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Bill Gates is an american entrepreneur, computer programmer, philanthropist, investor and inventor. Bill is the founder of Microsoft, the biggest personal computer software company in the world, which he co-founded with Paul Allen. He is the former CEO and chairman. Bill Gates is also currently the richest person in the world.
Gates, with a 1590 out of 1600 SAT score, went to Harvard without a specific study plan and left it to start a software company with Paul Allen. During its time at Harvard, he met Steve Ballmer, who later became the CEO of Microsoft. In November 1975, Gates took a leave of absence from Harvard, while Paul Allen was hired into MITS and they both moved to Albuquerque.
They later started a partnership, under the name of “Micro-Soft”. The first turning point for Microsoft was when they closed a partnership with IBM in order to provide the software for the IBM PC in 1980. Five years later, the company released its first version of Microsoft Windows in 1985.
Bill Gates stepped down as Chief Executive Officer in January 2000, after more than 25 years. However he kept working at the company as Chairman and Chief Software Architect. In 2006, he decided to leave his day to day role at Microsoft, to start working full time at the Foundation that he co-founded with his wife, Melinda.
After more than 35 years, Bill Gates is still the major shareholder in Microsoft with 6.4%. Bill belongs to the successful dropout generation that has left a prestigious Ivy Leave to found his own company. As he says in the videos, he wasn’t planning to leave Harvard permanently, but he just wanted to take a gap year and start his own company. Nevertheless, a year later, he probably realised it wasn’t the right time to go back.
In the second interview, Bill goes through the way he used to work during his life. In his twenties, he didn’t even know what the word “vacation” meant by working 24/7, in his thirties he started taking weekends off and then when he got married he finally started taking vacations with his wife, Melinda Gates.
Bill Gates remains a controversial entrepreneur, with thousands of defects, but several virtues that made him the person he is today. A lot can be learned from his past experiences and the way he drove Microsoft to become one of the biggest tech giants on Earth.
Steve Jobs and Bill Gates Together at D5 Conference 2007
William H. Gates III COL ’77, LLD ’07 Q&A | The Harvard Campaign Launch
Bill Gates Harvard Commencement Address 2007
