Elon Musk and Kevin Rose
Summary
TLDRIn this engaging interview, Elon Musk discusses his journey from South Africa to becoming a leading entrepreneur with ventures like Tesla, SpaceX, and PayPal. He shares his early fascination with technology and comics, his first steps into entrepreneurship with Zip2, and the challenges of founding companies like Tesla and SpaceX. Musk emphasizes the importance of seeking negative feedback and reasoning from first principles, revealing insights into his innovative mindset and the future of transportation with concepts like the Hyperloop.
Takeaways
- 🌏 Elon Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa, and had a global perspective from a young age, influenced by his interest in technology and comics.
- 📚 As a child, Musk was an avid reader of comics, including Batman, Superman, Iron Man, and Doctor Strange, which likely fueled his imagination and interest in innovation.
- 💡 His first computer was a Commodore VIC-20, which sparked his interest in coding and technology at the age of 10, setting the stage for his future endeavors.
- 🚀 Initially, Musk did not plan to become an entrepreneur but was drawn to Silicon Valley and the potential of the internet, which led him to defer his graduate studies at Stanford.
- 🔧 Musk's first entrepreneurial venture was Zip2, which aimed to bring media companies online, marking the beginning of his journey in the tech industry.
- 🤔 He learned the importance of seeking negative feedback and reasoning from first principles, rather than relying on analogies, which has been crucial to his success.
- 🛠️ After the sale of Zip2, Musk founded X.com, which later became PayPal, revolutionizing online payments and establishing him as a significant figure in the tech world.
- 🚗 Musk's motivation for creating Tesla was to prove that electric cars could be desirable, combining good looks, high performance, and long range, challenging the status quo of the automotive industry.
- 🚀 SpaceX was founded with the ambitious goal of making life multiplanetary, with Musk initially expecting a high likelihood of failure but driven by the potential impact on humanity's future.
- 🛤️ The Hyperloop is a concept for a new mode of transportation that Musk is developing, aiming to be as fast as the Concorde but on the ground, showcasing his penchant for rethinking existing systems.
- 💡 Musk's best ideas often come from moments of reflection, such as in the shower or during late-night ponderings, emphasizing the importance of giving space for creativity and innovation.
Q & A
Where was Elon Musk born and what were some of the places he lived in South Africa?
-Elon Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa, and he also lived in Johannesburg and Durban.
What was Elon Musk's initial goal as a child regarding moving to the United States?
-Elon Musk's initial goal as a child was to move to the United States because he believed it was where cool technology was happening.
What was Elon Musk's first computer and how much memory did it have?
-Elon Musk's first computer was the Commodore VIC-20, which had about 8K of memory.
What was Elon Musk's initial plan when he first moved to Silicon Valley?
-Elon Musk's initial plan was to get a job at Netscape, as he saw the internet as something that would change the world in a major way.
Why did Elon Musk decide to start his own company instead of working for an existing one?
-He decided to start his own company after not getting a reply from Netscape and realizing the potential of the internet to bring media companies online.
What was the name of the first company Elon Musk started with his brother and Greg Kouri?
-The first company they started was called Zip2.
What was the initial idea behind Zip2 and which companies did they help bring online?
-The initial idea behind Zip2 was to create software that could help bring media companies online, including companies like The New York Times, Hearst, and Knight Ridder.
How did Elon Musk approach the design process for Tesla cars?
-Elon Musk approached the design process by having weekly meetings with the design team to go over every nuance of the car, filtering against engineering needs, economic needs, and regulatory requirements.
What was Elon Musk's initial reaction to the idea of running two companies like SpaceX and Tesla?
-Elon Musk initially did not want to run both SpaceX and Tesla himself, as he saw it as a lot of work and thought about hiring CEOs for the day-to-day operations.
What advice does Elon Musk give to entrepreneurs regarding feedback?
-Elon Musk advises entrepreneurs to actively seek out and listen carefully to negative feedback, as it can provide valuable insights and help avoid common mistakes.
What is Elon Musk's approach to problem-solving and decision-making?
-Elon Musk's approach is to reason from first principles rather than by analogy, which involves breaking things down to the most fundamental truths and reasoning up from there.
What is Elon Musk's perspective on the cost of battery packs for electric cars?
-Elon Musk believes that battery packs can be made much cheaper than traditionally thought by analyzing the material constituents and their market value, and then finding clever ways to combine them into battery cells.
Outlines
🌏 Early Life and Aspirations
Elon Musk discusses his childhood in South Africa, his early interest in technology and comics, and his eventual move to the United States. He talks about his first computer, the Commodore vic-20, which sparked his interest in coding and creating games. The conversation touches on his initial uncertainty about his career path, his initial attempt to join Silicon Valley through education, and his realization of the internet's potential to change the world.
🚀 The Journey into Entrepreneurship
Musk narrates his transition from academia to entrepreneurship, starting with his first company, Zip2, which aimed to bring media companies online. He shares his experience as the CEO and the decision to step down after venture capital funding led to the hiring of a professional CEO. He reflects on the challenges of starting a company and the importance of seeking feedback from books and people around him, including biographies of influential figures like Benjamin Franklin.
🛠️ Ambitious Ventures in Technology and Space
Elon Musk explains his motivation behind taking on ambitious projects like Tesla and SpaceX. He thought deeply about the future of humanity and identified the internet, sustainable energy, and space exploration as key areas of impact. He shares his initial idea of a philanthropic mission to Mars and the evolution of SpaceX, despite the high risk of failure. The summary also includes his thoughts on General Motors' decision to discontinue the EV1 and the opportunity it presented for Tesla.
🔧 Overcoming Obstacles in Business and Design
Musk describes the challenges he faced while running two demanding companies, his decision to become the CEO of Tesla during a critical financial period, and his commitment to the company's survival. He discusses the iterative design process at Tesla, emphasizing the importance of attention to detail and the balance between aesthetics, engineering, and regulatory requirements. He also questions the design choices of other car companies and shares his philosophy on product design.
🚄 Visionary Concepts like Hyperloop
Elon Musk talks about his idea for the Hyperloop, a new mode of transportation that he compares to a ground-based Concorde. He discusses the process of refining the concept with the help of SpaceX and Tesla's engineering teams. The summary captures his creative process, attributing some of his best ideas to moments of reflection during showers or late-night contemplations, and his experience at Burning Man as a source of inspiration.
💡 Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
In the final paragraph, Musk offers advice for new entrepreneurs, emphasizing the importance of seeking and valuing negative feedback. He suggests that this approach helps to identify areas for improvement. Musk also advocates for reasoning from first principles rather than by analogy, using the example of battery costs to illustrate how challenging conventional wisdom can lead to innovation.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Entrepreneurs
💡Innovation
💡Sustainable Energy
💡Space Exploration
💡Internet
💡Commodore VIC-20
💡Zip2
💡PayPal
💡Hyperloop
💡First Principles
💡Negative Feedback
Highlights
Elon Musk's childhood in South Africa and his early fascination with technology and comic books.
Musk's aspiration to move to the United States due to its association with technological advancements.
His first computer, the Commodore vic-20, sparking his interest in coding and game creation at the age of 10.
Musk's initial uncertainty about his career path and his move to Silicon Valley for its internet potential.
The story of his first entrepreneurial venture, Zip2, aimed at bringing media companies online.
The transition from CEO to product direction role in his first company after VC funding.
Musk's approach to learning from books and seeking feedback from his surroundings rather than having a single mentor.
His admiration for historical figures like Benjamin Franklin and their impact on his entrepreneurial mindset.
Musk's reasoning for starting SpaceX, focusing on the future of humanity and the desire to make life multiplanetary.
The initial concept of a philanthropic mission to Mars involving a greenhouse project to excite the public about space exploration.
His decision to start Tesla Motors after seeing the failure of General Motors' EV1 project and the market need for sustainable energy solutions.
The challenges of running two demanding companies, SpaceX and Tesla, and Musk's eventual full commitment to Tesla during the financial crisis of 2008.
Musk's design philosophy at Tesla, emphasizing iterative improvement and attention to detail in car design.
His thoughts on the Hyperloop as a new mode of transportation, comparing it to a ground-based Concorde.
Musk's creative process, attributing his best ideas to subconscious thought and moments of inspiration like during a shower or at Burning Man.
His advice for entrepreneurs to actively seek out negative feedback and reason from first principles rather than by analogy.
An example of Musk's first principles reasoning applied to the cost of battery packs in electric cars.
Transcripts
welcome to foundation a show where we
profile some of the world's most
interesting entrepreneurs for more
episodes check out foundation kr today
we're talking to Elon Musk a founder at
Tesla SpaceX and PayPal let's go talk to
so let's start the beginning where'd you
grow up
I was born in South Africa Olivia I was
17 and then truck moved by myself
trigger the whole story oh I've got here
okay
very beginning sure so yeah it's born in
Pretoria South Africa lived it lived in
Johannesburg and Durban as well I was
able to travel to a few countries
growing up within Africa and around the
world went to the US when I was I don't
know tannish or something like that and
I read a lot of comics and books and
stuff and or seams and stuff and things
on technology and always seemed like
when there's cool technology or things
happening it was kind of in United
States so my goal as a kid was to try to
get to get to America basically what
were your favorite comics well I write I
read every comic in the store and I like
obviously the the Batman Superman stuff
I mean the green lanten Iron Man I got a
Nazi Iron Man first cousin people think
uh but I did think that was pretty cool
one and but I read everything like
Doctor Strange you know just if there
was a comic on the rack I read it
awesome
yeah and when did you decide to get into
computers of Technology did you started
coding or was it is it just a lot a lot
of construction can you still hear okay
okay so you start yeah so when I was
about 10 years old I was I went into
store in South Africa and saw a
Commodore vic-20 and Miss Piggy I was
nine years old and isomeric summer at
that time and I thought this is like you
know the most awesome thing I'd ever
seen and you could like make this write
computer programs and make games and I
played you know Atari and other things
for other games consoles when I was like
maybe six or seven
the idea of being able to like create
game stuff it was really exciting and so
I got that was my first computer is the
Commodore vic-20 I think it had like 8 K
of memory and then what led you into
entrepreneurship was it something that
you always knew that you want to be an
entrepreneur and start to start
something on your own or did you stumble
into it
yeah I know I wouldn't say that I always
knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur
I I actually wasn't sure what I wanted
to be to do growing up and I think at
one point I thought well I like
inventing stuff or creating things would
be a cool thing to do but I wasn't
really sure if that meant starting a
company or whether that meant working
for a company that made cool stuff and
in fact when I first came up to Silicon
Valley it was through a degress sighs at
Stanford in applied physics material
science and then I I saw this in 95 I
kind of thought the internet would be
something that would change the world in
a major way and I want to be part of it
and actually what I what I first try to
do was I try to get a job at Netscape so
I wouldn't actually try to start a
company I try to get a job at Netscape
and then let him work out now I didn't
get any I didn't get any reply so I I am
I mean I had a physics and economics
degree or physics and business degree
from Wharton and I was doing grad
studies and apply pest control science
and I I guess that you know I didn't
have a computer science degree or or
several years working at a software
company for whatever reason I didn't get
a reply from this gap and I actually
tried hanging out in the lobby but I was
I was too shy to talk to anyone so it's
just like studying the lobby and I and
then I could walk in did you have your
resume with you or was it yeah actually
it was pretty embarrassing I was just
sort of standing there trying to see if
there's someone I could talk to and then
I just couldn't I couldn't it was I was
too scared to talk to anyone so that
left amazing so then you went on to do
what from that point
I so now I just I was writing software
that summer and it got to the start of
the quarter for Stanford I had to make a
decision so I decided gone deferment so
I figure if I start a company and it
doesn't work then I can always go back
to grad school sure it's just you know
talk to the chairman of the department
and he let me go on deferment and I said
I'll probably be back in six months and
he said probably never going to hear
from me again and he was correct
I've never spoke to him since so so yeah
so sort of company with my brother and a
friend of mine
Greg Curry who and and the three of us
created zip to which where the initial
idea was to create software that could
help bring the media companies online so
we helped in a small way bring companies
like that like New York Times Hearst
Knight Ridder and and so forth bring
them online because they weren't
actually always online people don't
realize that well you the the CEO at the
time or did you give that role to
someone else yeah I started off being
the CEO so CEO for probably the first
year and then but but after we got VC
funding the venture capitalists wanted
to hire a professional CEO is that
frustrating or were you were you like I
just this is over my head I'm ready to
give up this role to someone else
I at the time I thought it was a good
idea because I don't really know what I
was doing and I figured they would hire
someone who'd be awake really good and
that person would increase the chances
of success the company and so that
seemed like a good thing and then I
could work on software and kind of
product direction and that's that's what
I like doing so that seemed like a great
thing in retrospect I think that that
wasn't the best thing because that the
person that was hired in my opinion was
actually not that great so
so I think yeah I mean I think quite
frankly the company succeeded in spite
of that person not because of them what
you know starting a company for the
first time is very challenging for a lot
of people they don't even know where to
begin you must have run into a lot of I
mean we all made mistakes is starting
our first company as far as hiring like
you said the people you bring in like
CEO the replaced you yeah
did you surround yourself with mentors
how did you who did you look to for
advice I read a lot of books and talked
to lots of people I didn't have any any
one person who was a mentor but I I
always look for feedback from from
people around me and feedback from
historical context so you know which is
books basically mm-hm
so that's any any book stand out is
something that was like something that
you really relied upon or well they're
just general business books or I don't
read actually very many journal business
books but I I like two biographies and
autobiographies I think those are pretty
helpful so I like and actually some
really business solo like something like
Franklin's both his autobiography and
say the biography that's recently been
written by a buyer or not that recently
but in I guess five or ten years ago in
and written the biography by Isaacson on
on the frankness really good and you can
sort of see how he kind of cuz he was an
entrepreneur I mean he sort of started
from nothing actually just like a
runaway kid basically and created his
running business and sort of how he went
about doing that and and then over time
go sit at science and politics so that I
would say certainly he's one of the
people I most admire like in Franklin is
pretty awesome but they're not I think
it's also worth reading books on
scientists and engineers Tesla obviously
you hear about that Tesla Museum that
they're having yeah I actually
contributed some funding to to save the
land oh that's great yeah awesome yeah
that's a very cool thing to oatmeal did
yeah but it was pretty cool I like I
like the way that they put it too
it looks like let's have a go dentist
Museum yeah tourism so so forward a
little bit you know you obviously did
PayPal that was very successful and then
at some point in time you're like I'm
gonna do something crazy something
that's never been done before with Tesla
and the space related stuff into yeah
why take on such huge very ambitious
type projects I mean did you have ever
have a feeling like this might not work
oh yeah absolutely well so this kind of
goes back to college where I start to
figure out what are the things that
would most affect the future of humanity
and the things that I thought would most
affect future would be that with the
Internet sustainable energy which is
both production and consumption and so
effectively Seoul the cities like
production Tesla's consumption in a
sustainable way and then also space
exploration and specifically making life
multiplanetary now I didn't expect at
the time to be involved in all those
areas but those just areas that I
thought would would most affect the
future and as it turned out I've been
fortunate enough to be involved in those
areas but that's the thread that
connects them it's like it's kind of my
best guess at what would most likely
affect the future it had been the
biggest way and and we're not when I
first thought about doing something in
space but the thing I was going to do
was actually going to be a kind of
philanthropic mission to to Mars to land
a small greenhouse in the surface of
Mars which was seeds and dehydrated
nutrient gel that you hydrate upon
landing you have this little greenhouse
on on Mars and you have this great shot
of green plants on a red background and
the public tester spent risk respond to
precedents and superlatives so I thought
that would people get people really
excited about setting life to Mars and
and my expectation when that project
would be 100 percent loss because you
know I wouldn't expect maybe you can
make a little bit back on advertising or
sponsorship or something but
but it would be essentially a complete
lungs so starting at a rocket company
was necessarily be have a greater what
likely outcome than 0% financial return
right but at the beginning of starting
SpaceX I thought that the most likely
outcome was failure and how about Tesla
Motors I walk me through your process of
wine one something like that yeah so in
terms of an electric car company the at
first I thought that there would be no
need to do an electric car company
startup because California regulations
basically forced General Motors to
create the bulbs or rather the ev1 I
should say so so when General has had
the ev1
I thought hey this is great biggest car
company the world is making electric car
told the ev1 that would apply if is
going to be an e b234 right you know and
they killed that project off that right
they did yeah and that was very unwise I
mean it's sort of really short-sighted I
think action I mean retrospect that
seems perhaps obvious but at the time
not only that they canceled the project
they forcibly removed the eveyone's that
they've given out and which they only
gave out on lease they removed them from
from customers against their wishes took
the cars and crushed them in a yard so
that they could never be used a game and
the the customers whose cars had been
taken away that tried legal action to
try to I try to sue General Motors to
keep their car they actually had a
candlelit vigil at the at the yard where
the cause got crushed and it's like you
know wins last time there's a candle at
vigil for for a product that's pretty
ridiculous right and let alone a General
Motors product I mean you have to be the
passion the limitation right if you yeah
actually pretty pretty tone-deaf to -
you don't need to run a customer's you
don't need to do a customer survey to
figure out that that that at least some
number of people what the cars if they
are treating it like somebody's being
sent as a dad only you know and yeah so
when I saw that I was like holy crap you
know something this is not going to
happen and so that will there really
needs to be a new car company that comes
in and shows that it can be done and the
key thing that needed to be done was to
show that you can make an electric car
that was good-looking
high performance long range and and then
if you made such a car that people would
buy it that they didn't have some
fundamental affinity for gasoline
so that's um what do you get started you
have the capital to obviously put into
something on your adventure but you know
you're sitting there and you're like
okay I want to do this like yeah but my
initial subway well my initial thought
was that I did not want to run to create
an electric car company and run it
myself because of running SpaceX and the
idea of running two companies that's a
lot of work and you know just like
imagine if somebody had to pretty
demanding jobs and they're not oh you
had one really demand job now you got to
do two of them it's you know it kind of
takes the fun away and you know it's
makes a pretty pretty arduous
yeah the social life goes away there's
something else so something's got to
give yeah so my initial thought was okay
I'll I'll hire some people and work work
with a team and I'll work I'll just sort
of work on the park design and so make
it overall strategy or something but
I'll leave the day-to-day operations to
a CEO that I'd hire so unfortunately
that didn't work out I actually tried
hiring a couple of CEOs and I guess I
don't know I couldn't find the right
person and and so Inuk then came to 2008
I was kind of co-ceo from 2007 in 2007
2000
eight while while trying to bring up you
know as some other people up to speed
and then when the market fell apart this
is the financial market elrod and the
Connery called Parton in 2008 and I had
a choice of like basically commit all of
my remaining resources to Tesla or it's
going to die for sure and I thought okay
if I'm going to do that then I got a
bike the bullets and run the company
because it's just too much at stake
you know if got all your chips on on the
table you've got to play the hand
yourself yeah why do you why do other
car companies just really suck like a
lot of their designs are horrible but
they're not going to consumers there's
no like your to seem like obviously bad
I mean oh yeah they seem obviously
almost I look at them and you're the
first company I feel has that kind of
Apple ask a design aesthetic you know
like right why do other car companies
just make horrible looking cars the
outside blows my mind I don't know how
to it because it just seems like you
know you can take a body panel and you
can stamp it with that shape with this
shape or that shape and yet they chose
they choose to do the bad shape but it
costs the same either way right I mean
there are some things that cost a little
more in terms of the quality materials
and the you know you're getting things
really to fit accurately and so the few
things that cost more of a lot of it
doesn't you can make an ugly expensive
car you can making you know a
good-looking expensive car and actually
the same goes oh I think you can make a
affordable good-looking car or or an
ugly looking car and I think the cost
differences are really actually
relatively small and I mean I I don't
know it just I think maybe there's some
of logic all-comers just trapped in
there within their own history did you
do like did you have focus groups where
you decide on the decision or was it
very much I like the way that looks
let's go with that no it's just
literally just a series of weekly
iterations
with with the design team hmm ah so just
there every every Friday afternoon I
meet with the fronts and the design team
and we go over the every nuance of the
car every every bumper every curve every
little tiny piece of the car what's
right what's wrong and then that has to
be filtered against you know the
engineering needs and the economic needs
and regulatory requirements so it's a
really there's a lot of constraints yeah
and you can't just make a car any old
shape you want and still achieve it meet
all the regulatory requirements b5 stock
crash safe and all that sir
I just requires a lot of iterative
activity and caring about every
millimeter of the car and that's that's
or results a good product so I know we
have limited time I want to jump towards
the future talk to me about this
Hyperloop I think um yeah so the the
Hyperloop III I need to set aside some
time to actually write down some of the
details and I want to make sure that I
don't say something completely stupid so
hey some I'm I'm spending time with the
both the SpaceX aerodynamics team and
the Tesla rep nameks team just to make
sure that whatever whatever I put out
there really will work we're talking
train here or is this just an
alternative something that we haven't
thought of before
yeah I think it's it's genuinely it
would genuinely be a new mode of
transport hmm since I'm maybe a I think
the one way to think of it is like it's
it's kind of like a ground-based Concord
Wow like if you could make something go
as fast as a Concord on the ground how
would you do that right would you
require rails in that sense or I mean is
it just you'll see no actually I think
rails I'm not needed awesome yeah so I
mean do you have a lot of ideas like
this is where you have a schedule or
ideas then you know - time to implement
yeah I think so is it something where
where do you come up with your best
ideas are you on vacation are you kind
of just like in the middle of the night
you wake up and start drawing things
down or oh you know this sounds really
cliche but like the shower is probably
like you know wake up and go shower in
the morning and I think actually what's
really happened is kind of stuff is
populated in the subconscious right and
it's not really occurring the shower but
you're kind of getting the results of
last night's you know computation
basically right and then sometimes it's
it's a late at night if I can't sleep
and there's something bothering me then
it'll occur then and it went one one key
idea for a super sonic vertical takeoff
and landing electric plane it could to
me at Burning Man a lot of good ideas
came out of burning yeah exactly
absolutely so suddenly it's a very very
creative place so so yes yes that's a
shower Burning Man awesome
one last question I always ask of
everyone that I interview for the new
entrepreneurs are just getting started
out there what's one piece of advice
that you would always recommend to an
entrepreneur something that you've
learned over the years that they can
take with them in their new venture and
then something you'd completely avoid
like something that you really screwed
up on that you'd never do again um okay
sure so I think in terms of advice I
think it's very important to to seek out
to actively seek out and listen very
carefully to negative feedback and this
is something that people tend to avoid
because it's painful yeah but but I
think this is a very common mistake is
to to not actively seek out
and listen to negative feed but do you
do that you go into forums you go into
Twitter like what are your areas where
you go to look for feedback on let's say
the Tesla well it's like everyone I talk
to is in fact when when friends get a
product I say look I don't tell me what
you like tell me what you don't like
right and and because otherwise your
friend is not going to tell you what he
doesn't like right this kid is going to
say oh I love this and that and then and
leave out the this is the stuff I don't
like list because he wants to be your
friend one you know it doesn't want to
offend you so so you really need to to
sort of coax negative feedback and you
should you know that if somebody's your
is your friend or at least not your
enemy and they're giving you negative
feedback then that may be wrong but it's
coming from a good place and sometimes
even your enemies could be a good
negative feedback yeah only so so I
think that's important
pihl's just feel like positive feedback
like water off a duck's back that's like
you know really underweight that and
overweight negative feedback and then I
think it's also important to reason from
first principles rather than by analogy
so the normal way that we conduct our
lives is we we we reason by analogy it's
we're doing this because it's like
something else that was done or it's
like what other people are doing me to
type ideas yeah it's like yeah slight
iteration yeah on a theme and and and
it's because it's it's it's kind of
mentally easier to reason by analogy
rather than from first principles but by
first principles is kind of a physics
way of looking at the world and what
that really means is you kind of boil
things down to the most fundamental
truths and and say okay what do we sure
is true or sure as possible is true and
then reason up from there that takes a
lot more mental energy you an example
that like what's one thing that you've
done that on that you feels work for you
sure so somebody could say in fact
people do that battery packs are really
expensive and that's just the way
they'll always be because that's the way
they've been in the past you're like
well no that's that's pretty dumb you
know because if if you apply that
reasoning to anything new that then you
wouldn't be able to ever get to that new
thing right so you know it's like you
can't say oh you know horses
nobody wants a car because horses are
great and we're used to them and they
can eat grass there's lots of grass all
over the place and you know there's not
like a there's no gasoline if you
booking by so people are never going to
it never get ever going to get parts
right the people did say that and and
for batteries they would say oh it's
going to cost you know the historically
its cost six $600 $600 per kilowatt hour
and so it's not going to be much better
than that in the future and you say no
okay what what are the batteries made of
so the first principles would be say
okay what are the material constituents
of the batteries
what is the spot market value of the
material constituents so you can say
okay it's got cobalt nickel aluminum
carbon and some polymers for separation
and steel can so break that down on a
material basis and say okay what if we
bought that in london metal exchange
what would each of those things cost
like oh jeez it's like eighty dollars
per kilowatt hour so clearly you just
need to think of clever ways to take
those materials and combine them into
the shape of a battery cell and you can
have batteries that are much much
cheaper than anyone realizes is that
your big challenge at Tesla is is
battery yeah it's it's the single
biggest item but it's right now it is
not it's not it's not any kind of
obstacle to us it did a whole bunch of
little issues that are kind of trivial
that are challenges when you're making a
new product because there are several
thousand unique
in the car 90% of them are fine 5% them
are slightly problematic 3% of 4% are
problematic and 1% are extremely
problematic but you cannot ship a car
that is 99% complete it's not like
software you can just stable
functionality but with a car you know
you can't ship it without like a
steering wheel or like without backseat
or something like that yeah well thanks
for being on the show you're a huge
inspiration to a lot of entrepreneurs
out there so I know they're gonna enjoy
this and thanks for having us in your
factory here going awesome so it's good
thanks thanks coming back
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