The Ten Roads to Riches, 2nd Edition

1THE RICHEST ROAD

Have a compelling vision? Leadership skills? An understanding spouse? You just might be a visionary founder.

This is the richest road. Founding your own firm can create astounding wealth. Eight of the 10 richest Americans did this, including Bill Gates (net worth $81 billion), Amazon maestro Jeff Bezos ($67 billion), Facebook titan Mark Zuckerberg ($55.5 billion), Oracle CEO Larry Ellison ($49.3 billion), info magnate and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg ($45 billion), and Google wunderkinds Sergey Brin and Larry Page (around $38 billion each).¹ Close behind are gambling magnate Sheldon Adelson ($31.8 billion), Nike’s Phil Knight ($25.5 billion), financier George Soros ($24.9 billion), Dell’s eponymous founder, Michael ($20 billion), Tesla visionary Elon Musk ($11.6 billion), and many of the richest Americans from nearly every industry and angle.² Even better? These folks get wealthy and spawn rich ride-alongs, too. (See Chapter 3.)

This road works with scant restriction by industry, education, or pedigree—PhDs and college dropouts are equally welcome. Continental Resources founder and CEO Harold Hamm ($13.1 billion) was the son of Oklahoma sharecroppers, grew up dirt-poor, and never went past high school.³ Instead he pumped gas, drove trucks, and learned the oil industry ropes. Now he’s known as the “world’s richest truck driver” and the ...