5 Things You Might Not Know About Bill Gates: Did He Really Start His First Company At Age 15? Bill Gates is well-known as the co-founder of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT ). The entrepreneur is also a huge philanthropist creating the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000 to help spread technology and medical advancements around the world and reduce poverty. Here are five things you might not know about Bill Gates. 1. First Company At Age 15: While at Lakeside School, Gates became good friends with Paul Allen, his future Microsoft co-founder. The two spent much of their free time together despite strong disagreements and clashes. At 15, Gates along with Allen created “Traf O Data,” a computer program that monitored traffic patterns in Seattle. The pair collected $20,000 for their efforts and continued to work together. 2. Magazine Started It All: Allen showed Gates an article on the Altair 8800 mini-computer kit in Popular Electronics magazine. That article led to the two contacting the company and developing software. The … Full story available on Benzinga.com