Billionaires' Stakes Over Their Businesses Throughout Time

[TheProcess]

I started my first business about a month ago. One of my biggest problems was figuring out how to divide equity, and how much equity I should keep if I wish to become wealthy.

So I went on the Forbes Richest List and looked up the names of some of the wealthiest people on earth. I wanted to see how much equity someone like Mark Zuckerberg, or Bill Gates, owned throughout their time with their respective businesses. I was looking for information such as, how much equity did Bill Gates start with, with Microsoft, and the history of how much his stake changed over time.

But I couldn't find this information anywhere. Does anyone know how I could find this information? I think it would be very helpful because one can then reverse engineer what has worked for successful and wealthy people, in terms of equity, and follow a similar path.

 

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[sparechange]

I started my first business about a month ago. One of my biggest problems was figuring out how to divide equity, and how much equity I should keep if I wish to become wealthy.

So I went on the Forbes Richest List and looked up the names of some of the wealthiest people on earth. I wanted to see how much equity someone like Mark Zuckerberg, or Bill Gates, owned throughout their time with their respective businesses. I was looking for information such as, how much equity did Bill Gates start with, with Microsoft, and the history of how much his stake changed over time.

But I couldn't find this information anywhere. Does anyone know how I could find this information? I think it would be very helpful because one can then reverse engineer what has worked for successful and wealthy people, in terms of equity, and follow a similar path.

One billionaire that I met had 100% equity in his company

Another billionaire (Sara Blakely) started with $5,000 and kept 100%

Kevin O Learly, $10,000 borrowed from his mother not sure about equity but I know he made over a billion

Mark Cuban, self funded with a few hundred dollars and kept 100% ( I think) made a few billion.

You dont need investments or big capital to start, I'd argue taking investors is stupid, unless that investor is someone like Cuban.

 

[TheProcess]

One billionaire that I met had 100% equity in his company

Another billionaire (Sara Blakely) started with $5,000 and kept 100%

Kevin O Learly, $10,000 borrowed from his mother not sure about equity but I know he made over a billion

Mark Cuban, self funded with a few hundred dollars and kept 100% ( I think) made a few billion.

You dont need investments or big capital to start, I'd argue taking investors is stupid, unless that investor is someone like Cuban.

I think the two biggest problems for me are as follows:
- I'm not a tech guy. I don't understand technology and coding very well, things such as web and app development.
- I have no money, and no funding, so I can't hire employees or do much.

With both of those things being said, what do you think the best industry would be for me to focus on?

 

[sparechange]

I think the two biggest problems for me are as follows:
- I'm not a tech guy. I don't understand technology and coding very well, things such as web and app development.
- I have no money, and no funding, so I can't hire employees or do much.

With both of those things being said, what do you think the best industry would be for me to focus on?

The best industry for you to enter would be the one you think you could create/sell a solution, what can be improved in the current marketplace?

Start off with things YOU have expertise in if you feel lost. What do you like to do?

 

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[Royce2]

- I'm not a tech guy. I don't understand technology and coding very well, things such as web and app development.
- I have no money, and no funding, so I can't hire employees or do much.

I think you ought to dig around this site a lot more. These two problems you mentioned will never be problems for people who have a solid vision.

Even drug addicts will do whatever it takes to find money/skills necessary to achieve their goal. Although be it a short destination and an illegal one.

None the less, mindset is where I started. Be honest with yourself and ask, what kind of obstacles will make you leave it for another day? Once you answer that, you will know what you're dealing with.

And if you don't know what industry to start with... Again dig around with the progress threads and see what sounds right for you.

 

[amp0193]

I think the two biggest problems for me are as follows:
- I'm not a tech guy. I don't understand technology and coding very well, things such as web and app development.
- I have no money, and no funding, so I can't hire employees or do much.

Neither of which could prevent you from starting a tech company.

You get a co-founder who is a programmer.

But you have to bring something to the table. Are you the visionary? The marketing/sales force? Someone with the drive to bring this particular tech idea to market? Are you a leader that you can convince someone to come on board with you for no pay for years?

Then can you convince investors to give you and your co-founder money?

Many companies start this way, with nothing. You can raise money on an idea. If the idea is good, and the team behind it is good. And you are relentless in your commitment.

With both of those things being said, what do you think the best industry would be for me to focus on?

This is not a question we could possibly answer for you.

There are hundreds of thousands of industries. People make money in all of them.

 

[TheProcess]

The best industry for you to enter would be the one you think you could create/sell a solution, what can be improved in the current marketplace?

Start off with things YOU have expertise in if you feel lost. What do you like to do?

Well I'm a college student. I'm not an expert at anything. I play some sports recreationally, I read books, I play chess... Thanks for the advice nonetheless. I'll start thinking more about what it is that I like to do.

I've quickly lost passion for the business I started a month ago. I used to work all day on it. Now It's hard for me to sit down even for half an hour.

 

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[TheProcess]

I think you ought to dig around this site a lot more. These two problems you mentioned will never be problems for people who have a solid vision.

Even drug addicts will do whatever it takes to find money/skills necessary to achieve their goal. Although be it a short destination and an illegal one.

None the less, mindset is where I started. Be honest with yourself and ask, what kind of obstacles will make you leave it for another day? Once you answer that, you will know what you're dealing with.

And if you don't know what industry to start with... Again dig around with the progress threads and see what sounds right for you.

Alright thanks. I'll start looking into some of the progress threads and see if anything inspires me.

 

[TheProcess]

Neither of which could prevent you from starting a tech company.

You get a co-founder who is a programmer.

But you have to bring something to the table. Are you the visionary? The marketing/sales force? Someone with the drive to bring this particular tech idea to market? Are you a leader that you can convince someone to come on board with you for no pay for years?

Then can you convince investors to give you and your co-founder money?

Many companies start this way, with nothing. You can raise money on an idea. If the idea is good, and the team behind it is good. And you are relentless in your commitment.



This is not a question we could possibly answer for you.

There are hundreds of thousands of industries. People make money in all of them.

Ok thanks for the reply. Let me ask you this since you're a legendary contributer. I started a business a month ago, and I was really into it and working all day everyday on it. But about a week ago I just lost all passion it seems. I can't even sit down for an hour to work on it. Why do you think that happened?

 

[sparechange]

Well I'm a college student. I'm not an expert at anything. I play some sports recreationally, I read books, I play chess... Thanks for the advice nonetheless. I'll start thinking more about what it is that I like to do.

I've quickly lost passion for the business I started a month ago. I used to work all day on it. Now It's hard for me to sit down even for half an hour.

The reason why you've lost passion for it because its not new and your feedback loop isn't being fired up, I'm having similar struggles as a ton of work I've done is showing no results, it totally sucks but that's a part of business, thankless work.

Let's start off with books and chess, what sucks about reading? For me, holding a book, screw holding a book, how about a product that holds a book for me? I'm going into this cold and am about to google a book holding product, lets see...



Ok so there is a product that holds a book for you, cool! Is this something you could sell? Maybe, start off with trying to find out where you can source these, prices, competition and think about how you can sell these.

Then you can verify if people would actually WANT to buy something like that, I looked at Amazon since it's an easy reference point and it looks like tons of people buy similar products. So hypothetically, if we are to sell a product like this, how could we make this product better? Maybe make it smaller, portable, a different color, cheaper and so on.

Thinking about pain points and problem's like oh, I hate holding books I wonder if there is a product to solve that? Is the type of thinking you want to have. It can apply to any business really.

You said you played chess, what are some common problems chess players have or face? Can you make a better board? Custom designed pieces? Maybe a special theme chess board?

When you have these thoughts your brain will start firing off random ideas, I have millions of ideas that pop into my head when I think about stuff like this, they are super easy to come by.

 

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