Entrepreneurship is an important part of the social life. It contributes to the growth of economy, bringing new ideas and inventions into the world. According to the dictionary, this term is understood as one who organizes and manages the enterprise, especially involving high risk (Sahai 5). The greatest example of such a person is Bill Gates. He has become one of the most famous entrepreneurs in the world after he and cofounder Paul Allen had introduced Microsoft in 1975 (Snow 38). However, his success is not only the result of the ability to produce new ideas. In addition, his findings have significantly contributed to the development of the American science and technologies. Therefore, this is a person, who can serve as an example for other businessmen.
Many people believe that being an entrepreneur is an innate trait. In other words, they state that genetic endowment plays a great role in it. In order to find out whether it is true or not, it is necessary to analyse Bill Gates' biography. Bill Gates was born on October 28, 1955 in the family of entrepreneurs. His father William H. Gates II worked as a Seattle attorney, and the mother, Mary Gates devoted her life to volunteer organizations in her community, promoting national leadership positions. From the childhood, Bill began to demonstrate good humor and high energy. At school, he was the youngest student in this class. However, it did not hinder him from being the cleverest one. Certain subjects as math and science were especially easy for him. Moreover, Bill spent a great amount of time on reading, logic games and puzzles (Lesinski 9). At the age of thirteen, Bill started programming computers. At Harvard, he continued with his hobby. Together with his friend Steve Ballmer, he wrote a version of programming BASIC. In 1975, before Graduation, Bill left Harvard and formed Microsoft with his childhood friend Paul Allen. Their goal was to develop software for the newly emerged personal computer market. Although, many changes have been made in their original business plan, no one can imagine their life without Microsoft software nowadays. Thus, it becomes clear that genetic endowment, supportive family and social background have paid a great role in Bill Gates' way to success. However, it is necessary not to underestimate Bill Gates' personal work and original ideas.
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What are the most important elements of Bill Gates' business plan? First of all, the main idea on which the creation of Bill Gates' venture has been based is the evaluation of the current market state and anticipation of its future changes. It means that the entrepreneur has noticed that there lacks a software, which can make application programs do specific tasks, is not much more than expensive paperweights (Bowdoin Van Riper 307). That is why he has decided to produce some of the first software of this kind. Thus, the main element of a successful plan is interaction between new ventures. However, the cooperation between their founders is also very important aspect. That is why Bill Gates has cooperated with many companies, which have developed and promoted first personal computers. For example, in the late 1960s, Bill Gates and Paul Allen visited the offices of DEC daily, where company officials let them tinker with computers in exchange for finding flaws in the programs that enabled DEC's computers to perform usual functions. Nevertheless, analysis of the market state and strategy of cooperation between new ventures is not enough for successful business plan. The most important thing is determination and allocation of the necessary resources. The main principle of Bill Gates is to use as many resources as possible. It becomes clear from his quotation, “Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There is a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning” (Rogak 227). Moreover, in his first business plan, Bill Gates has decided that investment of almost all his wealth intelligently in the creation of new business, which in turn provided many new jobs and important products of technology, will help him not only to save his resources, but also increase them. This thought has been absolutely right. Now Bill Gates has control over some fifty billion dollars worth of U.S. capital resources. Moreover, according to Bill Gates, the most important part of resources are human resources. That is why he has concentrated on hiring smart people and keeping them motivated. In addition, he has allocated these human resources in small teams whose main goal has been to accomplish specified task using this certain sum of money and own suggestions. Thus, it becomes clear that proper allocation of resources and risk taking are essential components of business plan.
However, in order to understand why Microsoft has gained such growing popularity, it is necessary to analyze, which elements are critical to the venture's success. In terms of personal qualities of the entrepreneur, these essential elements are such traits as quick thinking, determination, foresight, diplomacy, discipline, imagination, intellect, and power of persuasion. The combination and interaction of them has helped Bill Gates to gain success. In terms of the venture's features, the most striking thing that has contributed to Microsoft popularity is its actuality. It has perfectly appealed to needs of people of that time. However, in order to remain popular, the venture has to be constantly improved.
What are the main changes in Bill Gates' initial business plan? To compete with other companies producing software such as Apple (whose computers include a user - friendly interface missing in DOS), Bill Gates has created Windows operating system. Moreover, in 1996, Microsoft introduced Internet Explorer to appeal to growing needs of people to be on the Internet (Shelly 13.17).
Bill Gates' Contribution to US History
Without doubts, the findings and achievements of Bill Gates are valuable and significant for humanity, in general. By developing new technologies Bill Gates managed to improve the scientific aspect of his native state, as well. There are several achievements, which have significantly influenced the development of the American history and science, in particular.
Firstly, Bill Gates has inaugurated the era of the home computers, encouraging their development and improvement. It was a real breakthrough in the technological progress. BASIC, the first programming language, was easy to use. Therefore, many people could use it in everyday situations. This achievement fastened the pace of the technological development and left many countries far behind.
The second most important achievement was the launching of Windows. Nowadays, it helps to operate approximately 90% of all computers in the world. It helps to deal with many aspect of social life, including business services, mobile phones, retail displays and games' production. Obviously, its invention was of great value for the American society.
Thirdly, Bill Gates has established the Microsoft Company. It was not only the center of the advanced technologies and researches. Firstly, it provided plenty of new working places. As a result, many people in the US could find a job and be formally employed. Without doubts, this has made a positive impact on the economic position of the state. Moreover, it was beneficial for the people, as they found real possibilities to earn money. Therefore, we can say that Bill Gates made a contribution to both technological and economic aspects of the social life. Such achievements witness about his natural talent and abilities to come out to the top first.
Finally, Bill Gates is one of the richest men in the world. Annually, he spends huge sums of money for the development of education and science. Moreover, Bill Gates is known for his philanthropic activities. All this gives us reasons to say that Bill Gates is an outstanding individual in the history of the US.
To sum up, Bill Gates is a great entrepreneur, whose way to success consists of 4 main keys. Firstly, Bill's family has had a great influence on his future career. Following the example of parents, he has learned how to take an active position in life. Secondly, correctly developed a business plan, based on ideas of interaction with new ventures and their creators, as well as on right allocation of resources, has helped Bill Gates to develop relevant production for the society. Thirdly, the great role in the success of Microsoft pays personal traits of its inventor, such as quick thinking, determination, foresight, diplomacy, discipline, imagination, intellect, and power of persuasion. Finally, adjustment of production to the needs of time helps Microsoft to remain its growing popularity even nowadays. Therefore, we can conclude that Bill is an important person in the American history. His work and achievements have positively influenced the economic and technological aspects of the state.