Who Is Elon Musk?
Unless it is someone living under a rock everyone knows the name Elon Musk or at least his face. If you were to name one of the most successful and fearless entrepreneurs/businessmen of this day and age Elon Musk would be one of them. He is the founder and CEO of SpaceX and the CEO and product architect of Tesla Inc. In 2018 he was named 25 among world’s most powerful people by Forbes. It goes without saying that Elon Musk is an inspiration to many aspiring entrepreneurs.
Elon Musk who is an American Business Magnate was actually born in one of South Africa’s capital city Pretoria. He is the first born to parents Maye Musk (Mother) and Errol Musk (Father). His mother was a Canada born model and dietitian while his father was a South African electromechanical engineer who also worked as a pilot, sailor, consultant, and property developer.
Elon Musk put his brilliance to work from an early age. Musk had taught himself computer programming with the help of a manual from around age 10. He had an interest in video games and through his knowledge of computing he started developing a BASIC (Beginners’ All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) based video game called Blastar. He sold the code of the game for approximately $500 to PC and Office Technology magazine when he was 12.
Musk moved to Canada in 1989 and entered Queen’s University (Kingston, Ontario) in 1990 but just after two years he transferred to University of Pennsylvania. He was in a full fledged scholarship at the University of Pennsylvania from where he graduated with two degrees (Physics and Economics) in 1997.
Since his interest in tech startups went way back he had already ventured into it before completing his graduation. He had already interned at two Silicon Valley startups before co-founding one in 1995. Zip2 was the name of Musk’s web software company, which he co-founded with his younger brother Kimbal Musk and Greg Kouri. In 1999, Zip2 was sold to Compaq for $307 million in cash, leaving Musk with $22 million. Elon Musk has never looked back since. In the same year, Elon Musk co-founded an online financial services and e-mail payment company called X.com.
X.com also turned out to be a successful startup with more than 200,000 customers joining the service within the starting months. It later merged with an online bank called Confinity which had PayPal (another online money transfer service). Ultimately X.com and PayPal merged and became PayPal. Later in 2002 PayPal was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in stock, leaving Musk with $100 million. Musk, on the other hand, paid an undisclosed sum to PayPal in 2017 for the domain X.com, he said that it held a sentimental value.
What are Elon Musk’s Companies?
Between 2001 and 2020 Musk has ventured into various businesses and has founded major companies such as SpaceX (2002), Neuralink (2016), OpenAI (2015), The Boring Company (2016). Apart from being one of the richest people in the world, Elon Musk is currently the
CEO and Product Architect of Tesla Inc. – A front runner when it comes to design and manufacturing of electric vehicles. Tesla is also very dedicated to clean energy and it’s current products include electric vehicles, battery energy storage ranging from home to grid-scale, solar panels and solar roof tiles, and other related products and services.
CEO and Chief Engineer of SpaceX – Elon Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 with the goal of lowering space transportation costs in order to enable Mars colonisation. SpaceX builds heavy launch vehicles, as well as several rocket engines, Dragon cargo and crew spacecraft, and Starlink communications satellites.
How Old is Elon Musk?
Born on 28 June 1971 Elon Musk is 50 years old.
Here are 10 Lessons Every Entrepreneur Should Learn From Elon Musk
Never Give Up
“No, I don’t ever give up. I’d have to be dead or completely incapacitated” when Elon Musk said this millions of not only entrepreneurs but people in general felt something. Musk has time and again said that the idea of giving up has never occurred to him and how he just hates to give up rather than not try at all. The not give up attitude is so clear from his journey as an entrepreneur. In the past he was refrained from taking the CEO position so many times, especially in his first companies. He was labelled as inexperienced and even when he managed to achieve the CEO position he was replaced in no time. But this didn’t let Musk from venturing into more startups and pushing forward with his ideas. In addition to this not all of his ideas have been successful or achieved success in the first go. But Elon Musk never gave up. Many aspiring and young entrepreneurs can take this as a big lesson that no matter what comes your way once you have made your mind and ventured on you should not give up.
Don’t Be Afraid To Try New Things
Musk’s journey as an entrepreneur clearly shows that he has never been afraid to venture into new things. Apparently when he was in college Musk made money out of a nightclub which he ran along with his roommate. They rented a 10 bedroom fraternity house off campus and turned it into a nightclub. According to Musk they would make a month’s rent and more money in just a single night. Although he was on full scholarship, he paid his own way through college. Apart from this Musk’s other ventures whether it is online banking, electric cars, space odyssey or even neurology all of them show that the man isn’t afraid to try new things. Whatever interests Musk he seems to venture into it but not mindlessly.
Dream Big with a Big Picture
Elon Musk was also into Space Odysseus and the future of humankind. As a kid he would bury himself under science fiction books. He even read the whole encyclopedia as a result of having read all the books in the library he used to read. He always thinks ahead and of the future. Look at SpaceX, he wants to make commercial space travel a reality for humankind. With PayPal came a huge change in the financial industry and e-payments as a whole. Tesla is already changing the dimensions of the electric car manufacturing industry. His projects are always long-term and scalable.
Take Rejection as Motivation
Rejection is a huge part of people’s lives and many times it becomes one of the biggest forces that leads people to give up. Elon Musk was no different. Albeit a centibillionaire he has been rejected several times. So much so that SpaceX is a result of a rejection. With his interest in space programs got into a non-profit organization Mars society in 2001. The project about building a plant growth chamber on Mars inspired him and he was even ready to fund it himself. The same year he travelled to Russia to buy refurbished ICBMs but there he was heavily criticised by the Russians and was even spat on face by a chief Russian Designer. All this led to Musk’s empty handed return to the United States. He was however offered a rocket the following year for $8 Million, which was extremely expensive. All this led to the creation of Space Exploration Technologies Corporation known today as SpaceX.
Hard Work Cannot be Replaced
It has been said time and again that v’Hard Work is the key to success’ and it really is true. When Elon Musk founded his first software company, Zip2, with his brother Kimbal Musk in 1995, he worked around the clock. He claims that in order to be successful, one must work 80 to 100 hours per week. He claims that if you work 100 hours per week while the others work 40, it will take you four months to achieve what they can in a year. Whatever brilliant idea you have, hard work is required to bring it to fruition. It doesn’t mean working midlessly for hours but spending those 80-100 hours in research and development.
Criticism is Your Friend
As entrepreneurs you should value criticism over compliments because it is what tells you where you are lacking. The main distinction between the two is that criticism helps us to improve by pointing out our flaws. Many people are afraid of being criticised but Elon Musk is always looking for ways to criticise himself. During the development of the Tesla electric car, he asked automobile engineers to tell him what was wrong with his design rather than what was good about it. In this way, he was able to learn from his mistakes and correct them. Look for and learn from constructive criticism, it will give you the opportunity to improve your product and service. And, for a startup, a better product is critical.
Be Persistent
No matter how good you are at what you do, if you aren’t persistent enough you won’t be successful. This ties in with the factors like not giving up and working hard. Throughout the years being an entrepreneur and a business man Elon Musk has brilliantly shown these qualities and has been persistent with his vision and bringing them to life.
Let Go of Momentary and Monetary Goals
As a businessman and entrepreneur money is a really crucial aspect but don’t be too indulgent on making money overnight. Neither will that money last nor your value. Instead look far ahead of yourself and invest your time on developing ideas which will go further in future at the same time make a difference in society. There have been people who have achieved amazing things in their lives, but none of them have done so for the sake of money. One such example is Elon Musk. If you want to reach great heights, you must focus on the difference you will be able to make in the world rather than the financial rewards or glory you will receive.
Plan Your Ideas Well
Elon Musk committed $100 million to the SpaceX programme before it began. He stated that if he was unable to launch a rocket into space with that budget, he would cease operations and abandon the idea. His first two launches cost him $90 million each, and both were a failure. The third cost him $10 million and was a success. By coming up with a plan, we learn not to be afraid of failure at the same time we push ourselves to make things work. Since we are giving ourselves a deadline, the thought of ‘last chance’ itself becomes one of the biggest motivations towards success.
Focus on What You Value
As entrepreneurs sometimes you can be easily swayed away by money since success brings so much. It is very important that during those times you ground yourself and look at what it is that you value more. It is the product and not the price. Elon Musk has time again specified that he would prefer to under-market a revolutionary product rather than promote a mediocre one. Use this lesson in your life to improve the quality of your products or services. Elon Musk says that one should focus your efforts on improving a product rather than on how to sell it to the market.
Elon Musk Famous Quotes
“Starting and growing a business is as much about the innovation, drive, and determination of the people behind it as the product they sell.”
“Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.”
“It’s OK to have your eggs in one basket as long as you control what happens to that basket.”
“It’s very important to like the people you work with, otherwise life [and] your job is gonna be quite miserable.”
“I’m interested in things that change the world or that affect the future and wondrous, new technology where you see it, and you’re like, ‘Wow, how did that even happen? How is that possible?’”
“The path to the CEO’s office should not be through the CFO’s office, and it should not be through the marketing department. It needs to be through engineering and design.”
“Some people don’t like change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is disaster.”
“Brand is just a perception, and perception will match reality over time. Sometimes it will be ahead, other times it will be behind. But brand is simply a collective impression some have about a product.”
“Persistence is very important. You should not give up unless you are forced to give up.”
“The first step is to establish that something is possible; then probability will occur.”
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Question Asked On Elon Musk On Google Here We Have Answered All Questions
Elon Musk is a Centibillionare who has founded several companies. He is the CEO of SpaceX (aerospace manufacturing company) and Tesla (makes electric cars and clean energy). He is mostly known because of his contributions to the electric cars industry and space technology.
Elon Musk has been married three times, twice being to Talulah Riley (actress). He first got married in 2000 to Canadian author Justine Musk (nee. Wilson), with whom he got divorced in 2008. In 2010 he got married to Talulah Riley and got divorced after two years of marriage. However in 2013 he remarried Talulah ultimately getting divorced in 2016. Elon Musk is currently in a relationship with Canadian singer Grimes.
Elon Musk has five boys (twins and triplets) from his first marriage with Justine Musk. Both Musk and Justine share custody of their five children.In 2020 Musk welcomed his sixth son X AE A-XII with his current partner Grimes.
Elon Musk’s net worth is 16,730 crores USD.
Elon Musk first developed a BASIC based video game at the age of 12. His first official startup however was Zip2 a web software company which he co-founded with his brother Kimbal Musk and friend Greg Kouri in 1995. In 1999, Zip2 was sold to Compaq for $307 million in cash, leaving Musk with $22 million.
Elon Musk’s father is Errol Musk a South African electromechanical engineer who also worked as a pilot, sailor, consultant, and property developer.
Elon Musk has six sons, five from his first wife Justine Musk and sixth from his current partner Grimes namely Griffin Musk, Xavier Musk, Kai Musk, Saxon Musk, Damian Musk and X AE A-XII Musk.
No, Elon Musk doesn’t have a wife however he is divorced three times. He is currently in a relationship with Canadian singer Grimes who he started dating since 2018.
It hasn’t been said yet whether Elon Musk himself will go to Mars or not but he aims to make space travel commercial. He is still “highly confident” that SpaceX will land humans on Mars by 2026, having stated in December, 2020 that it is a goal that can be achieved “about six years from now.” He also stated that SpaceX intends to launch a Starship rocket without a crew “in two years.” An artist’s impression of SpaceX’s Starship rockets on Mars’ surface.
Here are some facts about Elon Musk;
- He was born in South Africa and was brought up there until high school
- He created a video game at age 10 and sold it’s codes for $500 to a magazine at age 12
- He was granted Fellowship of the Royal Society in 2018
- He has two siblings sister Tosca Musk (Filmmaker) and brother Kimbal Musk (entrepreneur, chef)
- Musk has made a cameo in the 2010 Marvel hit Iron Man 2
Elon Musk’s success is a result of his vision, hard work and persistence. He has time and again stated that he dreads giving up more than anything.
There are several things we can learn from Elon Musk such as never give up, work hard, be persistent, believe in your vision, be intelligent with your ideas etc.
Elon Musk’s perception of things and his view towards various things around the world makes him different. He is just another human being but it is how he approaches things and provides solutions to different problems is what sets him apart. His ideas and how he executes them.
