Sam Wyly Businessman was raised in a tiny village in Louisiana. Wyly graduated from Louisiana Tech and then went to Air Force boot camp near San Antonio, Texas, after earning his MBA from the University of Michigan. He then relocated to Dallas, Texas, to work as an IBM salesperson.

On the campus of Southern Methodist University, he launched his first firm, the University Computing Company. He founded his first company at the age of 28.

Sam Wyly founded the company with $1000 and an idea to give computing services to colleges, oil firms, and military contractors. Wyly became a millionaire when the company went public in 1968. This would be the first of six firms Wyly would grow to a billion-dollar valuation.