This week, Michael Dell posted a few pictures and statements on X celebrating the founding of his company forty years ago on May 3, 1984.
At the time, he was a pre-med student at the University of Texas at Austin. He launched the company, originally called PC’s Limited, in his dorm room, offering customized PC upgrades.
Dell incorporated the company about a week before finals. He finished his freshman year as a biology major. Then he dropped out of the University of Texas and founded Dell Computers with $1,000. He relocated the company from his dorm room to a proper office.
The business grew from $6 million in the first nine months to $33 million in the next year. It grew about 80 percent per year compounded for eight years and 60 percent for the six years after that, according to Dell.
Dell’s secret sauce was the way he sold the PCs – direct to consumers.
At age 27, Dell became the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company ever.
Today, he is still CEO of the company he founded. Dell’s revenue in 2023 was $102 billion.
Round Rock-based Dell is also one of Austin’s largest technology companies, with more than 1,400 local employees.
And Dell, 59, has become the world’s 12th richest person, with a personal fortune of $104 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
And at SXSW in March, Dell said he’s looking forward to the next 40 years and he thinks Artificial Intelligence will play a big role in Dell’s future.
