Tweet

Lesson #1: Stick To Your Vision

Article Overview: When Bill Gates was asked by Fortune to explain the astounding success of his brainchild, Microsoft, his immediate response was, “Our vision, which has not changed since the day the company was founded.”

Lesson #1: Stick To Your Vision

When Bill Gates was asked by Fortune to explain the astounding success of his brainchild, Microsoft, his immediate response was, “Our vision, which has not changed since the day the company was founded.”

Gates was an astute businessman who, upon recognizing the potentially explosive market for home computers, set out to make his mark in the industry. As teenagers, Gates and Allen decided that the possibility of every household and business to have a computer was both a realistic and a desirable goal, which they could work to achieve. “Microsoft was a dream Paul Allen and I had about what software could become – the idea that you could buy PCs from many different hardware companies and yet they would all run the same software,” says Gates.

Despite the vast implications of their vision – that the entire IT industry would have to be restructured – Gates and Allen did not seemingly know just how much of an impact they were going to have. “Not that we had any clear view that it would ever be a large business, but I had to pay these friends that I had hired,” recalls Gates. But, they fearlessly approached their vision, entering into the unknown.

In the initial days of Microsoft, Gates and his co-workers programmed around the clock in order to meet the challenging deadlines that Gates would set. It was largely due to Gates’ aggression in getting tasks accomplished that allowed the company to grow rapidly. As the company expanded its product line, it all the while remained true to Gates’ original version.

“We always knew that we didn’t want to have a single product that was a dominant product,” says Gates. “We wanted to hire in more software people and have a full product line.” In doing so, Gates was helping to ensure that his vision would be realized. He was keeping Microsoft flexible enough to be able to develop as wide a range of products as possible. “We never saw ourselves as limited…As long as it was software where development talent was the key to doing it well. And that it could be sold in fairly high volumes.”

Vision remains an important part of Gates’ career, which is in no way nearing an end. Reflecting on Microsoft’s achievements of the past thirty years, Gates says, “This is just the beginning.” Predicting a future where computers will be much more involved in educating people, socializing people, enabling people to become politically active and engaged and even changing the way markets are organized, Gates sees his vision for Microsoft playing an even more important role. “The software is going to have to lead the way and provide the kind of ease of use, security, and richness that those applications demand,” he says.

By focusing on software – something that he knew well and he knew there would be a market for – Gates solidified his place as one of, if not the most successful entrepreneur of the 20th century. Though he was venturing into completely un-chartered territories, Gates stayed true to the vision he had as a teenager, creating software that has now become the undisputable industry standard.

Related Articles
  Eat Your Own Dog Food
  Smart Women Get Back On the Pogo Stick
  LESSONS FROM THE ROYAL WEDDING
  Activating Your Vision
  Persistence The Key To Success

Article Tags: aggression, astounding success, astute businessman, bill gates, brainchild, clock, co workers, desirable goal, dominant product, explosive market, fortune, hardware companies, home computers, household, initial days, lesson 1, microsoft, original version, paul allen, teenagers



Related Forum Posts
Re: Essential Leadership skills - Vision Values Mission Strategic Thinking Decision Making Communication Team Bonding People Development Coaching / Mentoring / Guiding / Grooming Presentation Thanks Robert
Dan Kennedy Marketing Methods - We haven't sent out the physical letter yet as the person owning the list wanted to make modifications to the letter that we knew would work well but the List owner had a point - it didn't reflect her personality so her clients would know it didn't come from her. Lesson learned for me. We're back to the drawing board with the list owner more involved in the development of the letter and emails. I should have known better being a Business Analyst in my day job that you never leave the end-user out. So Evan we haven't had the opportunity to test any of it yet but it's been a fun process for me to stand back and look at.
Re: Ridiculous Ideas That Made Millions - Dear GT Bulmer, Great post and a super article. Good advice on investing especially "Stick to your strengths" Invest in a business you understand. For example a lumber jack would see a good tree cutting tool. He wouldn't understand the next fashion trend in women's high heel shoes. For our inventors invent in a business you understand. If you see a need. You may see an invention.
Help me name my moms business - I think Infinity Cleaning Services sounds better than Elite Cleaning Solutions... Why the Solutions? What is there to be solved? You simply get a rag with some Windex on it and wipe away.... plug the vacuum and Vac Away, get a mop and mop away. Stick to Infinity Cleaning Services... ICS sounds cool...
Re: Ideas For Business - Hello Lucy, you may consider this list for Ideas for Business: (Top 23 list) Rank Company 1 Google 2 Genentech 3 Wegmans Food Markets 4 Container Store 5 Whole Foods Market 6 Network Appliance 7 S.C. Johnson & Son 8 Boston Consulting Grp. 9 Methodist Hospital Sys. 10 W.L. Gore & Associates 11 Cisco Systems 12 David Weekley Homes 13 Nugget Market 14 Qualcomm 15 American Century Invest. 16 Starbucks Coffee 17 Quicken Loans 18 Station Casinos 19 Alston & Bird 20 QuikTrip 21 Griffin Hospital 22 Valero Energy 23 Vision Service Plan


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Ten Twitter Tips For Work-at-Home Moms

How to Improve Your Time Management

The Right Job - Part Five 'Compensation'

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.