(Source:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngreathouse/2012/06/05/business-tipsfrom-college-dropouts-zuckerberg-jobs-gates-dell-ellison-branson-anddisney/)

Business Tips From College

Dropouts: Zuckerberg, Jobs, Gates,
Dell, Ellison, Branson and Disney
According to a January 2012 Forbesarticle, nearly 16% of the 400 most affluent
Americans do not have a college degree. When one considers the 400 richest people on
the entire planet, the percentage of non-college graduates doubles. Shocking? Hardly.
PayPal Co-founder Peter Thiel has granted 24 people under 21 years old $100,000 each,
with plans to allocate additional scholarships in coming years. The primary stipulation is
that each Thiel Fellow must drop out of college, for at least two years, and pursue their
entrepreneurial ventures, research and self-education.
For many entrepreneurs, college has little appeal. Academias arbitrary, bureaucratic
structure, combined with its predominant focus on theoretical issues, causes many
entrepreneurs to depart college early. Others, such asWalt Disney and Richard
Branson never even enroll.

Given the advent of drop out of college scholarships and the success of high-profile
entrepreneurs who only earned a high-school diploma, it is prudent to consider their
business advice.
1.

Mark Zuckerberg The dynamic of managing people and

being CEO in a company is a lot different than being college roommates

with someone.

Although it may be comfortable to start a company with your friends, it is a mistake,

unless your friend(s) happens to be ideally suited to their role in your venture. Hang out
with your friends when you are relaxing and work with the most talented people you can
recruit.
Facebook had to resolve expensive and time-consuming litigation related to promising
early hires senior positions and substantial equity stakes. This could have been avoided
if, from the companys outset, Mr. Zuckerberg had focused on hiring all-star employees
and not simply friends and friends-of-friends.

2.

Steve Jobs So we went to Atari and said, Hey, weve got this

amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think
about funding us? Or well give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our
salary, well come work for you. And they said, No. So then we went to
Hewlett-Packard, and they said, Hey, we dont need you. You havent got
through college yet.
Even if an established leader in your industry does not see the wisdom in your ideas, do
not waiver. As Clay Christensen aptly points out in The Innovators Dilemma, a large
companys defense of its legacy clouds its ability to appropriately assess the potential
impact of disruptive technologies.
Entrepreneurs are misfits. Our resumes are routinely non-linear, incomplete, and
seemingly random. If you are hiring Bank Robbers, you must look beyond their lack of
accomplishments and assess their innate abilities. When you interview candidates
during the early stages of your startup, who is far more important than what, because
the tasks the candidate previously performed may be only partially applicable to the role
they will play in your venture.

3.

Bill Gates The best way to prepare [to be a programmer] is to write

programs, and to study great programs that other people have written. In
my case, I went to the garbage cans at the Computer Science Center and
fished out listings of their operating system.

Gates experiential approach to learning programming is typical of entrepreneurs,

especially those with little formal education. One could broadly recast Gates quote by
saying, the best way to prepare to become an entrepreneur is to start a business and
study how great startups succeed.
No one ever accused Mr. Gates of being a master programmer. However, his first-hand
knowledge of how to write, test and commercialize code facilitated his ability to lead
Microsoft from startup to world dominance.
4.

Michael Dell As important as school was, I found that it could be

very disruptive to a steady income.

Michael Dell promised his parents that he would return to school if the sales at his
startup did not meet his expectations. I had to give it a full go and see what
happened. I couldnt resist the opportunity. The deal was, I would start
into business full time in May, and at the end of August we would take a
look and decide if it was doing well.

Although he has spoken at numerous graduation ceremonies since he left college,

Michael never returned to school as a student. I was, you know, rebellious, an 18,
19-year old and just did what I wanted to do and all worked out OK.

5.

Larry Ellison I have had all of the disadvantages required for

success.
Entrepreneurs are often societal rejects. We often avoid the rational path and make our
own job because we are unable to accommodate the rigidity associated with taking a job.
Iconoclasm is not a requirement of entrepreneurship, but it certainly is a common trait.
The tendency to challenge and reject the norm often puts entrepreneurs at odds with
conventional wisdom.
Underdog status is also a common driving force among successful entrepreneurs. A
feeling of inferiority due to a lack of family wealth and connections, formal education,

and traditional career accomplishments often drives entrepreneurs to work frenetically

as a way of compensating for such perceived shortcomings.
6.

Richard Branson My mother was determined to make us

independent. When I was four years old, she stopped the car a few miles
from our house and made me find my own way home across the fields. I
got hopelessly lost.
Similar to Tony Hsiehs parents, Richards mom reinforced a heightened sense of selfsufficiency. Richard dropped out of school at the age of 16 to begin publishing a
magazine targeted to young people, called Student. Richard leveraged the fact that
record companies were Students biggest advertisers to subsequently launch a record
store. He then built his initial store into an international chain which ultimately led to
the creation of a highly successful record label.
Richards lack of formal education no doubt caused him to feel lost at various times
during his entrepreneurial journey. Fortunately, his mom instilled in him a tenacity and
sense of purpose that successfully guided him across the fields and helped him
overcome his lack of book learning.
7.

Walt Disney The way to get started is to quit talking and begin

doing.
The best advice in Guy Kawasakis The Art of the Start is on page 9, Get Going. Start.
There is little likelihood that the value proposition you initially explore is the go-tomarket strategy your venture will ultimately pursue. However, you will never discover
the intersection of your core competencies and the markets desires if you do not start
somewhere.
What are you waiting for? School will always be there should you decide to take a few
years off from startups to hone your beer drinking skills.

( Source: http://www.boston.com/business/innovation/2013/05/15/billionairecollege-dropouts/kjM5IsNLpcCcj7QWGIH7iN/pictures.html?pg=2)

Wealthy college dropouts

Mark Zuckerberg
Net worth: $13.3 billion
Zuckerberg, who launched social networking giant Facebook out of his Harvard dorm room,
dropped out to focus on his new site full-time. Nearly 10 years later, Facebook operates out of
Palo Alto, Calif. The companys stock price has seen a lot of twists and turns since going public in
May 2012.
David Karp
Net worth: $200 million

One of the newest members of the ultra-wealthy club, Karp recently sold his start-up, Tumblr, to
Yahoo! for a cool $1.1 billion. He also has found a new mentor in Yahoo!s chief executive,
Marrissa Mayer, who herself was an instrumental early employee at Google.
Karp dropped out of Bronx High School of Science at the age of 14.
Ted Turner
Net worth: $2 billion
The media mogul was expelled from Brown University after he was caught with a female student
in his dorm room. He returned to campus in 1989 as the keynote speaker at the National
Association of College Broadcasters conference, where he was rewarded an honorary BA.
(Pictured: Turner with ex-wife Jane Fonda).
Bill Gates
Net worth: $67 billion
Harvard dropout Gates cofounded Microsoft in 1975, but today, most of his fortune is spread
across private equity, stocks, and bonds. Its those investments not Microsoft that are
responsible for the $61 billion jump in his fortune over the past year. Regarded as one of the
worlds most generous people, Gates is committed to using his influence to make the world a
better place. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which Gates founded with his wife, has
donated billions of dollars worldwide towards improving global health and development.
Gabe Newell
Net worth: $1.1 billion
Newell, who dropped out of Harvard, is a former Microsoft programmer. He and coworker Mike
Harrington left the tech giant together in 1996 and founded Valve, a video game developer and
digital distribution innovator, with the small fortunes they had amassed while with Microsoft. Valve
is responsible for the Half-Life video games, as well as Steam software.
Sheldon Adelson
Net worth: $26.5 billion
Adelson, who dropped out of the City College of New York, owns a number of casinos and hotels.
He is the chief executive officer and chairman of the Las Vegas Sands Corp.; a branch of this
company operates Vegas Venetian Resort Hotel Casino and the Sands Expo and Convention
Center. He also owns Israel YaHom, a daily Hebrew-language newspaper in Israel.
Dustin Moskovitz
Net worth: $3.8 billion

Like Zuckerberg, Moskovitz is a Harvard dropout who helped found Facebook. He left the social
networking giant in 2008 to found Web app Asana, intended to improve team communication.
Forbes ranked him the worlds youngest self-made billionaire because of his 7.6 percent share in
Facebook.
Quincy Jones
Net worth: $310 million (estimated)
The acclaimed musician, who produced Michael Jacksons Thriller album, was on scholarship to
the Schillinger House (now Berklee College of Music), when he dropped out. He went on to earn
79 Grammy Award nominations and 27 awards, including a 1991 Grammy Legend Award.
John Mayer
Net worth: $40 million (estimated)
Native New Englander John Mayer was a student at Berklee College of Music until he moved to
Atlanta to refine his skills. Today, he is an internationally known rock star with a huge fan base
not to mention hes dated the likes of Katy Perry and Jennifer Aniston.