Canadian-American inventor who founded the electronic payment company PayPal and the private space company SpaceX, creator of launch vehicles and spacecraft.
Since childhood he thought in a special way
Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971 in Pretoria. The developed scientific city in which Musk was born is the administrative capital of South Africa.
Elon's father, Errol Max, was a civil engineer by profession. Mother, May Musk, appeared on the catwalks and was a professional model from the age of 15, and later became an expert in the field of nutrition. Elon's parents lived in the same area of Pretoria and had known each other since childhood. As soon as the lovers turned 18, they got married. 9 months after the wedding, they had their first child.
The future inventor became the first and eldest child in the family. Elon has a brother, Kimbal, and a sister, Tosca.
According to his father, Elon has always been an introvert and loved reading. While most children prefer to have fun and play games, Elon spent all his time in the library. Due to the fact that his behavior was different from his peers, they made fun of him and mocked him in every possible way. So, after another squabble with the boys, he was taken to the hospital unconscious, and the doctors had to repair his broken nose.
Once, at the age of 3-4 years, he asked: “Where does the whole world begin and end?” Questions like these made me understand that he thinks in a special way,” Ilon’s father shared his memories in one interview.
When Elon was 9 years old, his parents divorced. First, the mother took the children and left with them to another city in the country. However, Elon and his brother Kimbal after some time moved to their father, in the suburbs of Pretoria.
First entrepreneurial experience
At the age of 9, the boy received his first computer as a gift. It was from this time that he began to be interested in programming. Musk learned the BASIC programming language, completing a six-month course in less than a week.
The results of his childhood hobby bore fruit: at the age of 12, Musk sold his first game called “Blastar” for $500. As planned, the player fired at rows of aliens with a laser cannon.
Musk himself later said about his first development: “a trivial game... but certainly better than Flappy Bird” ( we're talking about about a popular and simple mobile game released in 2013).
Formation of worldview
The goal of Musk's current developments is to preserve the consciousness of humanity in the Universe, even if the Earth dies. Musk himself has proclaimed himself a pioneer of deep space. These kinds of thoughts began to form in Elon as a teenager.
Then he delved into the literature of Nietzsche, Schopenhauer and other philosophers in search of the meaning of life. At the same time, Douglas Adams’s book “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” came into his hands, which talks about aliens destroying the Earth to build a hyperspace highway. Turning the last page, Musk realized: “Only one thing makes sense - the fight for universal enlightenment.”
His ex-wife Justine Musk told Esquire magazine: “Elon is not afraid to take risks. If necessary, he is ready to sacrifice himself."
Moving to Canada and doing odd jobs
After graduating from school, Musk entered the university in his hometown. However, due to political instability, it was decided to move to his mother’s homeland - Canada. According to other sources, the move allowed Musk to avoid being drafted into the army.
May helped her son obtain Canadian citizenship and solve the housing problem.
In Canada, Elon enrolled in a bachelor's degree at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. During his student years, the current businessman had a hard time. The inventor's biography says that he managed to live on $1 a day. In Canada, he worked on a farm, as a lumberjack and as a boiler room cleaner at a sawmill station.
At this time, he and his brother tried in every possible way to start useful acquaintances. Different ways young people looked up the phone numbers of successful entrepreneurs and invited them to lunch. One of those who did not ignore the brothers’ proposal was Peter Nicholson, head of the Bank of Nova Scotia. He was impressed by the tenacity of the young people and invited Elon to work at the bank.
Moving to the USA
In 1992, Elon fulfilled his dream by moving from Canada to the USA. There he entered the University of Pennsylvania and simultaneously majored in physics and economics.
During his studies in the USA, Elon Musk lived in a student dormitory, which he rented together with his classmate Adeo Ressi. Young people turned the hostel into night club, which, it should be noted, was popular. However, Musk himself did not take part in the parties and simply went to his room to play video games.
In May 1997, Elon received a bachelor's degree in physics and a bachelor of science in economics.
After graduating from university, the 23-year-old decided to continue his studies and get a PhD at Stanford University. After studying for some time, Elon abandoned the idea in order to develop his entrepreneurial aspirations in the field of the Internet and outer space.
In 2002, Musk became a United States citizen.
First major projectZip2
Elon and his brother Kimbal founded the first company called Zip2 in 1996. The brothers received money in the amount of 28 thousand dollars for the development of the startup from their father.
The organization was engaged in the production of software that gives news publications the ability to post content on the Internet and offer their clients additional paid services. Elon spent all his time in the office in order to save money on rent, and invested all his available funds in the company.
At that time, the Internet was experiencing a boom period, and on this wave the brothers managed to attract investors. The company developed successfully and two years after its creation was sold for $307 million. Elon owned 7% of the company, and he earned about $22 million from its sale. Elon invested half of his fee into the creation of his next project.
Revolution in bank payments
In March 1999, Musk founded X.com. A year after its creation, the company merged with Confinity (both systems specialized in electronic payments) and received the name PayPal. The company grew rapidly and in 2002 its shares were listed on the stock exchange. In October 2002, PayPal was acquired by online auction site eBay for $1.5 billion. Musk managed to earn $175 million from this deal (11.7% of the company’s shares). The available funds allowed Musk to bring to life the ideas that originated with him as a teenager.
In July 2017, Musk bought X.com from PayPal due to the company's "sentimental value" to him. The cost of the deal was not disclosed.
The idea of sending rodents to Mars
In 2002, Elon Musk founded the first private company to fly into space. The young businessman invested $100 million in its development. Few believed that a private company could compete with the world's large government space agencies. The idea for SpaceX was born from Musk's childhood dream of sending rodents or plants to Mars. At the initial stages, Elon even tried to purchase decommissioned Soviet Dnepr missiles for these purposes. But the seller allowed the purchase of only one and asked for $8 million, which Elon thought was too high a price. Then he seriously thought about creating his own version of the rocket. According to Elon’s idea, the cost of human space flight should have been reduced by 10 times.
The first vehicles of Elon's private company were the Falcon 1, named after the Millennium Falcon spacecraft from the film " star Wars» ( Star Wars), and the SpaceX Dragon ship, named after the song "Puff the Magic Dragon".
In 2006, SpaceX won a NASA competition and in 2008 a $1.6 billion contract was signed for 12 launches of the Falcon 9 carrier and Dragon spacecraft to the ISS, as a replacement for the Space Shuttle after the termination of their launch program in 2011.
SpaceX's long-term goal is to colonize Mars. In January 2016, at an investment forum in Hong Kong, the inventor announced that his company hopes to fly to Mars in the next 3-5 years.
In September 2017, Elon Musk posted in his Instagram video, which talks about a new idea for using SpaceX rockets. It consists in using rockets and spaceships to fly to anywhere on earth instead of airplanes.
New generation cars
In July 2003, Elon invested in the newly created Tesla company, which specialized in creating electric cars. From the very beginning, Elon Musk took part in the formation of the company's long-term development strategy, actively participated in the design of the car and joined the board of directors.
Over the entire period of the company's existence, the developers have managed to achieve colossal results: they have created cars that are capable of moving exclusively with the help of electricity. The minimum distance that an electric car can cover is 300 km. The creators of Tesla are developing parts for other electric car manufacturers. A whole network of “electric” filling stations has been created.
Despite the fact that Tesla has faced both major financial problems and technical operational problems, Musk does not plan to stop there and has already spoken about his intentions to add a truck and a bus to the line of electric vehicles.
Solar power plant for everyone
In 2006, Musk founded the company SolarCity, which specializes in the production solar energy. The company is subsidiary company Tesla. Both organizations are aimed at combating global warming.
By 2013, SolarCity had become the second largest supplier of solar energy systems in the United States. SolarCity supplies solar power plants for both industrial and home use. By the beginning of 2018, SolarCity's capitalization was estimated at $3 billion.
Personal life of Elon Musk
The Canadian-American inventor was married twice.
He met his first wife, Justine Wilson, while studying in Canada. The couple got married some time after graduating from university. In 2002, the couple had a son who died of sudden infant death at 10 weeks. In 2004, the couple attempted to have children using IVF. As a result of this, twins Griffin and Damian were born. In 2006, triplets were born to the couple in the same way. Over time, the relationship between Justine and Elon began to deteriorate, and the couple filed for divorce in 2008. On this moment ex-spouses maintain a relationship and raise children together.
The businessman married the English actress Talulah Riley for the second time, with whom he began dating immediately after the divorce. The relationship between the spouses did not work out: they separated several times and then got back together. Finally, in 2016, the couple decided to separate completely.
After this, the businessman was in a relationship with actress Amber Heard, who had just gone through divorce proceedings, for almost a year. In August 2017, they separated.
Today, Elon Musk's fortune is estimated at more than $20 billion. Musk ranked 12th among tech businessmen with $20.7 billion, ahead of such businessmen as Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen ($20.5 billion) and Alphabet Chairman Eric Schmidt ($12.4 billion).
Engineer extraordinaire Elon Musk has brought each of us a few steps closer to the very future that science fiction writers wrote about.
So when will apple trees bloom on Mars, and trains will travel along the earth at supersonic speed?
Tesla electric car
Musk became the person who was able to make such a car an object of desire for millions of drivers around the world. He simply has an animal instinct for everything high-tech and advanced. That is why engineer Martin Eberhard (the founding father of the Tesla Motors concern and the author of the business idea) turned to him for help in implementing a project to create an environmentally friendly and stylish car of the future. I turned, I must say, to the right person!
Photo: pixabay.com Elon Musk invested a lot of money in the creation of the concern, proceeds from the sale of PayPal - he was just looking for some interesting project for investment.
PayPal is the world's most popular international payment system. Elon Musk managed to combine his own similar project X.com and PayPal. PayPal is currently the safest electronically payment for purchases on the Internet - all personal data of the user is protected even from the most sophisticated hackers.
In 2002, Musk earned almost $200 million after the famous online auction site eBay acquired the service.
Everything instantly started spinning, spinning, and literally a few years later the Tesla Model S became a breakthrough in the automotive industry. A huge panoramic roof, almost 500 kilometers of autonomous travel, crazy speed from the start and, of course, environmental friendliness.
At the end of July this year, the presentation of the new creation of the Tesla Model 3 took place. There are no knobs, buttons or switches - only an incredible size touch screen and steering wheel. Just a spaceship, not a car. Experts are confident that the popularization of electric cars and their displacement of cars with internal combustion engines from the roads will “improve” the ecology of our planet. Fresh air will become commonplace again.
Reusable launch vehicles and the colonization of Mars
Even 15 years ago, Musk began to make his childhood dreams come true - he began to design and build spaceships. His company SpaceX has become a symbol of a new era in space exploration. Just last year, Elon’s brainchild - Falcon rocket 9 returned from low-Earth orbit back to Earth and landed on a robotic platform in the ocean. An unprecedented event!
In general, when reusable rockets become commonplace, flights into space will become much cheaper, and this means only one thing - we will be able to thoroughly study all the planets solar system.
The Dragon space truck created by SpaceX is capable of returning to Earth with several tons of cargo on board. In the near future, Musk plans to use this ship, as well as the Dragon V2 manned module and the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle, during the first expedition to Mars in human history. Already now, the inventor is seriously working on designing residential modules, space suits, life support devices and other units that will help people live and work on the Red Planet.
Last year, Elon Musk, during his speech at the regular congress of the International Astronautical Federation in Mexico, said that he and his colleagues are able to save the Earth from overpopulation. He suggests that the first colonizers could appear on Mars within 50 years. Musk has even come up with a special rocket fuel, the ingredients for which can be extracted from the depths of the planet that has been attracting people for so many years. In general, his entire project is based on the principles of reusability and the possibility of refueling ships in space.
Super train Hyperloop
Well, now from heaven to Earth: it is quite possible that soon we will be rushing around in futuristic vacuum trains invented by Elon Musk. In general, it is difficult to call this type of transport a train - a capsule with passengers, according to the inventor’s idea, will “fly” inside a special vacuum tube. Or maybe there will be powerful magnets there - exact solution has not yet been accepted, but the first tests of the project, which is called Hyperloop, are already underway in the American Nevada desert.
The acceleration engine of the capsule will be electric. The most interesting thing is that the “train” will not so much consume as generate electricity. It can be sold, and the proceeds can be spent on the construction of new sections of the vacuum pipeline.
So far, it has not been possible to accelerate the capsule prototype to the 1,200 km/h promised by Musk, but the inventor’s associates are working tirelessly to bring this project to life in the near future.
The cost of building the first section of the bullet train pipeline is $60 billion. The first “trains,” as planned by the creators, will connect Los Angeles and San Francisco. Musk himself will not be able to afford such a sum - he is relying on progressive investors. By the way, according to preliminary forecasts, the project should pay off within 20 years.
Home battery
Elon Musk is literally one step away from solving the problem of electricity shortages. Tesla Motors has already released a revolutionary battery to solve the issue of autonomous power supply for a home or apartment. The unit was called Powerwall.
During the day it charges from solar panels, and at night it supplies energy to the refrigerator, split system and other household appliances that operate around the clock. Happy owners of Powerwall are absolutely not afraid of power outages. It weighs a hundred pounds, but it looks very beautiful.
Musk is generally “focused” on the topic of energy saving: he literally covered thousands of buildings in California with solar panels, which are produced by another of his company Solarcity. The world will never be the same again after a man like Elon Reeve Musk came into it.
About an outstanding figure modern technologies and achievements are not spoken only by the lazy. Elon Musk is a modern genius. His quotes have become popular, his incredible dreams are becoming reality, and his achievements are benefiting people today.
What kind of education are you thinking about? Quite often, when people hear this word, they think about university. Elon Musk's education began much earlier. At the age of 3-4 he said: “Where does the world end and begin?” Not every child thinks about such global issues.
His self-education began quite early - at the age of 8 he read all the books in the library, after which he began studying Britannica, the oldest English-language universal encyclopedia. It’s hard to imagine how one can devote 10 hours a day to reading, but this was Elon’s favorite hobby. His amazing photographic memory allowed him to remember a lot of new information.
After his parents' divorce, Elon stayed with his father. The boy spent the first years of his life in South Africa. He was an introverted and peculiar boy; for example, Elon Musk acted as if he were deaf as a child, although he was not. At school he could not stand up for himself, he was beaten. One day, Elon was thrown down the stairs and his nose was broken. His relationships with his peers never went well. Probably, the divorce affected the boy, who was immersed in his hobby and did not like to communicate.
Elon was given his first computer, a Commodore VIC-20, when he was 10 years old. He used it for programming. He completed the BASIC course, designed for 6 months, in 3 days. The habit of learning new things and understanding them came in handy in this matter. This is probably why Elon Musk wrote the game Blaster at the age of 12, which he sold for $500.
Elon Musk. New stage
At the age of 14, Elon is struck by an existential crisis and reads The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, deciding that his mission is to save humanity. Trying to avoid being drafted into the South African army and dreaming with all his heart about Canada, Elon and his brother emigrate to Canada. No one was waiting for him in the country, so for the first year he was constantly looking for work. Elon Musk even worked in a sawmill in his youth for low pay - $18 an hour. He had to crawl through a narrow tunnel that he could barely fit into, then throw hot coals, sand and dirt through it. It is impossible to go somewhere. It is noteworthy that by the end of the week, out of 30 people working there, only 3 remained, including Musk himself. He took on any job, even one completely unrelated to his area of interest.
Elon Musk and the universities where he studied
For the last six months spent in South Africa, Elon studied physics at the University of Pretoria. The thirst for knowledge did not subside. While he was in Canada, in Kingston, he decided to study at Queen's University. After that, having left for the USA, he entered the University of Pennsylvania, where he received two bachelor's degrees at once: in physics from the School of Arts and Sciences and in economics from the Wharton Business School. Elon later studied at Stanford, where he planned to get a PhD, but dropped out. At that time, Internet fever was gaining momentum, he decided that the future was global network, and not for scientific degrees.
Elon Musk. Quotes
Elon Musk’s expressions have already become popular. Young people strive to imitate him; his apt phrases inspire: “I didn’t expect that I could earn money. It was enough for me to earn enough to cover the rent and buy some food.” Through his example, he shows that our dreams can be much deeper than it seems at first glance. One cannot but agree with the simplicity of his thoughts, which motivates. For example, “It’s okay to make mistakes. The main thing is to make mistakes in something new every time.”
Another quote for inspiration:
“I can either watch it happen or be a part of it.”
He proves by personal example that the best way to change the world is to start with yourself. He also has a humorous phrase with deep meaning: “I would like to die on Mars, but without crashing on its surface.”
The biography of this person is unique and at the same time interesting. It is impossible to remain silent about him. He breaks stereotypes and makes breakthroughs. Read Elon Musk's Twitter and be the first to know about his achievements and breakthroughs
Canadian-American inventor, engineer, entrepreneur and investor Elon Musk is not only the real image of Tony Stark from the film “Iron Man”. This brilliant inventor and leader managed to bring a fantastic future closer and speed up the path to it.
Brief biography of Elon Musk
Elon Musk ( full name – Elon (Elon) Reeves Musk) was born June 28, 1971 in Pretoria, South Africa. His father - Errol Musk, African engineer and entrepreneur. His mother - May Haldman, a popular Canadian nutritionist.
Young programmer
At the age of ten, Elon received his first computer as a gift and learned to program on it. At the age of 12 he sold his first program for $500, a video game called Blast Star, in which the player fired at rows of aliens with a laser cannon.
Moving to Canada
After graduating from school in South Africa, Elon Musk decides to go to Canada, contrary to the opinion of his parents. At first he had money for an independent life - he was already at that time successfully invested in pharmaceuticals.
Elon settled in Canada with his mother's relatives in 1989. Having received Canadian citizenship, Elon Musk goes to Montreal, where at first he agrees to any job and teeters on the brink of poverty for almost a year.
Moving to the USA
In 1992 Elon Reeves Musk is finally realizing his dream and moving to the United States, having received a scholarship to study at the University of Pennsylvania. The following year he received his bachelor's degree in business, but decided to stay at the university for another year to obtain a bachelor's degree in physics.
Main question
Every person in life has a number of questions about his purpose and the future of all humanity. Elon Musk asked the same question. And in the end I decided that The future of humanity will be affected by:
…internet, transition to renewable energy sources
and the relocation of people to other planets...
He decided to try to contribute in each of these directions. But first he needed money.
Zip2 success
In 1995, Musk and his brother founded the company Zip2, which specialized in software for news companies. In 1999, Zip2 was acquired Compaq for 308 million dollars. Elon received 7% of the sale amount – $22 million.
At the time of the company's creation there was rapid development global web, but no one has ever managed to really make money on the Internet.Zip2 was one of the very first to do this.
X.com and PayPal
After selling his first company, Elon Musk decides to master electronic payments and creates his own startup X.com. In March 2000, X.com merged on a parity basis with a competitor company Confinity Peter Thiel and Max Levchin.
This merger subsequently leads to the emergence of the now famous payment system – PayPal. In 2002, a popular service bought the online auction eBay for $1.5 billion. Elon received $180 million from this deal.
Investments and management in Tesla Motors
In 2004, Elon, with cash from selling PayPal, invested $70 million in the project TeslaMotors. This company attracted his attention because it was developing electric cars. Alternative energy sources - this was in the spirit of Musk's principles.
The main driver of Tesla's financial success was its luxury sedan Model S with a battery charge of 426 km, a bright design and unique speed characteristics (acceleration to 96 km/h in 3.9 s). The model was put into mass production at a price of $69,900 and was highly rated by Consumer Reports.
Founding of SpaceX
At the turn of the millennium, an ambitious entrepreneur and inventor thought about creating a flying ship that could reusable for traveling people into space and to other planets.
The moment Elon Musk's financial fortune increased, he decided to start making this dream come true. His brainchild in this area was the company SpaceX(full name: Space Exploration Technologies Company). The company was founded in 2002.
He invested more than $100 million in the project. The cost of proposals on the market - from $15 million for a rocket in Russia to $65 million in the USA - was considered by the entrepreneur to be many times too high. That is why he decided to build his own spacecraft.
SpaceX's first successes
Despite all the difficulties and setbacks, SpaceX managed to create two types of potentially reusable launch vehicles: Falcon 1 And Falcon 9, as well as a reusable spacecraft Dragon.
Contract with NASA
In December 2008 NASA signed a contract with the company in the amount of 1.6 billion US dollars for 12 launches of the Falcon 9 carrier and the Dragon spacecraft to the ISS, as a replacement for the ships Space Shuttle after the termination of their launch program in 2011.
Expedition to Mars
For Elon Musk, all the current achievements of SpaceX are just preparation for the realization of his main dream - expeditions to Mars. Until the end of his life, the billionaire wants to become a pioneer colonizer of the “red” planet. To this end, SpaceX is developing a project Mars Colonial Transporter(MCP).
Musk's engineers are working on innovative rocket engines and spacecraft to transport people from Earth to Mars. The ambitious entrepreneur announced that he would carry out his expedition in 2020-25.
Based on the Falcon, it is planned to create the Grasshoper rocket, which can land vertically, and the second generation Dragon is technically already capable of getting to Mars, Musk assures.
Using the example of Elon Musk, we can trace the path of a person making childhood dreams come true, because many people in childhood wanted to fly into space, and soon this will be possible.
Business has come to astronautics, and many will benefit from this, because space tourism will soon become a reality, including thanks to Elon Musk.
They call him Tony Stark real world, a worthy heir to Bill Gates and Steve Jobs rolled into one. An entrepreneur who made a fortune from internet startups has turned into a visionary who thinks about a better future for humanity. With little understanding of online banking, rocket science or electric cars, Elon Musk has time and again broken into a new industry with the confidence that he knows better than anyone what customers want. And it turned out that he really knew!
African childhood
Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971 in Pretoria, South Africa. His father Errol was a successful engineer from a respected family. May's mother was a model in her youth and then a successful nutritionist. Elon was the first child in the family. Next came brother Kimbal and sister Tosca (future director and producer). Although Elon's parents knew each other since childhood and Errol sought May's hand for many years, their marriage was not happy. When Elon turned seven, the couple filed for divorce.
At first, the children stayed with their mother, but then Elon moved in with his father. As he himself later recalled, his mother had three children left, and his father had no one; he looked lonely and sad. Soon Kimbal moved in with his father. Subsequently, the brothers more than once doubted their decision: Errol turned out to be strict and demanding, it was difficult for him to please. Nevertheless, he gave his sons a good education and instilled a love for the exact sciences.
Elon was different from other children. He was smarter than his peers and did not share their interest in sports and entertainment. The boy often "disconnected" from outside world, plunging into oneself. His classmates bullied him. Musk changed several schools, but never made real friends.
Problems at school and at home led Musk to early years sought refuge in books. In his youth, he read the novels of Verne, Asimov, Heinlein and Tolkien. “The Academy” and “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” awakened his interest in space, and Douglas Adams’s novel “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” helped him cope with an identity crisis at the age of fourteen. Since then, Musk has been guided by the principle “The main thing is to ask the right questions.”
Musk's second hobby was computers. As soon as he encountered this miracle of technology, he begged his father for his first computer - a Commodore VIC-20, a popular model in the early eighties with as much as five kilobytes of memory. Musk mastered programming himself and, at the age of twelve, wrote the video game Blastar, which he sold to one of the local magazines for five hundred dollars.
Although Errol bought his son a computer, he himself was skeptical about Elon’s hobby, considering computers just expensive toys. He wanted Elon to become an engineer like himself. The lack of support and prospects made Elon think about emigrating. He dreamed of America, which seemed to him a country of unlimited opportunities for the smart and resourceful. Taking advantage of the fact that his mother was a native of Canada, Musk received Canadian citizenship and at the age of seventeen set off to conquer America.
American Dream: Zip2
At first it was not easy in the new place. In the first years, Elon constantly moved, doing menial work until he settled on a farm with relatives. Soon May and Kimbal moved to Canada. Elon entered Queens University in Ontario, where he continued to study programming. According to him, he chose Queens because among his listeners there were the most girls. The calculation was fully justified - at the university Elon met future wife, Justine.
After receiving his diploma, Musk entered the University of Pennsylvania master's program in physics and economics. At that time he was already interested in space, alternative energy and Internet startups. After Pennsylvania, Musk went to Stanford (California) to study doctorate, but two days later he dropped out of school and, together with his brother, opened his first business in Silicon Valley.
In the mid-nineties, shares of Internet companies grew by leaps and bounds, and Musk simply could not stay away. Elon came up with the idea of creating Zip2 - a digital analogue of the Yellow Pages, which allowed, as he put it, to find the nearest pizzeria in any area of San Francisco and find out how to get to it.
At first, the Musks faced a problem: no one wanted to invest money in their endeavor. Most companies still had no idea why they needed their own website and why advertising on the Internet was worth it. The father helped the brothers by sending twenty-eight thousand dollars. This was enough to rent a small office, purchase equipment and necessary licenses. For the first three months, Elon and Kimbal lived in the office: they had no money to rent housing. The only furniture they had was a couple of mattresses.
The brothers divided powers: Elon almost never left the office, spending all his time on improving products, while Kimbal was looking for clients. At first, he simply walked around the area and offered his services to hairdressers, car dealerships, restaurants and shops. Someone managed to get interested. They started talking about Zip2, the company got investors, and things took off.
But the new shareholders doubted the young entrepreneur’s ability to manage his own venture and invited a more experienced manager, Rich Sorkin. Sorkin decided to place emphasis differently: now Zip2 mainly supplied software for newspapers, and Musk himself wanted to focus on working with consumers. He tried to remove Sorkin and take his place, but the board of directors did not support Elon.
The point of fighting soon disappeared. The large company Compac acquired Zip2 for $307 million, of which Elon personally went to $22 million. At twenty-seven years old, he became a millionaire. Of course, he bought an apartment and a luxury car, but most spent money on a new project.
If you have millions of dollars, it changes your lifestyle - those who say otherwise are blatantly lying. I no longer need to work to survive. But I work every day, even on weekends, and I haven't been on vacation for several years.
Elon Musk
X.com and PayPal
Working on Zip2 taught Elon a lesson. He gained self-confidence and turned from a timid programmer into a confident businessman. But most importantly, Musk realized that he should no longer lose control over his projects. After selling Zip2, he was attracted to an industry where there was a lot of money and problems that could be fixed with the help of the Internet. It was about the banking industry, which at that time was cumbersome, clumsy and short-sighted and did not understand the possibilities of the digital era.
Having spent his own 12 million, Elon created the first ever online banking service with the pornographic name X.com. Musk was not afraid that many technologies had to be invented from scratch. He was confident that he would revolutionize the banking industry, and his confidence attracted investors, and then clients, to him. The ability to transfer money in a couple of clicks without filling out long payment orders attracted two hundred thousand people to the service in just a few months.
Robert Downey Jr. admitted that his portrayal of Tony Stark was partially based on Musk, and persuaded Elon to make a cameo in “ Iron Man 2".
Soon X.com had its first serious competitor in the person of the equally young and ambitious startup Confinity, which was run by Max Levchin and Peter Thiel. Companies spent a lot of effort and money fighting until they came to the conclusion that it was easier to join forces. The largest shareholder and manager of the new company was Elon Musk, who never learned to get along with people. Quarrels began between Elon and Levchin and Til. The reason was the name of the merged company - everyone liked the name PayPal proposed by the founders of Confinity, and only Musk clung to X.com.
As a result of the conflict, Thiel left the company, and Levchin began to threaten that he would follow him. Technical problems also began: the servers could not cope with the influx of clients, “holes” were discovered in the programs, which threatened fines from banks. Dissatisfaction with Musk was brewing within the company. Taking advantage of the absence of Elon, who finally married Justine and went to Honeymoon, the board of directors removed him from his position and appointed Peter Thiel to this place.
Musk interrupted the trip and tried to fight, but soon cooled down, realizing that Levchin and Thiel really knew their stuff. He remained a shareholder of the company and continued to invest money in it. When the largest online auction site eBay wanted to acquire PayPal, not a single board member had any doubts that they had to agree, but Musk advised them to remain patient and wait. Finally, after a series of refusals, in June 2002, eBay offered one and a half billion dollars. As the largest shareholder, Musk received 250 million.
The X.com story had a double impact on Musk's reputation. On the one hand, he earned the reputation of a genius who created a unique product from scratch. On the other hand, he again could not get along with his partners and made a number of mistakes in managing the company. Some say that if Elon had remained at the helm for a few more months, the company would have collapsed. Others argue that he didn't have enough time - although many of Musk's ideas seem absurd at first glance, time proves him right.
SpaceX and Tesla Motors
After leaving PayPal Musk resumed his honeymoon. On the trip he picked up dangerous form malaria and almost died. It took six months to fully recover, during which time Elon lost twenty kilograms.
Shortly before the PayPal sale, Elon and Justine had their first child. But the parents' happiness was short-lived - the child died from the so-called sudden infant death syndrome. Musk dealt with grief in his typical manner - he threw himself into work. Colleagues later recalled that work difficulties sometimes brought tears to Elon’s eyes, but he endured this loss in silence. Musk did not like to put his personal life on display.
Having finally become convinced of the dangers of rest, Musk returned to work. As his influence at PayPal dwindled, Elon recalled his childhood fascination with space. Musk felt that the world had lost faith in a better future, and wanted to inspire humanity to new achievements. At first, Musk's plans were very naive - he was going to buy an old Russian ballistic missile and use it to send a ship to Mars. The project failed - Musk did not agree on a price with the sellers. Then he came up with the idea of producing small, cost-effective rockets that could conquer the market for commercial transportation to orbit due to low launch costs.
At that time, Musk knew nothing about rocket science. He had little idea of the scale of the work, so he set himself overly optimistic deadlines that were impossible to meet. Critics often accused Musk of lying, but Musk sincerely believed in his words and worked tirelessly to put his words into practice. He expected the same attitude from his employees, so people who were not ready to work twelve to sixteen hours a day did not stay long with Musk.
In June 2002, he founded Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX). At first, Musk wanted to produce only engines and purchase other parts from third-party suppliers. But he quickly became convinced that acceptable quality could only be achieved by himself.
At the same time, Musk became interested in electric cars. Two acquaintances prompted him to do this - first, Elon met the talented engineer Jeffrey Strobel, who was working on an economical battery for an electric car, and then crossed paths with Martin Eberhard and Mark Tarpenning, the founders of Tesla Motors, whose goal was to create a new generation electric car. Musk fell in love with the idea and invested seven million in Tesla, becoming the largest shareholder. At the same time, the operational management of the company remained in the hands of Eberhard and Tarpenning.
The first two Tesla Roadster prototypes were met with enthusiasm, and orders began to pour into the company. But the attempt to move from piece production to mass production almost led to collapse.
Musk financed both enterprises from his own pocket and therefore found himself on the verge of bankruptcy. Funds in Musk’s accounts were melting, and work on the first SpaceX rocket Falcon 1 was four years behind schedule. The first three Falcon 1 launches ended in failure. A series of launch failures is not uncommon in the space industry, but SpaceX could not afford such luxury. The engineers corrected all the shortcomings and the fourth launch was successful, but there was no money left for the fifth.
NASA has a stupid policy that says no mistakes are allowed. In my company, failure is possible. If things don't fall apart, you're not inventing well enough.
Elon Musk
Tesla founder Martin Eberhard (Nicki Dugan / Flickr)
Things were even worse at Tesla. Contractors constantly disrupted the supply of parts, costs rose, and the public began to lose patience. The cost of one car, according to optimistic forecasts, was 170–200 thousand dollars, and Tesla planned to sell the Roadster for 85 thousand. Musk became disillusioned with Eberhard's leadership and ousted him. Martin took the dismissal hard and launched a media campaign against Musk. Their relationship remained tense, but Eberhard later admitted that without Tesla mask I would have gone broke at the very beginning.
Difficult times have come in Elon's life. No one seriously believed in the success of his endeavors, and the constant failures of SpaceX and Tesla did not strengthen his reputation. Rumors about the companies' financial problems leaked to the press.
Personal life also went downhill. For Elon, family always came second after work. Although Elon and Justine had known each other for many years and raised five children, she always felt that she was something of an accessory for her husband. Their marriage reached a dead end, and Elon filed for divorce. Musk treated the divorce process as a business project and sought the most convenient result for himself. The press was perplexed why the multimillionaire was arguing with the mother of his five children about the amount of compensation. But Elon could not afford unnecessary expenses.
In December 2008, Musk ran out of money. If Elon had not found the necessary funds by January, Tesla could have been declared bankrupt, and SpaceX employees would have had nothing to pay their salaries. Musk figured that he would have to sacrifice one of the companies to preserve the other, but could not make a choice.
Breakthrough
Musk found the money at the very last moment. He invested the rest of his funds in Tesla and convinced investors to believe in it one more time. And with SpaceX he was just lucky. Musk has long tried to convince NASA that his company could become a contractor for transporting cargo into orbit. And on December 23, 2008, the space agency signed a one and a half billion dollar contract with SpaceX for twelve flights to the ISS.
And here Musk’s undertakings began to work at full capacity, and from a man who promised, promised and promised again for many years, he turned into a man who began to do. Now SpaceX owns several records at once, and Musk does not intend to stop there.
Tesla is also doing well. The Tesla Roadster sold well, but the real hit was the Model S, released in 2012. Tesla Motors positions it as an “iPhone on wheels.” Even distribution is based on the Apple model - Tesla sells cars via the Internet and special sales points located in large shopping centers. Model S owners have virtually no maintenance costs. Programs are automatically updated via the Internet, and owners can charge their cars for free at any Tesla gas station. Or, if they are in a hurry, they can change the battery, but for money. In addition to cars, Tesla produces batteries for electric vehicles of other companies, and the sale of batteries brings in even more income.
Even if the zombie apocalypse happens, you will still be able to travel thanks to gas stations and the Tesla Supercharging system.
Elon Musk
Another of Musk’s undertakings is also succeeding – the SolarCity company, created by Elon and his cousins. SolarCity is one of the largest providers of solar energy in America, last year its assets were valued at $7 billion.
However, Musk’s life cannot be called carefree. He says he has three goals: to provide humanity with clean transportation and energy sources and to help build colonies on other worlds. Elon dreams of dying on Mars. And if the first two tasks are close to completion, then the third is still a long way to go.
Musk considers SpaceX’s main goal to be the conquest of other planets in the solar system. He plans to start with Mars. Spaceship Dragon V2, which SpaceX is currently developing for NASA, would ideally be the basis for flights to the Red Planet, but Musk's ambitions extend much further. Recently, the tycoon recalled that to create a colony on Mars, the planet needs to be terraformed. For these purposes, Musk proposes using... thermonuclear weapons. According to his calculations, the explosion of two thermonuclear bombs in the atmosphere near the poles of Mars will trigger a reaction to heat up the planet and ultimately turn it into a more favorable place for people.
I would like to die on Mars. Only, of course, not in case of an unsuccessful landing.
Elon Musk
According to Musk’s calculations, Hyperloop will cost several times less, the capsules will move at short intervals, and the journey between cities will take only half an hour. However, Musk himself does not intend to engage in construction and plans to post the project drawings in open access. Today, there are several teams ready to bring Elon’s vision to life.
What is he like?
Despite all his successes, Musk is often criticized. The press estimated that since the founding of SpaceX, Tesla and SolarCity, they have received a total of $5 billion in government orders, subsidies and tax breaks. Musk is accused of not having achieved anything without the help of Uncle Sam.
However, even with the help of the state, he achieved what no one else could achieve. And I would hardly have been able to do this if not for my strength of character. Friends say that Musk is strict and sometimes cruel with employees and partners. He doesn't consider other people's feelings at all. Still, SpaceX and Tesla employees are loyal to their boss and say that while he is a social asshole, he knows what he wants and has a knack for inspiring optimism in others. Elon does not tolerate excuses, justifications and delays, but when difficulties arise, he is the first to volunteer to help.
Musk's work week exceeds one hundred hours. He practically lives at work and constantly flies between company offices on a personal plane to save time. He strives to be aware of all the problems of his subordinates, and it is normal for him to respond to email from employees within half an hour, even if it arrived late at night.
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Elon Musk’s ideas seem crazy, but time after time he turns out to be right, it’s just that society does not keep up with his train of thought. In another world, Elon Musk would be perfect for the role of a villain in the next Bond series, but his passion for science, space and science fiction makes it difficult to see him as an unprincipled businessman. He remains a visionary, concerned with a better future for all humanity, living in an era when the brightest minds are thinking about how to cram more photos of cats into a social network post.
I love being involved in projects that change the world. The Internet did it, and space will probably change the world more than anything else. If humanity can move beyond the Earth, it is clear that its future lies there.
Elon Musk
In our cynical and calculating age, there are few such ideological dreamers left. Therefore, I want to keep my fingers crossed for Elon Musk and believe that he will succeed.
If the article is not enough for you...
At the beginning of 2015, American journalist Ashley Vance’s book “Elon Musk. Tesla, SpaceX and the road to the future." While working on the book, Vance interviewed Musk's family and friends, former and current employees of Tesla, SpaceX, PayPal and Zip2.
Musk himself at first did not want to help Vance with the work, but then agreed - provided that he could offer his own versions of the events described. Vance refused, but Musk suddenly accepted the reporter's terms and met with him regularly throughout the work on the book. Vance himself believes that Musk was convinced by the journalist’s determination and confidence in how to work.
There are many funny moments in the book - for example, Musk said that his family was afraid that representatives of the Russian space industry would hire killers to eliminate a competitor.
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