Gates was as obsessed about business almost asmuch as about programming. His father was a recognized lawyer. And he was immensly strong willed.
He didn't really take huge risks. If his business had not succeeded the worst that would have happened to him (likely) would have been an upper-middleclass career and life.
He was immensly shrewd, bold, hard working and smart. But ... I'm not sure what he exactly can be held for as an example since he had the right genes and the right topics of interest and the right place in history.
You can't approach just the business as a form of lottety since, although it's a game of chance, it's not a single roll of the die. The stars must be aligned, lot of small things need to come together just right.
Sure, i'm not saying luck wasn't involved. He was extremely lucky. However, he was also extremely talented at both business and engineering, and he worked very hard and absolutely took personal risks. He didn't risk becoming homeless, but if Microsoft had failed he'd have wasted many important years of his career, and would have been set back a great deal relative to his peers.
He didn't really take huge risks. If his business had not succeeded the worst that would have happened to him (likely) would have been an upper-middleclass career and life.
He was immensly shrewd, bold, hard working and smart. But ... I'm not sure what he exactly can be held for as an example since he had the right genes and the right topics of interest and the right place in history.
You can't approach just the business as a form of lottety since, although it's a game of chance, it's not a single roll of the die. The stars must be aligned, lot of small things need to come together just right.