Elon Musk. Doesn't it sound familiar? Yes, it certainly is. Elon Musk has become a household name because of his entrepreneurial abilities and sarcastic tweets. His vision to change the world entirely is nothing short of an inspiration.
Well, he possesses some superhuman qualities as he is managing five different kinds of startups simultaneously, and all of them are aimed towards creating new-age technology products which can make human life convenient.
But we wonder how a person can think of this mighty vision and then execute it with efficiency. It involves a lot of courage and risk-taking abilities, whether it is solving the energy problems by making electric cars or exploring the possibilities of human life on Mars.
The journey of Elon Musk is worth exploring.
Early DaysBorn in South Africa in 1971, Elon Musk was always an academic student. He used to be bullied at school, so he found solace in Books regarding science and technology.
The foundation of a bright life came when he tried his hands on computers at 10. He taught himself coding at a tender age. His first entrepreneurial gig happened when he coded a video game that he sold for $500.
To avoid the mandatory military service in South Africa, he relocated to Canada at 17 to attend Queen's University. He said in an interview that he always wanted to move to America as the US is the country where great things happen.
Soon, he got a scholarship to study at the prestigious University of Pennsylvania, where he majored in Economics and Physics. He also went to Standford University for a PhD in applied physics but soon dropped out due to his entrepreneurial dreams.
Start of Entrepreneurial CareerThe 1990s saw the tech boom in the US, and Silicon Valley became the world's tech capital. Musk soon started a company known as Zip2, an internet company providing maps and business directories to local newspapers.
Musk's innovative attitude was highly advantageous as he sold Zip2 to Compaq's search engine for $340 million in 1999.
One interesting fact is that to pay the rent expenses, Musk bought a ten-bedroom house and converted it into a nightclub.
With the sale of Zip2, he got his $22 million stakes, and later, he merged with other well-acclaimed Silicon Valley entrepreneur Peter Theil and others to launch X.com, which later became the renowned PayPal.
PayPal was the revolutionary product that disrupted the whole payments industry. Elon Musk was appointed CEO but was fired at the start of the 21st century when eBay bought PayPal for $1.5 billion.
Working towards the vision of changing the worldAfter the merger of PayPal with eBay, Elon Musk got his stake of $165 million. An idiot would have spent this money on fancy luxurious things, but Musk had some other plans.
He wanted to materialise his engineering dreams into reality, so he started working towards his vision to change the world's working.
Musk credits his knowledge of science to books. He is a voracious reader of Science fiction books. To make sci-fi a reality, he started reading modules regarding Rocket Science.
To make Space travel possible for humanity, he founded Space X in 2002. Space X started making Falcon Rockets for space exploration, but unfortunately, the first three attempts failed pathetically.
The fourth attempt was successful, and Elon got contracts from NASA to make rockets for making space travel familiar for the public. Space X plans to collaborate with NASA to send the first astronaut on Mars on their Falcon Rocket.
Solving the Energy ProblemElon Musk has a knack for finding the problems in a particular industry. Soon, he found energy problems in the auto industry, which is detrimental to the environment's future.
So, from his $165 million, he put $80 million to a budding startup named Tesla and became his chairman. In 2007, he became its CEO and Chief product manager and started working towards sustainable energy.
Tesla zeroed in on making energy-efficient electric cars to disrupt the auto industry. Tesla has started the trend of electric vehicles, and now every other auto company is trying to be a part of the wave. Well, it is no gainsaying that Electric cars are going to be the future.
Tesla Model 3 brought the world's attention, and now it has proven to be a big success. Elon Musk is more an engineer than an entrepreneur. His engineering capabilities are on the work of making driverless cars and trucks. We can't help but wonder that sci-fi dreams are coming true.
Other StartupsHe put some million bucks on a startup named SolarCity. SolarCity aims at making solar-powered batteries that would be of primary use in the electric vehicle industry.
The enthralling thing about Elon Musk is his execution abilities. When he realised the traffic problem, he became keen to solve it. So, he has a company called The Boring Company which is producing a hyperloop in the tunnels of LA, which would cover the distance of 300 odd miles in half an hour. How incredible this innovation is.
Musk has broken all the shackles of the limited human mind as he is making efforts to command the brain through Artificial Intelligence by installing a chip in the brain to connect it to a smart computer.
The coming technological era is going to be fascinating because of entrepreneurs like Elon Musk.
ConclusionElon Musk is becoming the pioneer of the Artificial Intelligence revolution. His never giving up attitude has resulted in making him the richest man on the planet. But, one maxim which stands about him is that he never bothers about money.
He once quoted that as a child, he wanted to be involved in mighty things. His vision and the ability to transmute that vision into reality makes him superior to other startup guys. His optimism about the future is a desirable trait to be learnt by every youngster wanting to make it big in life.
If the human race is dreaming of a sci-fi AI-driven world, then the whole credit goes to the craziest entrepreneur Elon Musk.
