From our childhood, we have been told that the most promising way of being successful is by studying hard and achieving good grades in school and college. But some people have taken the less travelled road and dropped out of school. Even after this huge risk, these people are billionaires. Let us take a look at a few of these popular names:
- Steve Jobs
The founder of Apple left Reed College when he was just 19, reportedly because it was too much of a financial burden for his family. Despite his short tenure at Reed, Jobs still found his time there valuable. In a 2005 commencement speech at Stanford, he credited a Reed calligraphy course for inspiring the typography he used on the first Mac. Apple is a well-known brand in today’s time.
2. Bill Gates
Bill Gates attended Harvard for two years before he dropped out to create what would become Microsoft. The Harvard Crimson describes him as “Harvard’s most successful dropout,” and today he is one of the wealthiest people on the planet. Imagine dropping out of your college and trying your hands at something you love then eventually becoming one of the richest men in the world. How crazy is that?
3. Evan Williams
Evan grew up in Clarks, Nebraska, where his family ran a farm. He attended the University of Nebraska at Lincoln for three semesters before dropping out.
Williams was a freelance software programmer for Hewlett-Packard and Intel before landing a gig at Google. He later quit his job at Google to build and became a billionaire.
4. Mark Zuckerberg
Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard, founded Facebook and now he has a net worth of 5070 crore USD. According to the book “The Facebook Effect,” it took him just five minutes to decide to quit college. Zuckerberg’s company Meta Platforms owns the most famous social media sites instagram and whatsapp.
5. Michael Dell
You must be well aware of Dell computers. Dell technology is founded by Michael Dell. He dropped out of the University of Texas at Austin during his freshman year at the age of 19. His net worth is 4,960 crore USD.