Exactly 49 years ago today, Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft—a company that has had a lasting impression and impact on the software industry and Big Tech itself. To build such a successful company, which now boasts a whopping $3.125 trillion market capitalization, Gates rarely took breaks. In fact, he said that in the early days of Microsoft, he really didn’t even believe in them, Gates told Northern Arizona University’s graduating class in 2023.