I think it is possible for ordinary people to
choose to be extraordinary – Elon Musk
Musk was in the news recently as he became the
second richest man on the planet with a net worth of 128 bn USD. 70% of the gains
in his net worth came in 2020. Its cool to be the in striking distance of the
title of the richest man in the world. It’s even cooler to be the only second
entrepreneur in silicon valley to create three companies with a market cap of
$1 billion or more with PayPal, Tesla and SpaceX. But for me it is coolest to have the character of
Iron Man partially modeled on you. All this while you are still below 50 years
of age. Let’s take a better look at this real life iron man.
Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria,
South Africa. The eldest of 3 children, Musk was so lost in his daydreams about
inventions that his parents and doctors ordered a test to check his hearing. He
was introduced to computers when he was 10 with the Commodore VIC-20. His parents also
separated around the same time. He quickly learned how to program and at the
age of 12 sold a game called Blastar to Spectravideo for $500. In
1989 he moved to Canada to attend Queen’s University and obtained his Canadian
citizenship that year. In 1992 he moved to USA to study business and physics at
the University of Pennsylvania. He graduated with an undergraduate degree in
economics and stayed for a second bachelor’s degree in physics. After leaving
Penn, Musk headed to Stanford University in California to pursue a PhD in
energy physics. However he dropped out after just two days to launch his first company, Zip2 Corporation in 1995. Musk became a U.S. citizen in 2002
Grand visions are common but execution is
where the good gets separated from great. This is where Musk excels. He has
been able to create fabulous companies in totally different areas. What he has
achieved involves dedicated teams of extremely talented people working in
harmony to execute his vision. This is his edge. The sheer range of the areas which
he has disrupted is mind boggling – finance, mobility, energy, space travel and
AI. Let’s look at the history of the various companies he started -
Zip2 Corporation – 1995 sold to Compaq in 1999
for $307 million in cash and $34 million in stock
PayPal – 1999 sold to EBAY in 2001 for $1.5
billion in cash
SpaceX – 2002 – Lower the price of space launches
by reusing rockets, Offer satellite internet for sparsely populated regions. Only
private company to have taken astronauts to the International Space Station for
NASA
Tesla – 2003 – Build the coolest and lowest cost
electric vehicle, Autonomous Cars, More efficient batteries. Highest valued car
company in the world.
Solar City – Aug 2016 - Solar Roof, more
efficient solar panels. Now a part of Tesla.
The Boring Company, Hyperloop – Jan 2017 –
reduce tunneling costs, build alternate transportation infrastructure, Increase
the range of people staying away from work places, reduce freight costs. Working
on projects for a couple of US cities.
AI and Neuralink – Creating the best AI system
in the world, reducing the cost of effective prosthesis, allow enhancement of human
capabilities, better modelling of brain – machine interaction
Musk has had his fair share of challenges. A
difficult childhood, being fired as a CEO of his own company (PayPal). His
personal life has been in the news with 3 divorces. The biggest test came in
2008 when a struggling Tesla nearly collapsed during the financial crisis. When
Tesla needed cash to fund the Model S, Musk chose to bankrupt himself — giving
up the all money he had rather than let it die. Tesla had multiple problems of
scaling up production (demand for Tesla cars was never an issue). SpaceX had
multiple problems starting with Russia refusing to sell rockets to Musk and
multiple rocket launch failures each costing millions of dollars. His tweets also
got him into trouble with the US regulators. However he persisted and seems to
have learnt from his mistakes.
Musk has a relentless work ethic (100 hour
work weeks are common) and a single minded vision. He is also self-taught,
reading up on the various projects he is working on to develop a deep
understanding of the subject. “(Physics is) a good framework for thinking,” he
says “Boil things down to their fundamental truths and reason up from there.” He is also
a difficult boss.
The legend of Musk is in tackling giant problems
and solving them, again and again. The legend of Musk is not retiring on his
pile of cash but being true to his core where he is an entrepreneur who is always
creating companies and scaling them up. The legend of musk is in 100% skin in
the game. The legend of Musk is in the big impact he is having in inspiring fellow
billionaires and ordinary folk to dream of audacious things. So the next time
someone tells you “its not rocket science” be aware that even if it was rocket
science smart people with dedication will figure it out.
For those still wondering, the first silicon
valley entrepreneur to start 3 billion dollar companies was Jim Clark. There is
a brilliant book by Michael Lewis on the man – The New New Thing. Do check it
out.
Source –
https://www.biography.com/business-figure/elon-musk
