According to this interesting article it’s because they are college drop outs and misfits of society. I happen to agree that sometimes the genius can’t be contained by common social structure. They were not built for the 30 year job which at the end you receive a cake, a party, and a a gold watch.

Now as the article points out

By any measure, successful misfits are the exception, and there is no handy tool for distinguishing the next college dropout with a bright and wealthy future from the dropout who faces a heap of woe.

That means, if you are in college, don’t drop out just because the four mentioned above are making it. Read the entire article, there is a lot of timing and luck involved. One wrong move, and none of the above might have ever been successful today.

I do see a lot of parallels between a young Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. I’m very interested to see where Mark is going to take all this success of Facebook. The latest thing is of course f8 which from the looks of things is really being embraced by the community. Good example is the company I work for, Lending Club (Facebook account needed for that link). It’s good to see Facebook welcoming others to innovate. I think this the one area that Mark has an advantage over Bill.

He realized early on that it was the people and others that would help to grow the company. Instead of staying totally closed, he opened up early. I think this could prove to be a good move for Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg. What I’m saying is where Mark will be in 30 years should be interesting to see.

Technically Speaking, he should (at current projections) end up just like Bill Gates. He should, but that is also dependent on how he handles the next 10 years. It’s an exciting time in the business. I just wonder who the next Mark Zuckerberg will be?