Jeff Bezos warns Gen Z to think twice before dropping out of college to become the next Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg
More Gen Zers are opting out of college to become their own bosses. Some are even already becoming millionaires in the process. But don’t be fooled into thinking that’s the norm.
That’s, at least, according to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who recently warned Gen Z that college dropout success stories are too good to be true for most people.
“It is possible to be 18, 19, 20 years old, drop out of college and be a great entrepreneur,” Bezos said on stage at Italian Tech Week 2025. “We have famous examples of that working, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, etc. But these people are the exception.”
Despite numerous reports warning that the higher education payoff is dead, the billionaire advised Gen Z to finish college and climb the corporate ladder—just like he did.
“I started Amazon when I was 30, not when I was 20, and I think that that extra 10 years of experience actually improved the odds that Amazon would succeed,” he added.
Bezos graduated from Princeton University in 1986 with a degree in engineering and climbed the corporate ladder before founding Amazon in 1994. And his message isn’t anti-hustle or anti-entrepreneurial; it’s anti-rushing.
The key, Bezos explained, is using those years straight out of college to join “a best practices company,” somewhere where you learn the ropes of running a business—without risking your own capital.
Essentially, don’t think of taking on a grad job at a corporate giant as selling out or setting your dream back; Think of it as a bootcamp for becoming your own boss—and gaining the skills, experience, and networks that actually make success more likely.
—Orianna Rosa Royle, Success Associate Editor, Fortune
Got a career tip or dilemma? Get in touch: orianna.royle@fortune.com You can also find me on LinkedIn: @oriannarosa
Tip of the week 💡
Beware of the “hybrid creep”: Employers are silently sneaking in more in-office days without a major policy change.
Leadership Next 🎙️
Wendell Weeks, Chairman and CEO of Corning Incorporated, joins Leadership Next to reflect on leading one of America’s oldest innovators through constant reinvention. Weeks shares rare stories from his partnerships with visionaries like Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos, revealing lessons on collaboration, and what it takes to build a company designed to last 150 years. He also discusses Corning’s pivotal role in the iPhone’s creation, its quiet influence across industries from solar to AI, and why true leadership begins with followership.
Listen to the episode wherever you get your podcasts or read the transcript here.
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All knowledge in the world belongs to everybody in the world. ~John Henrik Clarke
Creative leaders always make an impression. Inspires to rework. A niche is a hell of a hard worker. And a skill breezed efficiently by. Talent worked less and a prodigy did it multitasking and a young one did it for the queen and an old one was content doing it. Wisdom use the knowledge and the wise one delegated it.
My Take: Mainstream learning and education has tested time and truly well. Drop-out to get rich is an exception. The exception to the rule is not the rule. What's tried and tested still holds steam! 🤷🏾
I enjoyed this..
More importantly, can he share what HGH he’s on and where one can find it. Asking for a friend