By now, most Americans know who Elon Musk is. It is extremely difficult to miss the luxurious design of one of his Tesla vehicles drive by you or to not be intrigued about his realistic idea for commercializing space travel. Elon Musk, with a net worth of $12.9 billion, is one of the most successful businessmen that lives today and his story of success is one that very few people are aware of.
His parents always had aspirations of their son from the time that he was very young. They noticed he was a tinkerer so they bought him his first computer when he was nine. It came with an astounding five kilobytes of storage and with this computer, Musk made a simple video game called “Blastar.” It was a simpler version of the game “Space Invaders” but was nonetheless an impressive code, especially when you remember it was created by a nine year old. When he was twelve, Musk sold the game for $500 ($1,200 today).
After dropping out of graduate school, Musk and his brother had an idea for an online-type of yellow page directory similar to that of Google and Yelp today. He saw that the internet was going to be the future and wanted to develop the technology and make a living from it. This idea for the directory was groundbreaking in the 90s and was quickly purchased by the company Compaq for $307 million from the two innovative minds. Using his newfound profit, Elon saw the potential that the internet held and decided to create an online banking business. Being in a cutthroat market for online banking, he and another company, Confinity, merged and became what is known today as PayPal. This company was soon sold to eBay for $1.2 billion to handle the online transactions for the online mega-store.
In 2002, Musk founded one of his famous companies, SpaceX, with the mission to make humanity a multi-planetary species. While he was in the development stage, he started his most famous company, Tesla, in 2004. Although Musk is aided largely in his efforts through federal subsidies and investments, Musk funds a large amount of his massive companies himself. Since their conception in 2002 and 2004, Musk has continually invested his own money into his own businesses. By doing so, he is the one making the decisions that lead to the success of the company. If the company loses money, he loses his fortune. This keeps him motivated.
Although each of these companies has had numerous drawbacks–SpaceX couldn’t get their rockets into orbit until they practically ran out of money blowing them up and Tesla continues to lose money–Elon’s exceptional leadership has and continues to lead these companies to the top of their markets. With estimated combined company values of over $24.3 billion, there is no doubt that with these great companies comes great leadership, something that Elon Musk continues to illustrate through his dedication and hard work.
Sources:
www.theverge.com/2015/6/9/8752333/elon-musk-blastar-pc-game
www.gobankingrates.com/making-money/business/how-much-is-tesla-worth
www.waitbutwhy.com/2015/05/elon-musk-the-worlds-raddest-man.html
www.moneymorning.com/2018/02/12/how-much-is-spacex-worth/
Roadster Image: https://is.gd/6GjSnC
Elon Musk is an absolute beast at making things happen and paving the way to new opportunities. A lot of his thinking seems unconventional and impossible, but what has come out of those thoughts has competitors scrambling to make a competing product/concept. Great writing!
I read that book in your cover picture there: Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance. Very good book and an incredibly interesting man. I jumped on the Elon Musk band wagon long before everybody else did. I knew everything there was to know. But then everybody else did too and then he started acting stupid. It’s interesting how he is borderline a celebrity now too. I think that has affected his decision making.
I love this post Elon Musk is the very definition of the modern day entrepreneur. He saw a dormant market that no one could really try and beat or even compete with and he said oh yes I can! Elon appears to be a very good boss to his employees and those around him. Great Job!