For all the would-be
entrepreneurs out there, Elon Musk has one piece of advice, "Have a goal that's
world-changing," and when you look at his resume, you can see he practices this
wisdom.
He founded five companies,
one of which revolutionized ecommerce (Paypal), another developed the first
modern electric car to run completely on lithium-ion batteries (Tesla), a third
was the first private company to launch and recover a spacecraft (SpaceX) and a
fourth designs, finances and installs solar energy systems (SolarCity). Now all he needs to do is develop the cure
for cancer, and he'll have the perfect trifecta of emerging markets
covered.
Like most visionaries of his
caliber, South African-born Musk has always been a forward thinker. He got his first computer at the age of 10
and taught himself how to use it, then immigrated to Canada at 17, without
parental support, to avoid enforcing apartheid through compulsory service with
the South African military. Eventually,
he landed at Stanford, fulfilling his ultimate goal to come to America, "where
great things are possible."
And in America, Musk has
accomplished great things. Perhaps his
best-known and most controversial role is as founder and head of product design
at Tesla Motors. The company produced
The Roadster in 2008, which blew the world away as the first modern American all-electric
and highway-capable vehicle in serial production.
It looks like a Porsche and
according to the U.S. EPA, it can travel 244 miles on a single charge. Its performance and style challenged common
misconceptions about electric vehicles and the market received the car with
open arms. So why did Tesla almost run
out of cash in 2009?
Speculation around this topic
reached a fever pitch when a rogue employee first released the information, and
most assumed it was the company's debt structure, small distribution network and
the cost of development that was to blame.
After the news broke, Musk confirmed that Tesla was indeed running low
on cash, but he promised to pay for all product-delivery costs out of his own
pocket.
The company has since righted
its financial problems and had its IPO in June of 2010. Now, the gossip around the water cooler
centers on the question, is Tesla ripe for the selling? Musk
has not hinted at anything of this nature, but it begs the question, would the
purchase of Tesla by a larger auto company with greater resources be better for
the brand and the electric car industry as a whole?
This article available online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/10/silicon-valley-darling/246727/
