BUS 103

Introduction to Business

Entrepreneurs

Presented by: Ricardo Velez

This paper is submitted in partial fulfillment of the Associates of Science
Degree in the HVAC Program at Southern Technical College

Presented to:
Professor Walker
February 28, 2012
Outline
I. Thesis Statement II. Introduction III. Early Life IV. College V. Microsoft

Thesis Statement

By learning about Bill Gates early life and the background of Bill Gates, one will understand the fame and accomplishments of one of the richest men in the United States.

Bill Gates came from a family of entrepreneurship and high-spirited liveliness. William Henry Gates III was born in Seattle, Washington on October 28th, 1955. His father, William H. Gates II, is a Seattle attorney. His late mother, Mary Gates, was a schoolteacher, University of Washington regent, and chairwoman of United Way International. Entrepreneur Bill Gates, began to show an interest in computer programming at the young age of thirteen. Through technological innovation, keen business strategy, and aggressive competitive tactics, Bill Gates and his partner Paul Allen built the world's largest software business, Microsoft. In the process, Bill Gates became one of the richest men in the world.
Bill Gates grew up in an upper middle-class family with two sisters: Kristianne, who is older, and Libby, who is younger. Their father, William H. Gates, Sr., was a promising, if somewhat shy, law student when he met his future wife, Mary Maxwell. She was an athletic, outgoing student at the University of Washington, actively involved in student affairs and leadership. The Gates family atmosphere was warm and close, and all three children were encouraged to be competitive and strive for excellence. Bill showed early signs of competitiveness when he coordinated family athletic games at their summer house on Puget Sound. He also relished in playing board games. Bill Gates favorite game was Risk and excelled in Monopoly.
Bill had a very close relationship with his mother, Mary, who after a brief career as a teacher devoted her time to helping raise the children and working on civic affairs and with charities. She also served on several corporate boards, among them First Interstate Bank in Seattle which was founded by her grandfather, the United Way, and International Business Machines also known as IBM. She would often take Bill along on her volunteer work in schools and community organizations.
Bill Gates graduated from Lakeside in 1973. He scored 1590 out of 1600 on the college SAT test, a feat of intellectual achievement that for several years he boasted about when introducing himself to new people. In 1973, Bill Gates became a student at Harvard University, where he meet Steve Ballmer which is now Microsoft's chief executive officer. While still a Harvard undergraduate, Bill Gates wrote a version of the programming language basic for the MITS Altair microcomputer. As young teenagers Bill Gates and Paul Allen ran a small company called Traf-O-Data and sold a computer to the city of Seattle that could count city traffic, and netted $20,000 for their efforts. Bill Gates and Allen wanted to start their own company, but Bill Gates' parents wanted him to finish school and go on to college where they hoped he would work to become a lawyer.
In 1975, before graduation Bill Gates left Harvard to form Microsoft with his childhood friend Paul Allen. The pair planned to develop software for the newly emerging personal computer market. Bill Gate's company Microsoft became famous for their computer operating systems and killer business deals. Like when Bill Gates talked IBM into letting Microsoft retain the licensing rights to MS-DOS an operating system, that IBM needed for their new personal computer. Gates proceeded to make a fortune from the licensing of MS-DOS.
Between 1978 and 1981, Microsoft's growth exploded, and staff increased from 25 to 128. Revenue also shot