“Being first is more important to me,” says Ellison. “I have so much more money. Whatever money is, it’s just a method of keeping score now. I mean I certainly don’t need more money.”

He is the CEO of the second largest software company in the world; he was named Entrepreneur of the Year in 1990 by the Harvard Business School; and he is the 9th richest person in the world as ranked by Forbes, with a net worth of $18.4 billion.Larry Ellison transformed his small start-up into not only a multi-billion dollar company but also the fastest growing database software company in the world.

“There’s a wonderful saying that’s dead wrong,” says Ellison. “‘Why did you climb the mountain?’ ‘I climbed the mountain because it was there.’ That’s utter nonsense…You climbed the mountain because you were there, and you were curious if you could do it. You wondered what it would be like.”

Ellison wondered what it would be like to run a billion dollar company and he didn’t let anything stand in his way from finding out. From being the son who nobody wanted, to having more money than even he knows what do with (“I thoroughly recommend it,” he laughs), Ellison has created a legacy for himself as a pioneer and innovator, as well as a colourful character in an otherwise often dull industry. How did he do it?

“I think about the business all the time. Well, I shouldn’t say all the time. I don’t think about it when I’m wakeboarding. But even when I’m on vacation, or on my boat, I’m on e-mail every day. I’m always prowling around the Internet looking at what our competitors are doing.

It’s my job for Oracle — the number two software in the company in the world — to become the number one software company in the world. My job, is to build better than the competition, sell those products in the marketplace, and eventually supplant Microsoft and move from being number two to number one.

The most important aspect of my personality, as far as determining my success goes, has been my questioning conventional wisdom, doubting the experts and questioning authority. While that can be very painful in relationships with your parents and teachers, it’s enormously useful in life.

When you’re the first person whose beliefs are different from what everyone else believes, you’re basically saying, “I’m right, and everyone else is wrong.” That’s a very unpleasant position to be in. It’s at once exhilarating and at the same time an invitation to be attacked.“

Being an entrepreneur requires challenging conventions and doing something outside the box. Is your company really doing something different to stand out from the rest of the competition?

Evan Carmichael