Programmer first. Businessman later. Master of leverage, standards, and control.
At age 13, Gates gained rare access to a computer at Lakeside School. He spent thousands of hours coding and met Paul Allen.
Skill came before ambition.
At 17, Gates and Allen built Traf-O-Data, a traffic-counting program sold to cities.
It didn’t make them rich. It taught them that software could be monetized.
After reading about the Altair 8800, Gates and Allen contacted the manufacturer, claiming they had software—before it existed.
They built BASIC in weeks. Microsoft was born.
While everyone focused on hardware, Gates focused on software licensing.
This decision made Microsoft inevitable.
Not charming. Extremely effective.
Gates evolved into a deal-maker with IBM, a platform architect, and a monopoly builder.
He didn’t invent the PC. He owned the layer everyone needed.
Bill Gates became a businessman by realizing one thing early:
The person who controls standards controls industries.
Code was the weapon. Contracts were the multiplier.