Elon Musk: A Multi-visionary Leader
Elon Musk is a multi-talented businessman from Silicon Valley who is guiding humanity into the future. He is a global figure and an inspiration for the younger generation. Looking back in time teaches us about the great inventions of creative inventors who have contributed to science and technology. Elon Musk, on the other hand, is a "One Man Army," a symbol of invention and technology, and a creative thinker with exceptional leadership. Tesla, SpaceX, The Boring Company, and PayPal have become leaders in their respective fields.
The early life of Elon Musk
Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa, in 1971. He spent his childhood with his brother and sister in South Africa. From a very young age, Elon was a big fan of science fiction books like "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." He used to read books by Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein. They helped Elon think about advanced technologies that could make human lives easier and faster. At age 10, he got his first computer, a Commodore VIC-20. After getting the computer, he started to learn programming by himself. At 12, he earned 500 dollars by selling his first piece of software, "a game called Bluster," which he created. At age 17, Elon moved to Canada with his mother to go to college. He went to Queen's University in Kingston. After two years, he moved to the University of Pennsylvania, where he got his Bachelor of Science in Physics in 1992 and his Bachelor of Arts in Economics in 1994. Musk moved to the United States after getting his bachelor's degree. He went to Stanford University in California to get his Ph.D. in energy physics. However, it was good that he left his Ph.D. just after two days and launched his first company, Zip2 Corporation, with his brother Kimbal in 1995. The world would see the rise of an incredible entrepreneurial visionary.
Why were Zip2 and PayPal founded?
Elon and his brother started Zip2 with just 1,500 dollars. With this money, Elon rented an office with his brother for Zip2 in Palo Alto, where he barely managed to sleep beside a desk on a beanbag. During these days, Elon realized the hardships of life. He planned to launch a software company to aid news outlets in creating digital city guides. The websites of major newspapers, such as "The Chicago Tribune" and "The New York Times," soon began using its content. By 1999, Elon sold Zip2 to Compaq Computer for 307 million USD. At that time, he was worth 22 million USD. He put all his money into his next project, an "electronic payment system" called X.com, which later became PayPal. PayPal was sold to eBay for $1.5 billion. Elon was an 11 percent shareholder before the sale, which increased his net worth to $250 million. He was then vice president of the company. Elon left PayPal in 2004 and formed SpaceX. He was just getting started.
Is SpaceX going to change our future world?
Elon was exceptionally dedicated to building a space company for commercial space travel. He wanted to build affordable rockets with which humans could easily connect with the outer world. In 2002, Elon Musk founded SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies Corporation) with $100 million from his early fortune and became the CEO and Chief Engineer of the company. Soon, SpaceX started to build its first commercial rocket, the Falcon. It took four years and millions of dollars to build the rocket. From 2002–2006, the first few missions failed in the Falcon series. In 2008, the fourth mission, Falcon, was successfully launched by SpaceX, and Falcon 1 finally reached Earth's orbit. SpaceX was entirely established in 2008. NASA hired SpaceX to move cargo to and from the International Space Station (ISS). NASA agreed to pay SpaceX about $1.6 billion for the Dragon spacecraft and the Falcon 9 rocket. Falcon 9 was the most potent invention made by any space agency up to that point. In May 2002, SpaceX launched the Falcon 9 to the ISS with 1000 pounds of supplies and created history by becoming the first private spacecraft to reach the ISS. From 2013 to 2015, SpaceX launched a couple of satellites into orbits like "Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit" with the help of Falcon 9. In 2016, after several unsuccessful attempts, SpaceX finally made history by landing on a drone ship, Falcon 9. In 2017, SpaceX saw the successful landing of Falcon 9, made from reusable parts, and a door was opened for more affordable space travel. SpaceX made another successful launch of the powerful Falcon Heavy in 2018.
In 2019, SpaceX started to develop its starship series. The starship can launch 100,000 kg into Earth orbit. The rocket was designed to provide fast transportation in Earth's cities and build bases on Mars and the Moon. The Starship series started its journey in the early 2020s. Elon is also the chief designer of the Falcon, Dragon, and Starship. However, Elon aims to launch the first cargo mission to Mars by 2022. He has always dreamed of landing on Mars, and his engineers are working on innovative rocket engines, "Red Dragon Spacecraft," that are used in Falcon Heavy rockets to transport people from Earth to Mars.
Elon Musk said, "I would like to die on Mars, just not an impact."
Engineers Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning started Tesla, also known as Tesla Motors, in 2003. In 2004, Elon Musk became an investor in Tesla Motors, and soon he became the CEO and product architect of Tesla Motors. By 2006, Tesla had introduced their first car, "The Roadster," to the market. Musk helped design the car and won the "Global Green 2006 Product Design Award" for the design of the Tesla Roadster. However, when the car was about to enter production in 2007, Eberhard was ousted from the farm, and in 2008, the financial crisis of the US stock market brought more bad luck to Musk. During this crisis, Elon showed he was a good manager by firing everyone who worked on selling the product's development, including Eberhard. Elon began to run the company on his own.
In August 2008, Tesla announced that it would be making its first electric sedan, the Model S. In 2012, the Model S finally entered the market with a price of $58.570. It was honored as the "car of the year" by "Motor Trend Magazine." Later, Tesla won further praise for the Model X luxury SUV. As of February 2015, Tesla's market cap reached 27.44 billion USD, and Elon owns 30 percent of the company. In 2016, Elon Musk unveiled the five-seater "Tesla Model 3," the most affordable Tesla car, with a price of USD 35,000. Later in 2017, the Model 3 became the best-selling electric car of all time. In June 2021, it became the first electric car to sell 1 million units globally. During 2019–21, Tesla released more models like the "Model Y," launched in 2020, and the "Cyber Truck," an all-electric pickup truck, in 2021. In October 2021, Tesla's market cap reached 1 trillion USD, making it the sixth company in US history to do so.
What was the purpose of founding Solarcity and The Boring Company?
Elon Musk is the chief shareholder of SolarCity Corporation, which provides energy services for homes, governments, and businesses. In 2003, Elon Musk invested 10 million USD by selling 11 percent of PayPal stock. Later in 2013, SolarCity became the largest provider of solar power systems in the USA. A 2.6 billion USD deal was established for Elon's electric car and solar energy companies. In January 2017, Elon Musk founded "The Boring Company," devoted to boring and building tunnels to reduce street traffic. The company's first project was announced in 2018 but was later canceled. However, it will be completed by 2021.
Why was Elon interested in buying Twitter?
Since 2009, Elon Musk has been an active user of Twitter, with over 100 million followers as of June 2022. Elon has been interested in buying Twitter since 2017. Elon was critical of Twitter's commitment to free speech in light of the company's content moderation policies. In early 2022, Elon Musk bought a 5 percent share of Twitter. By April, he had become the company's largest shareholder with a 9 percent stake. Twitter announced that Musk would join the company's board, but Elon refused the proposal and bid for the company at a value of 54.20 USD per share for 44 billion USD. The board agreed with Elon's deal. However, the Tesla stock market decreased by 125 billion USD after the deal was confirmed.
Moreover, Elon loses 30 billion of his net worth. After a month of announcing the takeover, Elon claimed that the deal was "On Hold," following a report that five percent of daily users were spam Twitter accounts, which caused a 10 percent drop in Twitter's stock. Later, the deal was canceled. In July, Twitter's board finally sued Elon Musk for breaking a legally binding agreement to buy Twitter.
All have praised Elon's leadership and his contribution to the technology field. Elon was named to the "Forbes Billionaire" list in 2012. By the end of 2020, he became the wealthiest person in the world, and in November 2021, he became the first person to reach $300 billion in US history, according to "The Bloomberg Billionaire Index." He has inspired millions of younger generations by promoting cryptocurrency. In 2015, he received an "Honorary Doctorate" in technology from Yale University. For developing the Falcon Rockets, he was awarded the "George Low Transportation" award in 2008, "The Gold Space Medal" in 2010, and the "Royal Aeronautical Society Gold Medal" in 2012. He was named "Time Magazine's 100 most influential people" in 2010, 2013, 2018, and 2021. He was the "Times’ Person of the Year" in 2021. In 2022, he was elected as a member of the "Natural Academy of Engineering." Failure was a part of his life, but he was dedicated enough to conquer the earth and the outer world. He has been working on his "Never Give Up" theory for his whole life.
"When something is important, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor."
— Elon Musk
