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Some of Big Tech’s greatest success stories come from college dropouts. Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook in 2004 from his dorm room at Harvard University (and later abandoned it). Bill Gates also left Harvard and co-founded Microsoft with Paul Allen in 1975.
But Jeff Bezos, founder of the world’s largest online retailer Amazonsaid Zuckerberg and Gates are “the exception” to the idea that all big tech companies were founded by college dropouts and that a degree doesn’t matter as much these days.
While it’s “possible” to be 18, 19 or 20 and drop out of college to become a great entrepreneur, Bezos said these tech leaders are an exception.
“I always advise young people: go work in a company with best practices, somewhere where you can learn a lot of fundamental things. [like] how to hire really well, how to interview, etc. “, Bezos said during a interview at Italian Tech Week last fall. “There are a lot of things you would learn in a big company that will help you, and you still have a lot of time to start a company after you absorb it.”
Working in a business, instead of immediately trying to start one, “increases your chances” of succeeding, he added.
Bezos, now the third richest person in the world with a net worth of $268 billion, founded Amazon at the age of 30 after about a decade of professional experience. Gates and Zuckerberg, on the other hand, were just 19 when they launched Microsoft and Facebook, respectively. Yet Zuckerberg is the sixth richest person in the world with a net worth of $231 billion, and Gates is 16th with a net worth of $118 billion.
But Bezos says that “an additional 10 years of experience actually improved Amazon’s chances of success.” And it succeeded: Today, the online retailer has a whopping market capitalization of $2.64 trillion.
Not only did Bezos have professional experience, but he also completed his college education. He graduated summa cum laude – the highest honor – from Princeton University in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in engineering.
He was also elected to honor the Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi societies, and also served as president of the Princeton chapter of Students for Space Exploration and Development. This academic focus then came to fruition in 2000 with Bezos’ aerospace technology company, Blue Origin, which he described as the “most important job” it does. Blue Origin is a private company, so its valuation has never been disclosed, but Bezos said he thought it would be. eventually become bigger than Amazon.
“That would always be my advice: I finished college and I enjoyed college,” Bezos said. “I think it was helpful to me.”
Yet younger generations continue to question the value of a college degree. As the cost of college continues to rise and the jobs available to new graduates decline, many are beginning to question the true return on investment of a degree. Even Jim Farley, the CEO of Ford, said at a recent company conference last week that he was going to college: “it should be a debate.”
“Nothing in the history of Western civilization has gotten more expensive, more quickly,” added Mike Rowe, a longtime advocate of the vocation. “Neither energy, nor food, nor real estate, nor even health care, [nothing has been inflated more] than the cost of a four-year degree.
A version of this story was published on Fortune.com on October 6, 2025.
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