Are You An “Accidental Entrepreneur”? - Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore

Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore
Company: Intel
Net Worth: $3.7 Billion (Moore), Unknown (Noyce)

As self-described “accidental entrepreneurs,” Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore created what would become by far the foremost semiconductor maker in the world. They didn’t set out to create a billion dollar company or to transform an industry, but that is exactly what the pair did when they founded Intel in 1968. Though best known for its Pentium and Celeron microprocessors that can be found in more than three-quarters of the new PCs that come today, Intel also makes flash memories and embedded semiconductors. Now, with over $37 billion in revenue, the legacy left by Noyce and Moore remains one of the strongest examples of innovation and entrepreneurship in the 21st century.

Today, Noyce and Moore may no longer be in charge of the daily running of the business they first founded in 1968; however, their impact on not only the company, but also the entire industry can still be felt. The maker of motherboard chipsets, network cards, flash memory drives, graphic chips, embedded processors and more, Intel is an innovator and a leader in the world of electronics and computing. How did two scientists who knew nothing about business become two of the most successful examples of entrepreneurship in history?

Advice For Entrepreneurs:

“There is such a thing as a natural-born entrepreneur, for whom the entrepreneurial urge drives everything, and who can make a business out of almost anything. But the accidental entrepreneur like me has to fall into the opportunity or be pushed into it. Then the entrepreneurial spirit eventually catches on. To me the opportunities to start a company are few and far between. I’m not the sort of entrepreneur who can just say, ‘I’m going to start a company. Let’s look for an opportunity.”