Paul Allen was just 14-years-old when he met Bill Gates. The two went on to become the founders of Microsoft, despite not having college degrees. While he has resigned due to ill-health, Allen continues to pursue research, philanthropic and business opportunities and encourages others to do the same.

Proving Anyone Can Do It

In 1975, Paul Allen proved that you can do anything and you don’t need a piece of paper to tell you that’s the case! He dropped out of Washington State University with his friend, Bill Gates, and they went onto become the founders of one of the biggest technology companies in the world, Microsoft. They wanted to create software for the new technological wave: the personal computers.

The Windows operating system and programs weren’t the first to be created. They initially created software for Commodore and Apple! However, they soon acquired the Q-DOS operating system and developed it into the MS-DOS. That became the only operating system for IBM computers and from 1981 it overtook all the previous systems.

Paul Allen Resigns Due to Ill Health


Unfortunately, Allen was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease in 1983 and went through months of intensive radiation treatment. He was just 30-years-old and already a billionaire thanks to the stocks in Microsoft rising steadily. He chose to resign from the company though and looked for other projects; hoping to find a new idea just as profitable as Microsoft.

In 1986, Vulcan Ventures was created as his company for researching the investments available and a think tank, Interval Research, in Silicon Valley was created in 1992. Allen could now focus on the dream where everyone would be connected online, known as “wired world”.

Investments Throughout His Research

Paul Allen has made investments throughout his research. Some of the companies include SureFind, Starwave, America Online and Teluscan. With his wired world view, he built 30 companies within an infrastructure and purchased various companies, including 90% of Charter Communications to become the owner of the 7th largest cable company in the United States.

Allen saw the future and started investing in interactive entertainment and media. He now has 100 companies, considered “new media” to his name. He now lives on Lake Washington in Seattle and continues to increase his network with his entrepreneurial tactics.

You can read more about the history of one of the gretest companies in the world - Microsoft - here.

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