The "school — university — work" scheme is universal for most of us. What happens if the second link of this chain is omitted? Some, of course, will lose the opportunity to build a brilliant career. And some will get their way, no matter what. In this article, we will tell the stories of 10 successful and wealthy people for whom the lack of higher education has not become a problem.
Co-founder and former CEO of Twitter
Evan Williams studied at the University of Nebraska for a year and a half, after which he dropped out and began freelancing in the IT field. He managed to work with Hewlett-Packard and Intel, and then together with his partner Meg Hourigan launched the Blogger blog platform, which was bought by Google Corporation in 2003. Evan Williams' next project was a collaboration with Noah Glass on the Odeo podcast. It was there that Williams met Biz Stone and Jack Dorsey, the future co—founders of Twitter. In 2006, these four men, one of whom did not graduate from university, created a well-known microblogging platform as a result of brainstorming.
Co-founder and CEO of WhatsApp messenger
Jan Koum grew up in the vicinity of Kiev. When he turned 16, he and his mother immigrated to California. There, Koum enrolled at San Jose State University, where he began studying mathematics and computer science. However, his studies were soon abandoned, and the young man himself got a job as a network engineer at Yahoo. He worked in this company for nine years.
The idea of creating a service that allows you to exchange messages originated with Kuma in 2009. The messenger quickly gained popularity, and now about 450 million people use it every month. In February of this year WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook*. According to reports, the transaction amount was $9 billion.
Founder of Virgin Group
Richard Branson didn't even graduate from high school, let alone university, but that didn't stop him from succeeding. He was just a born entrepreneur. Branson founded his first business magazine, Student, when he was only 16 years old. At the age of 19, he created a company called Virgin, which was engaged in mailing music records by mail. Sales were going well, and this allowed Branson to take the next step — to launch a recording studio Virgin Records. In 1980, travel companies, including the Voyager Group and the airline Virgin Atlantic, were added to Branson's successful projects. In 1999, Richard Branson received the title of Sir for his services to entrepreneurship. Today, his Virgin Group corporation has more than 200 companies in 30 countries around the world.
Co-founder of the record label Def Jam
Russell Simmons studied sociology at the City College of New York, but became interested in producing and dropped out. His first experience as a producer was participating in the organization of hip-hop parties in Harlem and Queens. In 1979, he became the manager of his rapper friend Curtis Blow. And five years later, fate brought him together with the famous producer Rick Rubin. Together they founded the record label Def Jam and signed contracts with artists such as LL Cool J, Beastie Boys and Public Enemy. In 1999, Simmons sold his Def Jam stake to Universal Music Group for $100 million.
Founder of Dell Computers Corporation
Michael Dell could have become a doctor if he hadn't dropped out of the University of Texas. However, as a second-year student, he did so and founded Dell Computers. It was he who in the early 1980s formed an interest in computers, when this area was still quite undeveloped. Dell started creating and selling computers and concentrated entirely on this business. During the first year of its existence, Dell Computers earned $6 million in sales. And in 1992, Dell was named the youngest CEO to be ranked in the Fortune 500. Today, Dell Computers is one of the largest PC manufacturers.
Co-founder MySocialCloud.com
Stacey Ferreira was still in high school when, together with her brother Scott Ferreira and friend Shiv Prakash, she launched her first startup, an online network password storage MySocialCloud.com . And it happened like this. In 2012, Ferreira saw a message from Richard Branson on Twitter. He invited all his followers to a charity banquet. The fee was $2,000 per person. Stacey and her brother Scott borrowed money from their parents and took part in the event, where they met Branson. Two months later, the project of aspiring entrepreneurs received $1 million investment from him and his business partner Jerry Murdoch. Later, Ferreira enrolled at New York University, but soon dropped out and moved to Los Angeles to focus on working on MySocialCloud.com .
CEO and Chairman of Ralph Lauren Corp
Ralph Lauren enrolled at Baruch College in New York, but dropped out two years later and joined the army. Upon his return, he got a job as a sales consultant at Brooks Brothers. However, the work there did not last long. Already in 1967, Lauren opened his own tie-making company under the Polo brand. His products were sold in Bloomingdales stores. Later, Lauren launched a men's clothing line, and two years after that, a women's clothing line. Today his company also sells household goods and perfumes.
Co-founder of Napster, CEO of Brigade Media
Sean Parker became famous as one of the founders of the Napster music file sharing network and the president of Facebook*. His ability to use information technology showed up at school. He won the Virginia State Olympiad in computer science and participated in the work on a search robot, thanks to which the CIA drew attention to the young talent. In just a year of working on various projects, Parker received $80,000. This fact has become an excellent argument to convince parents to delay going to college.
Later, Parker, along with his friend Sean Fenning, founded the Napster music file sharing network, which he jokingly calls "Napster University". After all, this project helped him gain the knowledge and skills that he used when further investing in other high-tech companies, including Facebook*, Spotify, Airtime and WillCall. Now Parker's fortune is estimated at more than $ 2.1 billion.
Co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods Market supermarket chain
John McKay studied philosophy and religion at the University of Texas at Austin, but left his studies and in 1978, together with his then girlfriend Renee Lawson Hardy, opened a SaferWay health food store. Two years later, SaferWay merged with Clarksville Natural Grocery by Craig Weller and Mark Skiles, and the new company was named Whole Foods Market. Over time, it turned from a local business into a highly profitable retail chain consisting of more than 340 stores. Currently, John McKay shares the post of head with Walter Rob.
Co-founder and CEO of the clothing company American Apparel
Dov Charney started selling clothes while still a student at a school in Montreal: he sold T-shirts brought from the USA to Canadians. Some time later, Charney enrolled at Fats University, but dropped out in 1990, borrowed $10,000 from his father, moved to South Carolina and founded the clothing company American Apparel. The company's products were first sold in bulk, and in 2003 Charney opened his first retail outlets in New York, Los Angeles and Montreal. In 2006, he sold American Apparel for $360 million, but remained as CEO.
Reading the stories of these people, you involuntarily think: "Damn it, how did they manage it?" After all, the university is not only the notorious lectures and cramming. This is an opportunity to learn how to find and assimilate information on your own (not at all like at school). This is a broadening of horizons. It's self-discipline, after all. It turns out that these guys are so talented that they didn't need all this.
And what do you think: to what extent does a successful career of a person depend on his education?
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