Great Tech Entrepreneurs:
Elon Musk
Elon Musk[1]
(born June 28, 1971) is a South African-born business magnate, investor,
engineer and inventor. He is the founder and CEO of Space-X[2],
Tesla Motors[3],
SolarCity[4]
and founder of X.com, which merged with PayPal[5].
He has today an estimated worth of USD 11.5 billion and is the 83rd wealthiest
person in the world. He intends to change the world and humanity, including
reducing global warming through sustainable energy production and consumption,
and reducing the risk of human extinction by making life multi-planetary and
setting up a colony on Mars. They call him the "Real Iron Man", but
he sounds more like Superman to me!!!
He was born in
Pretoria, South Africa, son of a Canadian model and a South-African mechanical
engineer. As a kid, he spend his time reading comics books, encyclopedias, etc.
He has a photographic memory and can remember everything that he SEES. He took
computer classes but was very much ahead of the teacher, so it was not worth
it. He taught himself how to program and sold the code for a BASIC-based video game
he created called Blastar. Elon Musk got a place at Queen's University in
Kingston, Canada (where his mother is from), and then transferred to University
of Pennsylvania, US, where he got his Bachelor of Science degree in physics. He
then got a Scholarship to go to Stanford, but decided not to attend. He
dedicated himself to create the first online City listing, together with his
brother. He basically "transferred" the Yellow Pages to an online
version and called the project Zip2[6].
In 1999, his company was bought for 307 million USD in cash and 34 million in
Stock options.
At age 28, he joined
the club of Silicon Valley millionaires. Instead of retiring Musk went into
another project, a revolutionary one: PayPal. It became the leading payment
system in the world, and was finally acquired by EBay for 1.5 billion dollars
after only 2 years. Earth was not enough for him. With the idea that the
private sector can energize Space Travel, in 2002 he established SpaceX[7],
which he financed himself. It's goal is to manufacture vehicles, primarily
rocket technology. The aim is to reduce the cost of space flight and the cost
of expanding human life beyond Earth. He also established SolarCity[8],
becoming the largest solar energy provider in the US. But Elon was much more
ambitious: he wanted to get the world off fossil fuels and into electric cars.
In March 2004, he launched Tesla Motors[9].
The goal was to introduce a high-end, high performance car which could be
affordable to the general public. It was the first car designed and built in
Silicon Valley, where it is easier to get hold-off technological competence
than for example in Detroit. One of Tesla's big advantages are the batteries,
which were built to last more than any other electric batteries before.
In 2007, Musk
achieved an agreement with Mercedes-Benz[10]
to provide them with electrical engines. Tesla Motors came up with a customized
engine for Mercedes in only 4 weeks. Meanwhile, his company SpaceX was not
clearing to deliver rockets to space. At the end of 2008, Space X, Solar City,
and Tesla were all in free-fall. Not only that, but the crisis 2008 - 2009
crisis in the US meant a downturn in the automotive markets. Finally, the 4th
rocket launched by Space X made it to Space, and the company was rewarded with
a 6 billion dollar contract. He reinvested a large chunk of his money in Tesla.
A unique concept, Tesla is actually a game changer for other car makers, since
it introduces the concept of electric cars in a manner nobody has managed
before. In 2010, Tesla went public allowing the company to have capital to
launch it's model Tesla Model S[11].
The launch was a success, and Tesla took
off. In 2013, Elon introduced his latest invest invention: the Hyperloop[12].
It is a form of transportation that can send people from San Francisco to Los
Angeles in 1/2 an hour by using pressurized tubes.
Elon Musk is a
visionary and is working to take humanity to Mars. His goal is to disrupt
industries and is one of the most brilliant minds of the century. He was named
one of the 75 most influential people in the world by Esquire magazine. Most of
his wealth is donated to philanthropic activities. Will his dreams of reaching
the stars be fulfilled in this lifetime? How can such a GENIUS exist,
especially coming from a 3rd World country like South-Africa? The World of
Tomorrow is in full surprise for us, the people of Earth, as we approach the
era of Space Exploration. Huge changes await us, the People of Earth, in the
NeXT 20 years. If you want to know more, refer to my Release in Amazon:
"Where No Man has Gone Before: the Road to the Fourth Industrial
Revolution".
Cristian Bøhnsdalen
CMO/CFO & Co-Founder @ITRevolusjonen
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