What was the key to Bill Gates' and Microsoft's success? He says it was his focus on…

Bill Gates is currently the world's 6th richest person with a net worth of $160 billion and Microsoft is valued at about $3 trillion

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is among the list of successful personalities in the tech world who chose to drop out of college to build their empires. This list also includes Apple's Steve Jobs, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX among others.

Bill Gates, co-chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, speaks during the 2024 CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston, Texas. (Bloomberg)

Gates is currently the world's 6th richest person in the world with a net worth of $160 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

This was the result of his obsession and willingness to dedicate his entire life to software, making it user friendly and possible to have "a personal computer on every desk and in every home," according to an interview he gave to CNBC Make It regarding his early years out of college.

However, he never imagined he'd become a billionaire when he dropped out of Harvard since his focus was on the product, rather than money or fame.

What was the founding story of Microsoft?

The mid-70s saw Gates and his friend Paul Allen believing in the possibility of making computers accessible and easy to use for the general public. This at that time was seen as a far-fetched vision, and people like Gates and Allen were dismissed as mere hobbyists.

However, Gates lived and breathed Microsoft. "It was all Microsoft, all the time in my 20s," he said, adding that he "didn't believe in weekends and vacations."

Microsoft is now valued at about $3 trillion.

Though his definition of success was closely tied to Microsoft’s growth during the initial years, he has since changed this approach after becoming among the richest individuals in the world, asking the question, “Am I adding net value to the world?”