The Index
Those who walked out
and still won.
A curated index of those who defied convention, trusted their vision, and built empires outside the system.
38
Dropouts Indexed
$12T+
Combined Valuation
18
Tech Companies
3
Trillion-Dollar Cos
| # | Name | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Bill Gates Microsoft Co-founded Microsoft | $3.1T |
| 02 | Steve Jobs Apple Co-founded Apple | $3.0T |
| 03 | Mark Zuckerberg Meta Created Facebook | $1.2T |
| 04 | Elon Musk Tesla Founded Tesla & SpaceX | $800B |
| 05 | Larry Ellison Oracle Founded Oracle | $400B |
| 06 | John D. Rockefeller Standard Oil Oil Magnate | $400B+ |
| 07 | Andrew Carnegie Carnegie Steel Steel Magnate | $300B+ |
| 08 | Thomas Edison General Electric (founded) Inventor & Entrepreneur | $200B+ |
| 09 | Reed Hastings Netflix Co-founded Netflix | $200B |
| 10 | Walt Disney The Walt Disney Company Built Entertainment Empire | $180B |
| 11 | Ray Kroc McDonald's Built McDonald's | $180B |
| 12 | Travis Kalanick Uber Co-founded Uber | $120B |
| 13 | Garrett Camp Uber Co-founded Uber | $120B |
| 14 | Amancio Ortega Inditex Founded Zara | $100B |
| 15 | Michael Dell Dell Technologies Founded Dell Technologies | $90B |
| 16 | Brian Chesky Airbnb Co-founded Airbnb | $90B |
| 17 | Patrick Collison Stripe Co-founded Stripe | $65B |
| 18 | Henry Ford Ford Motor Company Revolutionized Manufacturing | $50B |
| 19 | Ingvar Kamprad IKEA Founded IKEA | $50B |
| 20 | Evan Williams Twitter/X Co-founded Twitter | $44B |
| 21 | Jack Dorsey Twitter/X, Block Co-founded Twitter & Square | $44B |
| 22 | Daniel Ek Spotify Founded Spotify | $30B |
| 23 | Ben Silbermann Co-founded Pinterest | $20B |
| 24 | Jan Koum WhatsApp (sold) Created WhatsApp | $19B |
| 25 | Coco Chanel Chanel Fashion Icon | $15B |
| 26 | Drew Houston Dropbox Co-founded Dropbox | $10B |
| 27 | Ralph Lauren Ralph Lauren Corp Built Fashion Empire | $7B |
| 28 | Richard Branson Virgin Group Built Virgin Group | $5B |
| 29 | Oprah Winfrey Harpo Productions Media Mogul | $2.5B |
| 30 | Jay-Z Roc Nation Hip-Hop Mogul | $2.5B |
| 31 | Rihanna Fenty Beauty Music & Beauty Mogul | $1.4B |
| 32 | David Karp Tumblr (sold) Created Tumblr | $1.1B |
| 33 | Kevin Systrom Instagram (sold) Co-founded Instagram | $1B |
| 34 | Tyler Perry Tyler Perry Studios Media Mogul | $1B |
| 35 | James Cameron Lightstorm Entertainment Academy Award Winner | $700M |
| 36 | Kanye West Yeezy Music & Fashion Mogul | $400M |
| 37 | Quentin Tarantino A Band Apart Academy Award Winner | $120M |
| 38 | Frank Lloyd Wright Taliesin Foundation Revolutionary Architect | Priceless |
Your story is next.
These aren't exceptions. They're proof that the path less traveled often leads to the greatest destinations.