Tech billionaire Bill Gates says Microsoft may not have succeeded if he hadn’t dropped out of Harvard

Gates enrolled at the Ivy League in 1973 but dropped out three semesters later at age 20 to launch Microsoft with his high school friend Paul Allen. "I had to give in to the inevitable, and give up school and, of course, never go back," he told CNBC in a recent interview for the CNBC Make It series "The Moment," where successful people share the turning point that changed their lives and careers.

The urgency came after Allen showed him a 1974 issue of Popular Electronics magazine featuring the Altair 8800, described as the "world’s first minicomputer kit to rival commercial models." The machine convinced them that personal computers were about to take off.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Photo from X

They quickly set out to build software for the devices, fearing others might seize the opportunity first. Gates admitted that waiting until after graduation could have meant missing the window.

"It was good to be early," he said. "We learned a lot [about how to run a business], and we moved up to Seattle, where it was easier for us to hire [the best software engineers]."

Gates said risk did not weigh heavily on him because he had savings from earlier programming work and software companies required little capital. "And I wasn’t borrowing money," he said.

Microsoft eventually turned Gates into a billionaire by 31. The company is now valued at nearly $3.8 trillion, and Gates’ fortune is estimated at $105.6 billion, according to Forbes.

Despite the success that followed, he said leaving Harvard was a difficult choice. He enjoyed his classes, the academic environment, and his friendships. He briefly returned for two semesters in 1976 but left permanently when Microsoft began to grow in Albuquerque. He was just two semesters away from graduating, according to the Harvard Crimson.

Reflecting on whether others should take the same path, Gates cautioned that his case was unusual. "It’s an exceptional case where the urgency is such that you interrupt those college years to go do something else," he said.

"I am always encouraging people to learn a broad set of things," Gates added, noting that his curiosity at Harvard allowed him to later apply much of what he studied.