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from the startup world 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 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 he any payments coming

in

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one of my biggest memories of Harvard

came in January 1975 when I made a call

from courier house to a company in

Albuquerque New Mexico that had begun

making the world's first personal

computer I offered to sell them software

I worried they would realize I was just

a student in a dorm and hang up on me

instead they said we're not quite ready

come see us in a month which was a good

thing because we hadn't written the

software yet from that moment i work day

and night on the extra-credit project

that marked the end of my college

education and the beginning of a

remarkable journey with Microsoft

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 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 those those problems

that come with starting the firm you

better think of those as as part of the

the pledge or part of the the challenge

that that is part of the excitement

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you can't just keep doing the same old

thing you were doing before we have to

take your skills and attack the new

frontiers in the business of technology

you have to think about what are you

missing what is the research or customer

feedback but you should be paying more

attention to and how do you keep that

piece of innovation very very high how

do you make sure you're hiring the very

best people and that kind of focuses has

helped drive us forward through all the

milestones the company has had you've

got to enjoy what you do every day

and for me that's working with very

smart people it's working on new

problems you know every time we think

hey we've had a little bit of success

we're pretty careful not to dwell on it

too much because the bar gets raised

people's expectations of the products

we've always got customer feedback

telling us that machines are too

complicated they're not they're not

natural enough about 25 percent of the

time that I'm out traveling around

meeting with customers Europe Asia and

that sort of helps me think okay do we

have the right priorities but what are

people responding well to and what would

they they like to see us do better the

competition the the breakthroughs the

research but the computer industry in

particular software you know I I think

is the most exciting and I think I have

the best job in that in that business

and you all have a chance to innovate if

you're thinking about your innovation

and of course you should go after any

market do you think is interested in it

but a little bit if you can also think

ok does this innovation apply to those

most in need you know what are you gonna

do to make it cheap enough simple enough

you know figure out how to get get it so

it really if possible can extend out to

the poorest you know I wish I had

learned more about that at a young age

and so you haven't an opportunity to do

that

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