How I Built This with Guy Raz artwork

Nov 5, 2026 · 46m

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

From How I Built This with Guy Raz

— Player

?t=90 · ?t=1:30 · ?t=1h2m3s

0:00--:--
Timestamp sharing

— Episode notes

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 le...

— Timestamp deep links

Share any moment by clicking "Copy @ timestamp" in the player above. Supported formats: ?t=90 (seconds), ?t=1:30 (mm:ss), ?t=1h2m3s (hms).