‘Following’ Bill Gates, the college dropout, became a billionaire with a net worth of up to 37 trillion VND: Success comes from making the most of 2 characteristics that many young people have

Austin Russell (28 years old) is the youngest self-made billionaire in the world. He is the CEO of Luminar Technologies – a company specializing in the production of LiDAR sensors for self-driving cars. The young billionaire said he also has a lot in common with people of the same age.

In 2020, Luminar Technologies is listed on Nasdaq through a SPAC business. Since then, the young man, then only 25 years old, became a billionaire overnight and is also one of the youngest self-made billionaires in the world. According to CNBC, currently Russell has an estimated net worth of $1.6 billion.

Luminar Technologies is headquartered in Orlando, Florida and currently has a market capitalization of $2.4 billion. This company was founded by Russell 11 years ago – when he was just a teenager.

In fact, there are very few teenagers, or people in their 20s and 30s, who can start and maintain such a successful business. With his talent, the billionaire “jumped” straight to university even though he didn’t go to high school.

He also attended Stanford University – an extremely prestigious school. However, then Russell received a $100,000 investment from billionaire Peter Thiel. So he dropped out of school and devoted himself full-time to growing his company.

In an interview with Alejandro Cremades, the young billionaire said that the $100,000 investment is just the beginning. Since then, his startup has raised more than $250 million from other investors such as The Wetle Group, Moore Capital, Canvas Ventures, 1517 Fund, GVA Capital, Corning and Invariantes Fund.

Russell says he has seen the potential of self-driving cars. But he did not choose to go in the direction of developing the whole car, but chose to develop the recognition sensor – a key element in self-driving car systems. Specifically, Russell focuses on LiDAR sensor technology – it is capable of detecting surrounding objects by projecting a laser beam, then creating a 3D map that helps cars determine the best direction and avoid obstacles. obstacle.

After years of development, Luminar’s technology has created a lot of buzz and is trusted and used by automakers such as Toyota, Volvo or Mobileye.

However, instead of focusing on technology expertise or business acumen, the world’s youngest self-made billionaire says one of the key factors in his recent journey is knowing how to make the most of his career. Make the most of two characteristics that are common and abundant in young people: Enthusiastic energy and passion.

“ People in their 20s have a lot of great energy. They put a lot of heart into everything and I am no exception .”

A 2020 SAP survey of 10,000 people found that Gen Ys are more “passionate” than Gen Xers or baby boomers.

“ When I was about 16 or 17 years old, I had the thought of creating a new type of laser system to allow cars to drive themselves. We’re going to beat Google and all the major automakers are going to put all their growth into this ,” once confident of his passion and told investors.

However, he also pointed out that to build a great empire, you need more than just passion and enthusiastic energy. The billionaire told CNBC Make It in 2018 that he could remember the periodic table by age 2. “ I am passionate about learning certain things and want to know many new areas of science ,” he said.

In addition, one of the other important points for success is still having the necessary business and technical skills. However, Russell believes he could not have honed those skills without motivation as a child. He hopes to stay motivated for as long as possible, even as he gets older, or when his enthusiasm and passion may fade.

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