Tech billionaires' first computers
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Tech Billionaires' First Computers — Daily trivia Monday, August 10, 2026: questions and answers
All 10 questions with answers and explanations. Play this daily
Q 01Which Microsoft co-founder wrote his first program, a tic-tac-toe game, on his school's Teletype terminal?
- AGordon Moore
- BPaul Allen
- CSteve Ballmer
- DBill Gates
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Bill Gates
Bill Gates. The school's Mothers' Club paid for the Teletype terminal and time on a General Electric computer with proceeds from a rummage sale.
Q 02Which tech billionaire learned to program on a Commodore VIC-20 at age 10 and later sold a video game he made?
- AJack Dorsey
- BJeff Bezos
- CLarry Page
- DElon Musk
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Elon Musk
Elon Musk received a Commodore VIC-20 at around age ten and taught himself BASIC. Two years later, he sold the code for a video game he created called Blastar for approximately $500.
Q 03Which future PC-company founder upgraded and sold computers from his University of Texas dorm?
- ASteve Wozniak
- BTed Waitt
- CMichael Dell
- DPaul Allen
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Michael Dell
Michael Dell. He registered the business as PC's Limited in 1984 and dropped out at 19 to run the company that now bears his name.
Q 04Which billionaire's boyhood program linked his home to his father's dental office?
- AEvan Spiegel
- BMark Zuckerberg
- CKevin Systrom
- DReed Hastings
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Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg. He called it ZuckNet and built it before he was a teenager, years before Facebook.
Q 05Which Google co-founder was given an Exidy Sorcerer computer by his father at age six?
- ALarry Page
- BSergey Brin
- CEric Schmidt
- DSundar Pichai
Show answer
Larry Page
Larry Page, co-founder of Google, was first attracted to computers when he was six years old, after his father brought home an Exidy Sorcerer computer.
Q 06Before co-founding eBay, Pierre Omidyar learned BASIC on which Radio Shack microcomputer?
- ACommodore 64
- BTRS-80
- CApple IIe
- DIBM PCjr
Show answer
TRS-80
Omidyar first met a TRS-80 in about third grade — the original 4K model with a desk-sized expansion module — and taught himself BASIC on it long before writing eBay's first code in 1995.
Q 07Steve Wozniak hand-built the Apple-1 while working for what company?
- AIntel
- BAtari
- CHewlett-Packard
- DTexas Instruments
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Hewlett-Packard
Wozniak offered the design to his employer Hewlett-Packard, which turned it down five times; to fund the first boards he sold his HP-65 calculator while Jobs sold his VW microbus.
Q 08Which messaging-service co-founder did product testing at Apple and Adobe before joining Yahoo?
- ABrian Acton
- BChad Hurley
- CJawed Karim
- DMark Cuban
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Brian Acton
Before co-founding WhatsApp, Brian Acton gained early career experience in systems administration and product testing at companies like Rockwell International, Apple Inc., and Adobe Systems.
Q 09Which future billionaire worked at Ampex on a CIA database project whose code name became his company's name?
- AJohn Warnock
- BLarry Ellison
- CChuck Geschke
- DHasso Plattner
Show answer
Larry Ellison
Larry Ellison. With Ed Oates and Bruce Scott he joined Software Development Laboratories in 1977, and the company became Oracle Systems in 1983.
Q 10Which future Netscape co-founder co-wrote the Mosaic browser as a $6.85-an-hour student programmer at NCSA?
- AJim Clark
- BMarc Andreessen
- CVint Cerf
- DTim Berners-Lee
Show answer
Marc Andreessen
Marc Andreessen. He and Eric Bina built Mosaic, the first browser to show images inline with text, and he went on to co-found Netscape.
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