His mother also (probably) helped very directly, since she was in the same committee as the chairman and president of IBM when Bill was just starting Microsoft:

His mother also (probably) helped very directly, since she was in the same committee as the chairman and president of IBM when Bill was just starting Microsoft: https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/11/obituaries/mary-gates-64-helped-her-son-start-microsoft.html https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/11/obituaries/mary-gates-64-...