I’m a weird dropout because I take
college courses all the time when you
have a business that’s important as this
with this many competitors you’re going
to have people saying some nasty things
the thing that was scary to me wasn’t
quitting and starting the company it was
when I started hiring my friends and
they expected to be paid one ass or get
a mentor what’s up believe nation in
seven I believe in you and this channel
is designed to be a part of your daily
success routine so today let’s learn
from one of the best bill gates and some
of his life-changing advice mentor me
bill also if you want to know what Bill
Gates and other successful entrepreneurs
have to say about building unstoppable
confidence check out my 250 for
confidence series where every day for
the next 254 days I will send you a
morning video for free to help you build
your confidence the link to join is in
the description below you really have to
believe the Internet’s going to be
mainstream a lot of people are gonna get
[Music]
okay let’s kick it off with rule number
one keep learning new things you went to
Harvard and you’re dropped out have you
ever thought how your life could be
better off if you had gotten your
Harvard degree well I I’m a weird
dropout because I take college courses
all the time I love learning company
courses and things so I love being a
student and there were smart people
around and you know they fed you and
they gave you these nice grades that
made you feel smart so I feel it was
unfortunate that I didn’t get to stay
there but I don’t think I missed any
knowledge because you know whatever I
needed to learn I would I was still in a
learning mode rule number two don’t take
things personally you have four years
ever since you were a little boy I have
been called a nerd do you care does it
hurt you
well nerd means a lot of things I’m
somebody who can sit and read a book
about science for hours on end and you
know I don’t mind being labeled as
somebody who who finds that interesting
there is hardly a day in which something
is not written about Microsoft it has
become almost a frenzy you’re being
called the evil empire you forget being
called a nerd you are now being called
arrogant greedy the devil read all this
stuff I heard that this has been said
what do you say about all of this well
it’s a very competitive business and I
don’t know absolutely when you have the
level of success that we’ve had when you
have a business that’s important as this
with this many competitors you’re going
to have people saying some nasty things
and so you have to learn a little bit
not to take it too personally rule
number three have energy when I started
Microsoft I didn’t think of it as all
that risky I mean I was so excited about
what we were doing
it’s true I could have gone bankrupt but
you know I had a set of skills that were
highly employable and in fact my parents
were still willing to let me go back to
Harvard and finish my education if I
wanted to you’ve always got a job with
baby hair
and the only the thing that was scary to
me wasn’t quitting and starting the
company it was when I started hiring my
friends and they expected to be paid and
then we had customers who went bankrupt
customers that I counted on to come
through and so then I got this
incredibly conservative approach that I
wanted to have enough money in the bank
to pay a year’s worth of payroll even if
we didn’t get in heat any payments
coming in and I’m almost heard of that
the whole time we have about ten billion
now which is pretty much enough for the
next year anyway you know I if you’re
gonna start a company it takes so much
energy that you know you it better
overcome your your feeling of risk I
don’t think that you necessarily if
you’re gonna start a company should do
it at the start of your career I think
there’s a lot to be said for working for
a company learning how they do things
you know if you’re young it’s hard to go
lease premises they made that hard for
me you couldn’t rent a car when you were
under 25 at the time so I was always
taking taxis to go see customers and
people would you know people say well
we’re gonna go have a discussion in the
and you know that’s fun because I’ll
tell you
when people are first skeptical and then
go this kid doesn’t know anything then
when you show them you’ve really got a
good product and you know something they
actually tend to go overboard and they
think whoa
you know they know a lot let’s really do
an incredible amount with these people
so our youth at least in this country
was a huge asset for us once we reached
a certain threshold it is hard it’s hard
to hire old older people because they’ll
be a little bit conservative about
whether they should come in and take the
risk and it took three or four years
before we could go out into the normal
sort of employment pool but those those
problems that come with starting the
firm you better think of those as part
of the the pleasure part of the the
challenge that that is part of the the
excitement rule number four be a
problem-solver my question to you is if
you suddenly find yourself to be say a
sophomore in college at Harvard what do
you think you would study and how do you
think you’d spend your time engaging
activities well the thing that you’re
likely to be world-class at is whatever
you obsessed over from say age 12 to 18
you know in my case it was writing
software where I would think I was good
and then I would meet somebody who would
tell me I wasn’t and I would look at
their code and I went through four sort
of comeuppance –is of oh that’s what a
really good programmer looks like and
part of the reason I worship digital
equipment was eventually it was a couple
of their very best programmers who came
and shared with me how they thought
about it how they did thing and I had
studied their code and and that and
there there were several people who were
so key am i doing that so today I would
go into you know software which today
that means going into artificial
intelligence you know computers still
can’t read they they cannot take a book
of information and say pass an AP test
on that book and that’s a solvable
problem but it’s a knowledge
representation problem and you know I’ve
always wanted to solve
problem I’m jealous that maybe one of
you gets to work on that I’m you know
unlikely to go back and be hands-on in
that in that way but it’s the juiciest
problem ever I’ve thought about it for a
long time so I would go into AI and rule
number five the last one before a very
special bonus clip is find your
obsession computers when I was young
were super expensive and my friend Paul
Allen and I actually snuck into places
at the University of Washington where
they had computers that weren’t being
used at night and so we were fascinated
by what the computer could do but very
few people are getting exposure we had
to go out of our way and we were lucky
that we did it all and so then when the
idea of moving the computer onto a chip
that Intel would make and that would
make the computer literally millions of
times cheaper than the ones we were
using so both more powerful and
available to people on a personal level
then the idea of okay it would be very
different the software you needed the
way the industry would work we were
super lucky to be there when that was
happening so what did your family think
did they say there’s something wrong
with this young man he wants to just do
computers they knew I was obsessed with
computers that I would skip athletics
that I go in overnight that I you know
leave the house sometimes when they
prefer I wouldn’t go work at night on
these things and so it was kind of
considered a little strange and the big
moment was when I said instead of going
to part of my senior year that I wanted
to go work for company writing software
so they were great about allowing that
now I’ve got a really special bonus rule
from Bill Gates on how to learn to
delegate that I think you’re gonna
really enjoy but before that it’s time
for the three point landing questions
time to move from just watching another
video to actually taking action in your
life or your business and if you’re
feeling bold leave your answers in the
comments below here we go question
number one what are you taking
personally that you need to let go of
number two what new thing will you
commit to learning this week number
three what problem that if you solve
will solve other problems in your life
if you want to have impact usually
delegation is important although you
know individual contributors in terms of
inventing a drug or a new approach to
things that’s phenomenal
so when Microsoft first got started I
wrote most of code and everybody else’s
code I read and kind of rewrote and that
got us up to ten people and then I had
to say to myself okay we were gonna ship
code that I didn’t edit and that was
hard for me but I you know I kinda got
over that then I still said okay I’m
gonna interview everyone and I mean at
least look at samples of their code well
that got us up to about 40 people and
that was at a point where I had sold way
more software than we could write
because everybody was so impressed and I
thought well I need to keep enough
collect enough money to you know keep
hiring all these people but the demand
was so high that you know we were
actually falling behind that’s when I
hired Steve and Steve figured out a how
to control what promises I made to
people and B how to hire lots of people
and good really good people and create
organizations and teams so I delegated
to Steve that and he was constantly
saying to me okay we’re gonna hire
programmers that you’ve never met and
I’d say no or not and then he would show
me numerically that the constraint
wasn’t gonna work you know so then I
said okay then I would you know know all
the man interests of the people and so
over time and of course you know I could
say the quality per person was falling
monotonically according to me but you
know large problems if you want to you
know write the most popular office
productivity software that one person
can’t do that you can write pretty code
so everyone has to decide what scale of
organization they want to work in
eventually you know my role was very
much as a leader and a reviewer of
managers but the top people and I hired
some super experienced people
I would make sure they were pursuing a
common vision and they were well
coordinated but in terms of a lot of
management stuff they were way better
than I was and I had to have the
framework to know what mix of skills
that we needed and you know when they
were working well enough together but a
lot of you know my value Adam was
picking say to do graphic user interface
or to do an integrated office type thing
or to go global and not use agents to
have Microsoft be present all over the
world and so yeah picking what you’re
good at and how you find the other
people to fill in those things that’s
super important and most founders don’t
aren’t able to scale that up and kind of
give up the hands-on things that they
used to get a lot of pleasure and
comfort from the most important work
ever if you had to think of one word
that’s most important to you that sums
you Apple that would be like a little
beacon
check out the Steve Jobs versus Bill
Gates video that I made I think you’re
gonna really enjoy the link is right
there next to me continue to believe and
I’ll see you there I have invited here
today three industry experts to have a panel discussion on software
college courses all the time when you
have a business that’s important as this
with this many competitors you’re going
to have people saying some nasty things
the thing that was scary to me wasn’t
quitting and starting the company it was
when I started hiring my friends and
they expected to be paid one ass or get
a mentor what’s up believe nation in
seven I believe in you and this channel
is designed to be a part of your daily
success routine so today let’s learn
from one of the best bill gates and some
of his life-changing advice mentor me
bill also if you want to know what Bill
Gates and other successful entrepreneurs
have to say about building unstoppable
confidence check out my 250 for
confidence series where every day for
the next 254 days I will send you a
morning video for free to help you build
your confidence the link to join is in
the description below you really have to
believe the Internet’s going to be
mainstream a lot of people are gonna get
[Music]
okay let’s kick it off with rule number
one keep learning new things you went to
Harvard and you’re dropped out have you
ever thought how your life could be
better off if you had gotten your
Harvard degree well I I’m a weird
dropout because I take college courses
all the time I love learning company
courses and things so I love being a
student and there were smart people
around and you know they fed you and
they gave you these nice grades that
made you feel smart so I feel it was
unfortunate that I didn’t get to stay
there but I don’t think I missed any
knowledge because you know whatever I
needed to learn I would I was still in a
learning mode rule number two don’t take
things personally you have four years
ever since you were a little boy I have
been called a nerd do you care does it
hurt you
well nerd means a lot of things I’m
somebody who can sit and read a book
about science for hours on end and you
know I don’t mind being labeled as
somebody who who finds that interesting
there is hardly a day in which something
is not written about Microsoft it has
become almost a frenzy you’re being
called the evil empire you forget being
called a nerd you are now being called
arrogant greedy the devil read all this
stuff I heard that this has been said
what do you say about all of this well
it’s a very competitive business and I
don’t know absolutely when you have the
level of success that we’ve had when you
have a business that’s important as this
with this many competitors you’re going
to have people saying some nasty things
and so you have to learn a little bit
not to take it too personally rule
number three have energy when I started
Microsoft I didn’t think of it as all
that risky I mean I was so excited about
what we were doing
it’s true I could have gone bankrupt but
you know I had a set of skills that were
highly employable and in fact my parents
were still willing to let me go back to
Harvard and finish my education if I
wanted to you’ve always got a job with
baby hair
and the only the thing that was scary to
me wasn’t quitting and starting the
company it was when I started hiring my
friends and they expected to be paid and
then we had customers who went bankrupt
customers that I counted on to come
through and so then I got this
incredibly conservative approach that I
wanted to have enough money in the bank
to pay a year’s worth of payroll even if
we didn’t get in heat any payments
coming in and I’m almost heard of that
the whole time we have about ten billion
now which is pretty much enough for the
next year anyway you know I if you’re
gonna start a company it takes so much
energy that you know you it better
overcome your your feeling of risk I
don’t think that you necessarily if
you’re gonna start a company should do
it at the start of your career I think
there’s a lot to be said for working for
a company learning how they do things
you know if you’re young it’s hard to go
lease premises they made that hard for
me you couldn’t rent a car when you were
under 25 at the time so I was always
taking taxis to go see customers and
people would you know people say well
we’re gonna go have a discussion in the
and you know that’s fun because I’ll
tell you
when people are first skeptical and then
go this kid doesn’t know anything then
when you show them you’ve really got a
good product and you know something they
actually tend to go overboard and they
think whoa
you know they know a lot let’s really do
an incredible amount with these people
so our youth at least in this country
was a huge asset for us once we reached
a certain threshold it is hard it’s hard
to hire old older people because they’ll
be a little bit conservative about
whether they should come in and take the
risk and it took three or four years
before we could go out into the normal
sort of employment pool but those those
problems that come with starting the
firm you better think of those as part
of the the pleasure part of the the
challenge that that is part of the the
excitement rule number four be a
problem-solver my question to you is if
you suddenly find yourself to be say a
sophomore in college at Harvard what do
you think you would study and how do you
think you’d spend your time engaging
activities well the thing that you’re
likely to be world-class at is whatever
you obsessed over from say age 12 to 18
you know in my case it was writing
software where I would think I was good
and then I would meet somebody who would
tell me I wasn’t and I would look at
their code and I went through four sort
of comeuppance –is of oh that’s what a
really good programmer looks like and
part of the reason I worship digital
equipment was eventually it was a couple
of their very best programmers who came
and shared with me how they thought
about it how they did thing and I had
studied their code and and that and
there there were several people who were
so key am i doing that so today I would
go into you know software which today
that means going into artificial
intelligence you know computers still
can’t read they they cannot take a book
of information and say pass an AP test
on that book and that’s a solvable
problem but it’s a knowledge
representation problem and you know I’ve
always wanted to solve
problem I’m jealous that maybe one of
you gets to work on that I’m you know
unlikely to go back and be hands-on in
that in that way but it’s the juiciest
problem ever I’ve thought about it for a
long time so I would go into AI and rule
number five the last one before a very
special bonus clip is find your
obsession computers when I was young
were super expensive and my friend Paul
Allen and I actually snuck into places
at the University of Washington where
they had computers that weren’t being
used at night and so we were fascinated
by what the computer could do but very
few people are getting exposure we had
to go out of our way and we were lucky
that we did it all and so then when the
idea of moving the computer onto a chip
that Intel would make and that would
make the computer literally millions of
times cheaper than the ones we were
using so both more powerful and
available to people on a personal level
then the idea of okay it would be very
different the software you needed the
way the industry would work we were
super lucky to be there when that was
happening so what did your family think
did they say there’s something wrong
with this young man he wants to just do
computers they knew I was obsessed with
computers that I would skip athletics
that I go in overnight that I you know
leave the house sometimes when they
prefer I wouldn’t go work at night on
these things and so it was kind of
considered a little strange and the big
moment was when I said instead of going
to part of my senior year that I wanted
to go work for company writing software
so they were great about allowing that
now I’ve got a really special bonus rule
from Bill Gates on how to learn to
delegate that I think you’re gonna
really enjoy but before that it’s time
for the three point landing questions
time to move from just watching another
video to actually taking action in your
life or your business and if you’re
feeling bold leave your answers in the
comments below here we go question
number one what are you taking
personally that you need to let go of
number two what new thing will you
commit to learning this week number
three what problem that if you solve
will solve other problems in your life
if you want to have impact usually
delegation is important although you
know individual contributors in terms of
inventing a drug or a new approach to
things that’s phenomenal
so when Microsoft first got started I
wrote most of code and everybody else’s
code I read and kind of rewrote and that
got us up to ten people and then I had
to say to myself okay we were gonna ship
code that I didn’t edit and that was
hard for me but I you know I kinda got
over that then I still said okay I’m
gonna interview everyone and I mean at
least look at samples of their code well
that got us up to about 40 people and
that was at a point where I had sold way
more software than we could write
because everybody was so impressed and I
thought well I need to keep enough
collect enough money to you know keep
hiring all these people but the demand
was so high that you know we were
actually falling behind that’s when I
hired Steve and Steve figured out a how
to control what promises I made to
people and B how to hire lots of people
and good really good people and create
organizations and teams so I delegated
to Steve that and he was constantly
saying to me okay we’re gonna hire
programmers that you’ve never met and
I’d say no or not and then he would show
me numerically that the constraint
wasn’t gonna work you know so then I
said okay then I would you know know all
the man interests of the people and so
over time and of course you know I could
say the quality per person was falling
monotonically according to me but you
know large problems if you want to you
know write the most popular office
productivity software that one person
can’t do that you can write pretty code
so everyone has to decide what scale of
organization they want to work in
eventually you know my role was very
much as a leader and a reviewer of
managers but the top people and I hired
some super experienced people
I would make sure they were pursuing a
common vision and they were well
coordinated but in terms of a lot of
management stuff they were way better
than I was and I had to have the
framework to know what mix of skills
that we needed and you know when they
were working well enough together but a
lot of you know my value Adam was
picking say to do graphic user interface
or to do an integrated office type thing
or to go global and not use agents to
have Microsoft be present all over the
world and so yeah picking what you’re
good at and how you find the other
people to fill in those things that’s
super important and most founders don’t
aren’t able to scale that up and kind of
give up the hands-on things that they
used to get a lot of pleasure and
comfort from the most important work
ever if you had to think of one word
that’s most important to you that sums
you Apple that would be like a little
beacon
check out the Steve Jobs versus Bill
Gates video that I made I think you’re
gonna really enjoy the link is right
there next to me continue to believe and
I’ll see you there I have invited here
today three industry experts to have a panel discussion on software
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