The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
Entrepreneurship: Do You Actually Need A Degree?
Do you think that going to college is mandatory in order to have a great business?
We all tend to think that getting good grades in college and working hard to access a nice paying job is the ultimate way towards success. However, in today’s society these are more of a status quo because they don’t really bring the formula to success.
Sure, education has its own place in our society and we do need it for a variety of things, but you can find a wide range of entrepreneurs that didn’t require education and they still achieved quite a lot in their life.
With this in mind, I have created a list with some of the most interesting success stories of entrepreneurs that managed to achieve the best results simply by focusing on their company and not the lack of education that they had. These entrepreneurs are the definition of self-made fortune makers, because they knew the challenges of their business, studied and addressed them then achieved amazing results. If you want to become a self-made entrepreneur you should try and study these amazing cases to see if you really need to go to college or if you should start focusing on creating your own business.
“You don’t have to be a genious or a visionary or even a college graduate to be successful. You just need a framework and a dream.”
MICHAEL DELL Dell Founder
STUDENT RECORD University of Texas Dropped out at 19
NET WORTH $19.3 Billion
WORK EXPERIENCE FOUNDER, CEO Dell Computers 1 Feb 1984
Launched the personal computer revolution of the 1980s with the creation of the Dell Computer Corporation, Dell was building and selling PCs directly to customers.
During the 1st year, Dell computers had $6 million in sales.
Today ranked the 1st health IT services provider and the largest ecommerce website for commercial technology products worldwide.
STEVE JOBS Apple Founder
STUDENT RECORD Reed College, Portland Dropped out at 19
NET WORTH $19.6 Billion
WORK EXPERIENCE FOUNDER Apple 1975
Steve and his friend S. Wozniak introduced the Apple II — the first personal computer in 1977.
Apple Macintosh – the first 1st PC with a graphical user-interface and a mouse went public in 1984.
FOUNDER NeXT Computer Co. 1988
Steve launched NeXT as a breakthrough computer for revolutionizing research and higher education.
CO-FOUNDER, COO Pixar Animation Studios 1996
Steve’s “Toy Story” was a certified smash hit.
LARRY ELLISON Oracle Founder
STUDENT RECORD University of Chicago Dropped out at 20
NET WORTH $47 Billion
WORK EXPERIENCE
FOUNDER Oracle 1977
Ellison and two of his colleagues founded Software Development Labs and soon had a contract to build a database-management system called Oracle for the CIA.
ORACLE
EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, CTO
Oracle 1986
Ellison made the company the leader in the database-management realm.
STUDENT RECORD Harvard University Dropped out at 20
NET WORTH $78.7 Billion
WORK EXPERIENCE
FOUNDER, CEO
Microsoft 1975
Bill Gates and his business partner Paul Allenbuilt launched Microsoft with the “goal of getting a computer on every person’s desk.”
Today Microsoft is the worldwide leader in personal and business computer software, which employs > 64,000 people across 85 countries.
MICROSOFT
The Harvard Crimson called him “Harvard’s most successful dropout”.
He is the 1st richest person in the world and is the world’s most giving humnaitarian (Bill has donated more than half his fortune to charities).
MARK ZUCKERBERG Facebook Founder
STUDENT RECORD Harvard University Dropped out at 20
NET WORTH $45.7 Billion
WORK EXPERIENCE
FOUNDER
Facebook Feb 2004
Mark created Facebook in college, where he was already known as a “programming prodigy”.
Facebook (Facemash) gained extreme popularity over the 1st week and even caused Harvard’s servers to crash.
facebook
CHAIRMAN AND CEO
Facebook 2005
In 2005, Zuckerberg’s enterprise received a huge investment from Accel Partners, which made Facebook extend to hundreds of colleges and universities.
Mark is the 1st America’s Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40 (2015)
EVAN WILLIAMS Twitter Co-Founder
STUDENT RECORD University of Nebraska Dropped out at 20
NET WORTH $1.62 Billion
WORK EXPERIENCE
Co-Founder Blogger 23 Aug 1999
Invented and popularized the “blogger” concept.
Co-Founder Twitter 20 Sep 2010
Microblogging service, project of Odeon company.
TRAVIS KALANICK Uber Founder
STUDENT RECORD U.C.L.A. Dropped out at 21
NET WORTH
$6 Billion
WORK EXPERIENCE
FOUNDER, CEO
Uber 2009
Before Uber, Mr. Kalanick served as an Advisor of Sociable Labs, Inc. He served as Chief Swoosher of Red Swoosh, Inc. He was also a Director of Dolores Labs, Inc. (now CrowdFlower, Inc.)
Uber, an on-demand black car service, seeks to be “Everyone’s Private Driver” by bringing disruptive technology and business innovation to urban transportation challenges.
TED TURNER Television and media magnate
STUDENT RECORD Brown University Dropped out at 22
NET WORTH $2.2 Billion
WORK EXPERIENCE
FOUNDER, CEO
Turner Broadcasting 1960
Turner started buying television stations and turned those investments into Turner Broadcasting.
CNN
Turner sold the company to Time Warner for $7.5 billion dollars. Afterwards, the company merged with America Online (AOL).
CNN 1980
Turner launched the Cable News Network (CNN) as the first 24-Hour cable news network for mostly negative press.
JOHN MACKEY Whole Foods Founder
STUDENT RECORD 3 Texas Colleges Dropped out at 22
NET WORTH $3.8 Billion
WORK EXPERIENCE
FOUNDER
Whole FOODS 1978
Whole FOODS was launched as a vegetarian food company.
WHOLE FOODS MARKET
CHAIRMAN AND CEO
Whole FOODS 1980
Mackey and his then-girlfriend had borrowed money from friends and family to start a vegetarian food company.
Several years ago, Mackey decided to cut his own salary to $1 and skip any future stock options or bonuses.
![Famous Entrepreneur College Dropouts [Infographic]](https://cdn.confessionsoftheprofessions.com/infographics/entrepreneurs-college-dropouts-infographic.jpg)
