In 1975, Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard University to start focusing on the Microsoft company he founded with his friend, Paul Allen. But apparently they weren't trying alone, there was a big role from Bill Gates' parents.
Quoted from CNBC, Gates admits that part of his success was achieved due to the help of his beloved mother, Mary Gates. The mother intervened in one of the big deals that eventually made Microsoft a respected company in the world of technology. Bill Gates was born in a wealthy family, where his father is also a prominent lawyer.
Mary was a respected businesswoman of her time. He associates with the elite, including being a member of a non-profit organization called the United Way of King County. There, he met Joel Opel, one of the top IBM officials.
In 1980, Microsoft was still a small 5 year old company. Well, Mary saw an opportunity to help her son's company by establishing communication with Joel.
Coincidentally at that time, for the first time in IBM's history, they wanted to partner with a third party, in this case a software company, to create an operating system for the personal computers they were developing.
Microsoft is among those taking part, but other software companies are also joining in hopes of being selected by IBM. Mary stepped in and spoke directly to Joel about her son's company. Afterwards, Joel discussed the matter with other IBM officials.
Luckily for Microsoft, IBM's discussions with a strong candidate named Digital Research reached an impasse. It was there that Joel remembered Microsoft, the company run by Bill Gates, the son of his best friend, Mary.
That's how Microsoft was chosen by IBM even though they didn't actually have their own operating system. In 1981, Microsoft bought QDOS, the operating system from Seattle Computer Products and developed it into MS-DOS, the Microsoft Disk Operating System.
Microsoft licensed IBM to use it. Cleverly, MS-DOS was not exclusively used by IBM, so it was eventually widely adopted by other computer companies. They also get success in a fairly short time.
In 1986, Microsoft sold its initial shares and Bill Gates immediately shot up to become one of the richest people. Just a year later, Gates became a billionaire in US dollar terms. Gates' services of his mother will never be forgotten.