Elon Musk and Kevin Rose

Summary

In 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

00:00

🌏 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.

05:04

🚀 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.

10:06

🛠️ 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.

15:06

🔧 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.

20:07

🚄 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.

25:07

💡 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.

Keywords

💡Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are individuals who create new businesses, bearing the risks to innovate and bring new ideas to the market. In the video, Elon Musk is profiled as an entrepreneur, discussing his ventures such as Tesla, SpaceX, and PayPal. His journey from South Africa to the United States and his ventures exemplify the entrepreneurial spirit of identifying opportunities and pursuing them relentlessly.

💡Innovation

Innovation refers to the process of translating an idea or invention into a good or service that creates value or for which customers will pay. Elon Musk's ventures are highlighted as innovative, particularly in the fields of electric vehicles and space exploration. His approach to innovation is evident in his emphasis on creating sustainable energy solutions and advancing space travel.

💡Sustainable Energy

Sustainable energy is derived from natural resources that are replenished at the rate they are consumed, such as solar, wind, and hydro. In the script, Musk discusses the importance of sustainable energy for the future of humanity, with Tesla focusing on electric cars that reduce reliance on fossil fuels, aligning with the theme of environmental sustainability.

💡Space Exploration

Space exploration is the investigation and examination of outer space, including the physical and political aspects. Musk's SpaceX is dedicated to making life multiplanetary, which is a central theme in the video. His ambition to colonize Mars and the development of rockets for space travel exemplify the concept of pushing the boundaries of human exploration.

💡Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that provides a variety of information and communication facilities. Musk mentions the Internet as a transformative technology that he believed would change the world when he first moved to Silicon Valley. His early ventures, including Zip2 and PayPal, were Internet-based businesses.

💡Commodore VIC-20

The Commodore VIC-20 is an early home computer that played a significant role in popularizing personal computers in the early 1980s. Musk's interest in technology began with the Commodore VIC-20, which he saw in a store in South Africa. This computer sparked his fascination with coding and game development, laying the foundation for his future in technology.

💡Zip2

Zip2 is the name of the company that Musk co-founded with his brother, which provided business directories and maps for newspapers. It represents Musk's first foray into entrepreneurship and the Internet industry. The company's goal was to help media companies transition online, which was a key concept in the early days of the Internet.

💡PayPal

PayPal is an online payment service that allows money transfers and payments to be sent electronically. Musk was involved in the founding of what would become PayPal, which revolutionized online transactions. The success of PayPal is a key part of Musk's entrepreneurial story and his impact on the digital economy.

💡Hyperloop

The Hyperloop is a proposed mode of passenger and freight transportation, which Musk describes as a ground-based Concorde in the video. It is an innovative concept that aims to transport people or goods at high speeds within a low-pressure tube. The Hyperloop represents Musk's continued pursuit of disruptive transportation technologies.

💡First Principles

First principles reasoning is a philosophical and scientific method of questioning that breaks down complex problems into their fundamental truths. Musk advises entrepreneurs to reason from first principles rather than by analogy. This approach is exemplified in his analysis of battery costs, where he breaks down the material constituents to understand their true value and potential for innovation.

💡Negative Feedback

Negative feedback is information that points out faults or areas for improvement. Musk emphasizes the importance of seeking out and valuing negative feedback, as it can provide insights that lead to better products and services. He suggests that entrepreneurs should actively listen to this feedback, even though it can be uncomfortable, as it is crucial for growth and innovation.

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