Dell Computers: Michael Dell. The College Dropout Who Took on IBM (2018)

Michael Dell was building a tech business in his dorm room long before it became a familiar startup story. In 1983, the UT Austin student began selling PC upgrade kits. Within months, he left college to devote himself to the business. When Dell entered the Fortune 500 in 1992, Michael was just 27—the youngest CEO on the list.

In this episode, Michael explains how a teenage job selling newspaper subscriptions taught him to find customers, why he abandoned plans to become a doctor, and how Dell became a global powerhouse in computing technology.

He also shares what he learned from the mistakes that came with building a business so quickly.

What You'll Learn


How Dell sold computers for half the price of IBM's and still made a profit

Why a customer visit led Michael to rethink his entire business

How Michael scaled his startup to $66 million in annual sales by age 21

Why he returned as Dell's CEO in 2007—and how he navigated a changing PC industry

What Michael learned from Dell's early missteps, and why he prioritized customers over competitors


Production Credits

How I Built This is produced by Podcast Pointman and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Follow How I Built This:

YouTube → @HowIBuiltThis

Instagram → @howibuiltthis

X → @HowIBuiltThis

Facebook → How I Built This

Follow Guy Raz:

Instagram → @guy.raz

X → @guyraz

Substack → guyraz.substack.com

Website → guyraz.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices