Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates has revealed that he was ‘worried’ youngest daughter Phoebe would ask for money to start her new business after cutting her inheritance.
The 22-year-old Stanford University grad – along with her former roommate, Sophia Kianni – recently launched an e-commerce startup app called Phia.
The platform, which went live on April 24, offers shoppers an easy way to compare the prices of new and used items across thousands of selling sites.
Upon first hearing about her idea, Gates, 69, said, per The New York Times: ‘Wow, a lot of people have tried, and there’s some big guys in there.’
He was also worried that the young entrepreneur would ask for money to fund the venture.
‘I thought, “Oh boy, she’s going to come and ask,”‘ he said.
‘And then I would have kept her on a short leash and be doing business reviews, which I would have found tricky, and I probably would have been overly nice but wondered if it was the right thing to do?
‘Luckily, it never happened.’
Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates has revealed that he was ‘worried’ youngest daughter Phoebe would ask for money to start her new business after cutting her inheritance
The 22-year-old Stanford University grad (pictured) – along with her former roommate, Sophia Kianni – recently launched an e-commerce startup app called Phia
The platform, which went live on April 24, offers shoppers an easy way to compare the prices of new and used items across thousands of selling sites
‘When it comes to shopping, I’m not exactly the target audience,’ the billionaire admitted, before adding that he did offer some advice but limited it to mostly personnel issues.
His ex wife, Melinda Gates, encouraged Phoebe and Sophia to raise the capital to launch Phia on their own.
‘She saw it as a real opportunity for me to, like, learn and fail,’ Phoebe who branded her mom as her ‘rock,’ told the outlet.
The pair started with $100,000 from Soma Capital and a Stanford grant of $250,000 from a social entrepreneurship program.
Eventually, they received another $500,000 from angel investors.
The launch of Phia has also been covered by Wealth which explained how the program works.
‘Phia flashes real-time median prices so you know exactly when an item is worth buying new, and when it’s a better deal secondhand,’ per an Instagram post.
The pair started with $100,000 from Soma Capital and a Stanford grant of $250,000 from a social entrepreneurship program. Eventually, they received another $500,000 from angel investors
Gates shares Jennifer, 30, Rory, 25, and Phoebe, 22 with ex-wife Melinda French Gates, 60
Gates shares Jennifer, 30, Rory, 25, and Phoebe with ex-wife Melinda, 60.
Earlier this year, he revealed that his children will inherit ‘less than one percent’ of his wealth – despite his $149 billion net worth, per Bloomberg.
The Microsoft founder told the Raj Shamani podcast: ‘My kids got a great upbringing and education, but less than one percent of the total wealth because I decided it wouldn’t be a favor to them.
‘It’s not a dynasty, I’m not asking them to run Microsoft. I want to give them a chance to have their own earnings and success.’
In 2011, the billionaire suggested to DailyMail.com that he would be leaving his children around $10 million.
‘It will be a minuscule portion of my wealth,’ he said. ‘It will mean they will have to be their own way.’
