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Where Do You Suppose Bill Gates Got His Marketing Genius From?
Posted By: mac504 on 6/24/2004 1:53 PM (CST) 25 Points
For a guy who droped out of college and never studied business bill gates sure is a genius at marketing.Where do you suppose he learned?College courses,books ?

At harvard he studied math and computer science.But I wonder if he audited a few business/marketing classes while he was there.

Posted by: Jett* Accepted Answer
6/24/2004 1:57 PM (CST)
He uses Bayes Theorem.
 
Posted by: Peter (henna gaijin) Accepted Answer
6/24/2004 2:00 PM (CST)
I suspect he did not audit any marketing classes - supposedly he was not in to studying at all (why he dropped out).

There was a question earlier on Know How Exchange on how Microsoft markets, and the responses mostly said that Microsoft's marketing is not actually that good (at least as compared to a P&G). Much of the company's gains have come through questionable business practices that have made them a virtual monopoly, not through marketing.
 
Posted by: amandavega Accepted Answer
6/24/2004 2:03 PM (CST)
I firmly believe that some people are born with business acumen, much like some are born for a talent in music or art.
 
Posted by: kwinters* Accepted Answer
6/24/2004 2:15 PM (CST)
I don't think it is marketing that made gates, it was distribution and functionality...
 
Posted by: SteveByrneBranding Accepted Answer
6/24/2004 2:18 PM (CST)
The Bill Gates story is “the being in the right place at the right time” event of the twentieth century. Not to say he didn’t earn his success – he did. Gates has a highly driven competitive nature more than marketing genius. I doubt any Fortune 500 company would hire Gates as their “marketing guy”. Also there are many examples of great CEO’s would didn’t graduate from college – they learned business from doing business.
 
Posted by: mac504 Author Response
6/24/2004 2:18 PM (CST)
Here are a few bill gates quotes that really convince me that his marketing knowledge is more than 'innate'

"if you cant make it good at least make it LOOK good'

"It's mindshare stupid"

"If we can have the perception I can create the reality.With the combination of the perception and the reality nobody will ever beat us"

"Its only through volume that you can offer reasonable software at a low price.Standards increase the basic machine that you can sell[into the market]....I really shouldnt say this,but in some ways it leads,in an individual product category,to a natural monopoly:where somebody properly documents,properly trains,properly promotes a particualar package and through momentum,user loyalty,reputation,sales force,and price builds a very strong position with that product"

In these quotes were made in the early eighties
 
Posted by: kwinters* Member Response
6/24/2004 2:18 PM (CST)
to support my above theory, let me ask you, why do you use microsoft products?

answer: because they are one the pc when you buy them and the first impression is a strong one in any product, people use them because they are there, they work sufficiently, and they are used to them....
 
Posted by: mac504 Author Response
6/24/2004 2:24 PM (CST)
^^^^Isnt that 'marketing'?
 
Posted by: kwinters* Member Response
6/24/2004 2:28 PM (CST)
point well taken, however, I don't like the academic model of PPPP in marketing, I think it is shallow, so in my world it is not great "marketing" that made microsoft but great distribution and functionality...

but I do see how you would say "Isn't that marketing"

maybe, maybe not, but I don't see gates as a marketer...
 
Posted by: kwinters* Member Response
6/24/2004 2:36 PM (CST)
by golly, maybe gates is a genius marketer and we don't realize it...is that what makes him a genius?
 
Posted by: mac504 Author Response
6/24/2004 2:37 PM (CST)
^^^

I dont like the acedemic model of marketing either.Most marketing 'legends' like kotler and drucker have economic backgrounds.They preach about serving customer's needs.But that is marketing from an economic point of view.Marketing is really about 'making money'.Serving customer needs is an automatic.

Many companies serve customers needs but they dont make much money while serving those needs.Bill Gates understands that marketing is about making money and treating the customer 'good enough'.
 
Posted by: kwinters* Member Response
6/24/2004 2:40 PM (CST)
well then, if that is what marketing is to gates, I would say yes the man is a genius....

All kidding aside, I think Gates has an incredible intuition and abiltiy to make his product indespensable, you almost can't live without it...If you asked him if he were a marketer? I think he would probably say he was an innovator...where did he get it? just ask mamma...
 
Posted by: mac504 Author Response
6/24/2004 2:51 PM (CST)
Why do people assume that to be successful in business you have to be 'innovative'.Thats the biggest myth going.

Is it bill gates' fault that he has the talent and knowledge to take other people's stuff and make money off of it?Is it his fault that his competitors dont understand marketing?
 
Posted by: kwinters* Member Response
6/24/2004 2:57 PM (CST)
First of all, I don't assume that being innovative is what it takes to be successful all by itself...but you must be an innovative thinker to be competitive in any field or any sport or anything that is competitive, not just business...

Now, I am unsure what you mean other people's stuff, could you elaborate?

It is my understanding that he and one other person developed the first windows OS...is that not correct?
 
Posted by: kwinters* Member Response
6/24/2004 2:59 PM (CST)
by the way, that is a good understanding of marketing...
 
Posted by: mac504 Author Response
6/24/2004 3:11 PM (CST)
You said you dont see gates as a marketer...

What is marketing to YOU?
 
Posted by: SteveByrneBranding Member Response
6/24/2004 3:12 PM (CST)
By memory? In the documentary “Battle of the Nerds” Gates bought a small company for $50,000 to get the program and then basically just made a deal with IBM. IBM’s bad was Gates genius in the beginning.
 
Posted by: kwinters* Member Response
6/24/2004 3:15 PM (CST)
touche brute, pull thoust knife from my chest...

as I was sitting here thinking of what marketing is to me, i realized that everything that I think marketing is he does...he is good at marketing after all...I better stop before I get in so deep I can't get out...
 
Posted by: mac504 Author Response
6/24/2004 3:17 PM (CST)
Now the question is did IBM 'GIVE' gates the keys to the kingdom or did gates MANIPULATE their ignorance?
 
Posted by: kwinters* Member Response
6/24/2004 3:21 PM (CST)
If he is nothing else, gates is a true businessman at heart, he can see opportunity where other can't or didn't...

I would think that IBM was concerned with selling machines, not operating systems and they probably at first saw gates OS as something they needed to drive their core business, selling machines...so i don't know if he manipulated their ignorance but he saw something they didn't see, or didn't want to see, or saw but did not want to veer from thier core revenue stream, selling machines...
 
Posted by: mac504 Author Response
6/24/2004 3:28 PM (CST)
^^^^

Yes but had IBM known that software NOT hardware was the wave of the future they would not have pursued gates for an OS at all.They would have made their own.
 
Posted by: kwinters* Member Response
6/24/2004 3:30 PM (CST)
I would agree with that, does that mean IBM was not "innovative" enough to see the future or just didn't care?
 
Posted by: mac504 Author Response
6/24/2004 3:42 PM (CST)
IBM didnt think that software was much of a big deal.They thought that hardware was going to be the most important thing.

People also forget that microsoft's OS was NOT the only or most dominant OS at the time.Microsoft used some brilliant pricing distribution and contractual(legal) moves to 'lock up' the PC market.It's not just about 'IBM'.
 
Posted by: SteveByrneBranding Member Response
6/24/2004 4:20 PM (CST)
So MANIPULATING ignorance is what marketing geniuses do? You’re got a point. LOL
 
Posted by: mac504 Author Response
6/24/2004 4:32 PM (CST)
I dont consider gates a marketing genius for how he hustled IBM.I consider gates a marketing genius for how he hustled the WHOLE F*CKING INDUSTRY!

The famous 'per proccessor licensing' agreement

The way he made the OEMs THEE major distribution channel for OS

The way he 'locked out' major distribution,communications and sales channels so competitors couldnt even bring their product to market

The way he forces people to use his products whether they want to or not.

They way he FORCES people to upgrade their computers every 2 years whether they want to or not

etc etc etc
 
Posted by: cal* Accepted Answer
6/24/2004 8:30 PM (CST)
Bill is a heavy duty ENTJ - http://keirsey.com/personality/ntej.html - with a high IQ to go with it. A formidable mix in the right business situations.
 
Posted by: Jett* Member Response
6/24/2004 9:48 PM (CST)
I think you nailed it with the licensing. Bill gates sold a LICENSE to use an OS he didn't even have yet. He did buy DOS for around $50,000 from an friend of a friend after the deal.

His "genious" was in not selling it to them , but chrging them a fee for every machine they put it on and getting exclusive contracts.

Steve Jobs' super-super-ego led him to assume the MUCH smaller Microsoft was harmless and could never compete with the Apple computer empire. He basically opened the door an let Bill's team in and being an opportunist, Gates and his team absorbed all the information they could and reverse-engineered a product known as Windows.

Did he "steal", or did the companies let him in? He didn't break any laws, or use force. He simply took action where others failed to respond.

Now regarding Bayes Theorem, Gates is a self-professed Bayesian. He takes his marketing/opportunistic savvy, and uses complex analysis to predict outcomes and develop strategies. He has to. Microsoft's enemies are at their heels 24/7 waiting for a slip up. Microsoft actually has Bayesian strategists and strategic mathematicians on staff. I belive this is another "spwan" of his intelligence. He dosn't just bank on his own "genious"...he uses science and laws of probablility as well....something that most companies will not do or don't know how to do.

Very interesting subject. I'll follow it and post more later...
 
Posted by: Jett* Member Response
6/24/2004 10:23 PM (CST)
Oh, another thing I wanted to point out...

I think a bigger question is why are there so many people out there with degrees CRASHING AND BURNING left and right?

I wonder what the conversion ratio of Marketing/MBA degree grads versus successful careers happens to be. I see more non-college grads becoming some of the most wealthly and successful business people in the world.

Is there something more to entreprenuers? Does college and the 4-5 P's and rigid marketing structures, blah, blah, blah restrict people from taking steps outside the realms of the norm? Are people who religiously follow Porter, Reis, Godin, etc succeeding, failing, or barely making it?

Don't know, but so far, a marketing degree or MBA does not equal success. Any enlightenment?
 
Posted by: mac504 Author Response
6/25/2004 2:03 AM (CST)
^^^^

Because a lot of people with marketing degrees dont have entrepreneurial insight.They dont know how to think outside the box.You have to combine creativity and innovation along with the textbook stuff.
 
Posted by: tigertek Accepted Answer
6/25/2004 2:20 AM (CST)
Simple! William Gates just had a vision to start with...computers in everyhome by 1998(? or whenever) and luck...yes being in the right place at the right time.

There's very little marketing in that...let alone marketing genius.
 
Posted by: mac504 Author Response
6/25/2004 2:46 AM (CST)
^^^^Wow!

That simple Uh?
 
Posted by: DavidatHaley Accepted Answer
6/26/2004 12:24 AM (CST)
Ok, I just can't resist adding my 2 cents to this debate.

Is Gates a marketing genius? Without a doubt! He built an empire by finding a strategy to own distribution, rewrite the rules of pricing, control perception (I won't give him any credit for product), and he wasn't too shabby at promotion (although that came far after he was already a bazillionaire). Most importantly, he understand was customers really wanted: cheap software and a better way to do the stuff they do everyday (word processing, spreadsheets, etc.).

Love him or hate him, he's a genius marketer. IBM was THE MARKETING company in technology prior to Microsoft, and he even stole that away from them. Nothing unethical about it. Xerox was the creator of the Windows interface (no one accuses apple of stealing). DOS was an inferior product to CPM till Bill realized that if you put it on every IBM PC, CPM was doomed.

Creating a monopoly is no easy task, especially in an industry that demands major product changes once a year or less and competition is fierce. While Microsoft's practices certainly are predatory, and their products are never the best on the market, they truly own marketing.

Ok, enough rambling...
---------------

Now on to the MBA debate. As a Wharton grad with a degree in Entrepreneurial management, I'm somewhat uniquely qualified to voice my opinion as to why MBAs are so frequently beaten out by drop outs and other "less credentialled" people.

1) It's the money! Why start a company when you can get a six figure job right out of b-school--no real skill needed! Once you start down the big bucks salary path it's hard to step back boot strap a start-up.

Even those who do venture in the entrepreneurial world know that if things go poorly they can always return to the comfort of corporate america. Many entrepreneurs become most successful when they reach a point of desparation...they find a way to succeed because they have no other choices.

2) All the b-school training is about running big companies, not small ones. Even with my degree, I learned how to write a great business plan and raise venture capital, but I didn't have a clue how to run my own firm or address the myriad challenges small business owners face. (And many of the terrific people who now work for me may think I still don't have a clue!)

3) Street smarts. Hate to admit this one, but in the entrepreneurial world street smarts beats book smarts.
 
Posted by: mac504 Author Response
6/26/2004 3:57 PM (CST)
I find it hard to believe that a forum like this cant recognize good marketing when they see it.If gates isnt a good marketer than who is?
 
Posted by: kirkgavinjames Accepted Answer
6/27/2004 1:11 PM (CST)
Bill Gates had a good product idea and developed it. As for the marketing side I suspect he is not all too gifted. Its not like he did all the marketing for Microsoft himself. He ostensibly had a lot of help from teams of marketers. His strength lies in technology, designing it, upgrading it etc.. satisfying needs from a technology point of view , not in mass marketing the product i.e. methods of distribution, pricing etc..., but then again I am not Bill Gates so is it really fair to make any such statements...
 
Posted by: mac504 Author Response
6/27/2004 7:13 PM (CST)
Gates is responsible for the BROAD marketing strategies(along with ballmer) that made microsoft the company it is.

Gates is a marketer not a technologist.
 
Posted by: danielle* Accepted Answer
6/29/2004 3:29 PM (CST)
All very interesting responses and I too feel as though I need to put in my two cents worth.

When you look at what Bill Gates did with Microsoft than by definition alone he is a great marketer. He saw an opportunity where no large players were interested. He knew that the future of technology was to make a user friendly interface so he purchased a smaller company. With IBM focusing on hardware R&D and selling hardware, Gates partnered with them offering a unique selling proposition. "My windows application will help you sell more computers by making applications more user friendly." WOW....you look at that now and go how simple why didn't I think of that. Yes he was and is great marketer. Marketing is not just about making things pretty it's also about strategy and he was great at it.
 
Posted by: mac504 Author Response
6/29/2004 3:53 PM (CST)
^^^^^

Great point!

Most people have this limited view of marketing as being all about perceptions and images when pricing,distribution and strategic alliances are just as important in dealing with cometition.
 
Posted by: kwinters* Member Response
7/2/2004 9:31 AM (CST)
Mac504....

I realize that marketing is about pricing, distribution, strategic alliances, competitives strategy, etc. however, I challenge you to ask the question how many people here on this forum who are "marketing" people in their company or "marketing" consultants really get to do that stuff and the answer will be few, very few in the real corporate world, so, by your definition of what you think marketing is, yes gates is a great marketer, however, by the definition of marketer in the real world, gates doesn't do that stuff, in the real world he is a visionary ceo guy....go ahead, ask the question, I am curiuos to find out, if the answers are no good, I'll give you back your points from mine....
 
Posted by: mac504 Author Response
7/2/2004 12:21 PM (CST)
So what's 'real' marketing to you?LOL

Gates is not a 'visionary'.

Gates is not a 'technologist'

Gates is a marketer.He is a marketer by the simple fact that microsoft is not a technology company.Microsoft is a marketing company.Microsoft has NO inventions or technological innovations.It copies and buys other people's stuff and mass market them.

Take Gates away from microsoft and lets see if those MBA's who run microsoft's 'real' marketing keep the company afloat

LOL!
 
Posted by: cal* Member Response
7/3/2004 3:41 PM (CST)
Good thread, Mac. From what I know about Bill and Microsoft to this point, I would agree that he isn't the visionary or technologist many people think he is.

What Lou Gerstner of IBM had to say about Bill Gates and Microsoft: "Our biggest competitor in software is not a very goood technical company. But it's one of the best marketing companies I've ever seen, and I've spent twenty years in marketing."
 
Posted by: frank2u* Accepted Answer
7/8/2004 2:59 PM (CST)
Mac504
"Marketer not technologist."
This brings us the the same criterion for effective, repetitive, yet simplistic sales.
He simply identified a need and built solutions out of problems/nightmare of prospects. YOU AND I
 
Posted by: Val (Moderator)* Moderator Response
7/13/2004 8:20 AM (CST)
Hello all. I am closing this question since it's more than 2 weeks old. We do this to reward the contributions of participants in a timely manner + to give increased visibility to the newer questions.

Thanks, so much, for participating!

Val (Moderator)
 


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