Bill Gates

Born on 28th October , 1955 Grew up in a well off family

Voracious reader
Enjoyed games involving risk Excelled in academics

Programming geek from age 13 Followed his passion in school Befriended Paul Allen At age 15, went into business which failed

Parents insisted on going to college

Parents wanted him to become a lawyer !!! SAT score 1590/1600

Enrolled in Harvard University Spent more time in computer lab than class

Joined Paul Allen, his school friend

Pitched to MITS company Spent two months writing software for MITS

Successful test run on Altair 8800 Dropped out of Harvard University

Founded Microsoft along with Paul Allen

Initial earnings through royalties and fee Could not meet overhead expenses

Faced problem of piracy Wrote open letter to computer hobbyists

MITS sold
Microsoft made soft wares for other companies Worked 16 hours per day for next 5 years

Acumen at both software development and business operations Personally reviewed every line of code that his company shipped and sometimes rewrote it. Came in contact with IBM through his mother Struck the deal with IBM

Overcame obstacle through shrewd way IBM paid licensing fee for software copies. This allowed Microsoft to license its software to run on other companys PC. Microsofts growth accelerated. Paul Allen diagnosed with cancer in 1983

Partnership with Apple False advertising campaign

After 2 years launched Windows

Clash with Apple where Microsoft prevailed In 1986 , Microsoft went public

In 1987, became a billionaire His confrontational management style became legend Ruthless competitor Faced legal problems because of its monopoly.

Committed to philanthropy after his mothers death in 1994. In 2000 , founded Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Handed reigns to Steve Ballmer as CEO in 2000. His last full day at Microsoft office was on June 27, 2008.

It's fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure. Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose. I really had a lot of dreams when I was a kid, and I think a great deal of that grew out of the fact that I had a chance to read a lot.

Thank You