[TriLUG] OT: Education

[Ben Pitzer]

Don't get me wrong. I know that there are hard working people out there, the
ones who put together a business model and bust their asses through hard
work, scrimping every cent in order to make things work. Paul Allen went to
a private high school where he met Bill Gates, and his father was an
associate director of libraries for the University of Washington (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Allen). So I'd say there was a little
money there.

Michael Dell, however, did it on his own, as I understand things. He busted
his ass, and simply had a great idea at a great time. He had the other thing
that can make money: a great idea, one that comes along once every 100
years. Sam Walton had that, too. He started with some money. Not a ton, but
enough to start up a discount department store in Arkansas, which is still
more than I probably have. Nevertheless, he had a great idea, busted his
ass, and made it work.

No, money isn't all it takes. But it sure as hell helps, as most of the top
10 will tell you.

-Ben Pitzer


On 9/26/05, Mark Freeze <mfreeze at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Bill Gates was going to Harvard when he dropped out so I think he must
> have
> had some family cash behind him. I don't think that Paul Allen or Michael
> Dell had any big family money backing them. I don't know for Ellison or
> the
> other guy. The bottom of the top ten are all Waltons. They all inherited
> the
> money, but the person they inherited it from was (I think) the proverbial
> rags-to-riches story.
> Regards,
> Mark.
>
>
> On 9/25/05, Ben Pitzer <bpitzer at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > I'm going to jump on this dead horse and start a'whippin, just because
> > it's
> > Sunday night, I'm bored, and y'all need to know that I still listen
> around
> > here so you don't start gettin' all mouthy about me.
> >
> > Anyone ever heard the old adage 'you have to have money to make money'?
> I
> > think that there's an imporant correlary to be drawn here, and that is
> > that
> > having money to start with is the best way to make money.
> >
> > My question about each of these on the top 5 (haven't seen the list
> > myself)
> > is whether or not they came from wealthy families to begin with. Going
> > from
> > big bucks to mega bucks doesn't impress me. Going from my salary to big
> > bucks does. When you have money, you have connections and/or the ability
> > to
> > make connections. That means that you are invited into situations that
> > allow
> > you to make money, and which are much more reliable than those that
> people
> > such as myself will find. The last time that somebody offered me an
> > opportunity to invest my money and make (potentially) millions, it
> > involved
> > purchasing cleaning products from his online store that he didn't own,
> and
> > was the marketing brain child of the family that brought us Amway.
> >
> > So frankly I don't think that having a college education always helps
> when
> > you already have all the tools you need to be successful, and that is a
> > head
> > start.
> >
> > Flame on,
> > Ben Pitzer
> >
> >
> > On 9/23/05, Mark Freeze <mfreeze at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > Remember the posts we had a couple of weeks ago regarding education &
> > > certifications? I was just reading the list of the 10 richest people
> in
> > > the
> > > US and I saw an interesting fact: Out of the top 5, 4 were college
> > > dropouts.
> > > (The bottom 5 were all from the Wal-Mart family.)
> > > I hope everyone has a good weekend,
> > > Mark.
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