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Microsoft may have been bootstrapped (I will go with what you are saying without verifying) however it also had the backing and full faith and credit of a somew
by larrys 11y ago
Microsoft may have been bootstrapped (I will go with what you are saying without verifying) however it also had the backing and full faith and credit of a somewhat wealthy and connected family.
- thaumasiotes 11y agoWhen Microsoft went public, Bill Gates owned 80% of the stock. His wealth, compared to other tech company founders, is essentially all the product of not getting diluted.
- nostrademons 11y agoThink you mean "insiders owned 80% of the stock". Bill Gates only owned 66% of the stock at founding, splitting it between him and Paul Allen, and early employees owned some too.
- adventured 11y agoMicrosoft did not have the "full faith and credit" of the Gates family. His family figured it would burn out and he'd return to college, per what Bill has said on the matter. They were less than thrilled with him dropping out. He received $0 funding or help from them in regards to Microsoft getting started. It was a million dollar business, completely independent of the Gates family or its connections, while it was operating in New Mexico. Bill and Paul had sales almost from day one.
- vezzy-fnord 11y agoI think this was in reference to Mary Maxwell Gates, who ended up bringing (if not directly) the then nascent Micro-soft to IBM's attention.
- larrys 11y agoExactly. Also having that family meant he could take risks that others couldn't simply because he knew the family would bail him out (personally, not the company) if things didn't work out. About his family, at least according to Phil Greenspun http://philip.greenspun.com/bg/ http://philip.greenspun.com/bg/