Who they are
Co-founded Microsoft with Paul Allen in 1975 and turned it into the defining software company of the PC era — effectively inventing the modern software industry's pricing, licensing, and platform playbook. Stepped back from day-to-day Microsoft in 2008 to run the Gates Foundation full-time. For founders, Gates is the enduring case study in platform strategy: Windows and Office worked because developers and customers had no other rational choice, and he architected that lock-in deliberately.
Core Ideas
- Platform lock-in via developer ecosystems
- "A platform is when the economic value of everybody that uses it exceeds the value of the company that creates it" — often cited back to him
- Annual "Think Weeks" — dedicated time to read and write strategy memos alone