Question

Topic: Student Questions

Where Do You Suppose Bill Gates Got His Marketing Genius From?

Posted by Anonymous on 6/24/2004 at 2:53 PM ET 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.
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  • Posted by Blaine Wilkerson on 6/24/2004 at 2:57 PM Accepted
    He uses Bayes Theorem.
  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 6/24/2004 at 3:00 PM Accepted
    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 SteveByrneMarketing on 6/24/2004 at 3:18 PM Accepted
    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 SteveByrneMarketing on 6/24/2004 at 4:12 PM Member
    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 SteveByrneMarketing on 6/24/2004 at 5:20 PM Member
    So MANIPULATING ignorance is what marketing geniuses do? You’re got a point. LOL
  • Posted by Blaine Wilkerson on 6/24/2004 at 10:48 PM Member
    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 Blaine Wilkerson on 6/24/2004 at 11:23 PM Member
    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 on 6/27/2004 at 2:11 PM Accepted
    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...
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