan Stanley report from November forecasting that AI-powered shopping agents alone could contribute an additional $115 billion to the U.S. e-commerce sector by 2030.
Cuban’s advocacy for SMB employment aligns with current market challenges faced by graduates entering the workforce. The entry-level job market has witnessed a decline in vacancy numbers, compounded by increased competition for the remaining positions. Employment platform Handshake, based in California, reported in May that job postings on their site had dropped by 15% compared to the same period last year, while the number of applications per posting surged by 30%, indicating heightened competition among applicants.
Moreover, Handshake’s data reveals that over one-third of applications from new graduates for full-time roles are directed toward companies with 250 or fewer employees. This statistic underscores the interest and opportunity within the SMB segment for new entrants to the workforce. Recognizing this trend, smaller businesses are making efforts to attract Generation Z graduates by offering workplace flexibility that has become a high priority for this demographic. According to workplace researchers interviewed in July, smaller firms are increasingly providing remote work options and flexible schedules to remain competitive with larger companies on talent acquisition.
In summary, Mark Cuban’s advice reflects a strategic view for new college graduates navigating a complex job market. By focusing on smaller enterprises and harnessing skills particularly related to agentic AI, graduates may find unique entry points to create immediate impact and accelerate professional growth in a challenging economic landscape.