Would you say that these dropouts built successful business empires due mainly to their unique business acumen or were they just lucky in having the right product at the right time for the right market? - Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard - Steve Jobs dropped out of Reed College - Paul Allen dropped out of Washington State U - Larry Ellison dropped out of U of Illinois and U of Chicago - David Geffen dropped out of UT Austin - Michael Dell dropped out of UT Austin - Richard Branson dropped out of high school - Ralph Lauren dropped out of City College of NY

They certainly had talent and a good work ethic...probably had some pretty dandy friends to get 'em over the rough spots too. Skip

@SkipCox Well spoken, well said. There's certainly an element of 'who you know' in business that can make the difference.

Hey what about me lol? I dropped out of high school to help the family when I was 16. After a few years things were better I busted my butt to get a scholarship to play football at florida state. All was again well until I broke my leg. I decided I didn't like pain that much and gave up football and was again out of school. Here I am now 20 some years later back in school again go figure. Oh yeah you wanted famous people. Likely I want to go like my grandfather did. Peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming at the top of my lungs like the passengers in his car. (\__/) (='.'=) (")_(")

@LikelyStory You're famous in this forum. I find it interesting how some folks can take a non-traditional path and against the odds make something of themselves, especially in high tech as there seems to be disproportionate number of drop-outs creating and running successful tech companies (Microsoft, Oracle, Apple and Dell).