Billionaire Elon Musk (born June 28, 1971) is a visionary technology entrepreneur, inventor, engineer, investor, and all around industry builder. Musk’s entrepreneurial road began in 1996 with the founding of online directory and map company, Zip2, which was acquired by Compaq for over $300 million. He then started X.com, an online payment and financial service company, which he later merged into PayPal. Along with famous figures such as Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, David Sacks, and Max Levchin, Musk is one of the members of the group colloquially referred to as the “PayPal Mafia” – prolific founders that have since gone on to start many of the world’s most famous companies. PayPal was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in 2002.
The arc is worth tracing, because the method repeats. The sale of Zip2 financed X.com, and when eBay bought PayPal in 2002, Musk put his proceeds into two new companies: founding SpaceX in 2002 and backing Tesla from 2004, later becoming Tesla’s chief executive. In 2008 both ventures nearly ran out of money. SpaceX survived on a NASA contract earned by its fourth Falcon 1 flight, and Tesla on a financing round that closed at the last possible moment. A decade later, during the Model 3 ramp he calls “production hell,” he slept on the floor of the Fremont factory. He explains the approach the same way in every setting: reason from first principles rather than by analogy, work out what a thing should cost from its raw materials, and proceed on the assumption that your own current view is partly wrong.
Musk is most famously known for starting electric car and battery company, Tesla, as well as the world’s largest private space rocket and exploration company, SpaceX. His ultimate goal is to make humanity an interplanetary species and has his sights set on colonizing Mars in the not-too-distant future. Through SpaceX, he has also established the Starlink satellite internet constellation, providing affordable internet to the far reaches of the globe. Tesla and SpaceX have revolutionized their respective industries and Musk’s success has been nothing short of phenomenal, making him the richest person in the world.
In 2022, Musk used a portion of that wealth to purchase prominent social media company Twitter and take the company private. Musk believes Twitter is the world’s marketplace of ideas and he is committed to the principle of free speech, reversing a trend of censorship that had crept into social media companies. Other Musk ventures include brain-computer interface company Neuralink and tunneling infrastructure company, The Boring Company.
Musk is known for his vision and relentless drive to carry out his vision. He is quite outspoken and can be controversial at times, but he is no doubt one of the most important figures of the last half-century and will certainly go down as one of the most important figures of the 21st century and beyond.
Core Ideas
- Reason from the trunk up. Learn the fundamental principles before the details, and reason from first principles rather than by analogy.
- Keep a tight feedback loop. Constantly think about how you could be doing things better, and question yourself before events force the lesson.
- Assume you are partly wrong. Aim to be less wrong over time, and treat your own wishful thinking as the first error to fix.
- Take the bold risk while you can. Ordinary people can choose to be extraordinary, so do something bold rather than waiting for permission.
- Build the machine yourself. When an industry hands you a price that defies the physics, make the machine that makes the machine and control the stack.
Elon Musk Quotes
“I think people can choose to be not ordinary. You know, they can choose to not necessarily conform to the conventions that were taught to them by their parents. So, yes, I think it’s possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary.”
“Take risks now. Do something bold. You won’t regret it.”
“I think most people can learn a lot more than they think they can. They sell themselves short without trying. One bit of advice: It is important to view knowledge as sort of a semantic tree — make sure you understand the fundamental principles, i.e. the trunk and big branches, before you get into the leaves/details, or there is nothing for them to hang on to.”
— Reddit AMA (2015)
“I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better. I think that’s the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself.”
— Mashable interview (2012)
“A good sign as to whether there’s free speech is: Is someone you don’t like allowed to say something you don’t like? If that is the case, then we have free speech. And it’s damn annoying when someone you don’t like says something you don’t like. But that is a sign of a healthy, functioning, free speech situation.”
— TED2022 interview (2022)
“Always take the position that you are to some degree wrong, and your goal is to be less wrong over time. One of the biggest mistakes people generally make, and I’m guilty of it too, is wishful thinking. You want something to be true, even if it isn’t true. And so you ignore the real truth because of what you want to be true. This is a very difficult trap to avoid.”
Elon Musk Books
“Elon Musk” – by Walter Isaacson. The fullest portrait yet, drawn from two years of following Musk through factories, launches, and boardrooms.
“Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future” – by Ashlee Vance. The first big biography, reported when both companies were still underdogs; unsurpassed on the founding years.
“Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX” – by Eric Berger. The inside story of SpaceX’s first four Falcon 1 flights and the desperate years that nearly ended the company, by Ars Technica’s longtime space reporter.
“The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley” – by Jimmy Soni. The PayPal crew and the diaspora that followed; the best map of where Musk’s generation came from.
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