Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have a combined net worth of approximately $195 billion. Together they have amassed more money than the GDPs of Greece, Hungary, or Algeria. While each entrepreneur has a unique set of traits that has made him successful, these three tech founders also have a few things in common that have allowed them to build some of the world's most respected and innovative organizations. 1. IMPECCABLE PATTERN RECOGNITION. Scott Olson/Getty Images In 1975, Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard after just two years. He reportedly spent more time using computers in the computer lab than studying for exams. Gates, along with his co-founder Paul Allen, realized that the personal computer was going to need software to run it successfully. After purchasing an Altair 8800 (an early home computer), he and Allen projected that a computer would eventually make it into every home in the United States. In 2004, Tesla co-founder Martin Eberhard sent an email to Elon Musk, who had already successfully participated in PayPal and founded SpaceX, asking for an interview to discuss an investment in his new electric car company. Musk, who had believed in the power of electric cars for a decade, was keen to invest. Musk's involvement generated a $7.5 million round of funding. Eventually Musk would go on to become the chairman and CEO of Tesla. Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in 1995. At the time Amazon only sold books, though Bezos knew from the moment he founded the company that the ecommerce platform should become an "everything store." When Amazon was founded, eBay did not exist, and Barnes and Noble was not yet selling books online. Bezos had a premonition about the future, and acted quickly to establish what is now a nearly $500 billion company. 2. FAITH IN THEMSELVES AND IN THEIR FOUNDING TEAMS. Gates, Bezos and Musk all had profound belief in their own capabilities and those of the founding members of their teams. It is one thing to have a visionary idea; it is another thing to drop out of Harvard, invest millions in a small electric car company or risk insurmountable debt. Take Jeff Bezos as an example. After graduating from Princeton, he eventually ended up as a senior vice president of DE Shaw, an investment company. When he hatched the idea of an online bookstore, he left his job at DE Shaw in the middle of 1994. In other words, Bezos walked away from a considerable end-of-year bonus in favor of founding a small company headquartered in his garage. 3. HIGH RISK TOLERANCE. OnInnovation/Flickr Founding a startup entails a great deal of risk. One study found that after 10 years of being in business, 96% of startups fail. This means that, statistically speaking, Gates, Musk and Bezos were facing tough odds when they decided to leave otherwise comfortable lives to start a risky business venture. For example, Musk left his PhD program at Stanford University to found a company called Zip2 with his brother. The company was sold to Compaq, netting Musk a bit over $20 million. But rather than pocket the cash and ride off into the sunset, Musk once again took a great risk by investing millions of dollars to found a company called X.com, which would later merge with another company to form PayPal. SEE THE REST OF THE STORY AT BUSINESS INSIDER
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