Elon Musk

Ashlee Vance

📚 GENRE: Biographies & Memoirs

📃 PAGES: 416

✅ COMPLETED: January 29, 2020

🧐 RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Short Summary

Ashlee Vance gives terrific insight into the brilliant and difficult character of one of today’s most innovative and polarizing figures. Featuring details of his turbulent private life and early ambitions, Vance details Elon Musk’s entrepreneurial journey, from dropping out of graduate school at Stanford to start Zip2 to steering Tesla and SpaceX.

Key Takeaways

1️⃣ Be Relentless — Musk has endured quite a bit to get where he’s at today. He has been on the brink of losing Tesla and SpaceX several times, but has always found a way to push through adversity. He also nearly died after contracting malaria in Africa. There are times when you just have to dig deep and persevere through things. 

2️⃣ Dream Big — Musk’s ultimate goal is to build SpaceX to a point where the company is capable of shuttling humans to Mars. This dream is what drives him. You can never aim too high. Decide what you want to accomplish and chip away at it every day until you get there.

3️⃣ Work REALLY Hard — As smart and innovative as he is, Musk has carried out his vision through a lot of hard work. His early days creating companies like Zip2 and Paypal wouldn’t have been possible without a lot of long hours. Work hard and make sure you’re taking ownership of whatever it is you’re tasked with. Try to be the best you can be. 

Favorite Quote

"What Musk would not tolerate were excuses or the lack of a clear plan of attack."

Book Notes 📑

Chapter 1

  • Elon Musk wanted control over this book with footnotes. 
    • He ultimately allowed Ashlee Vance access to him, his executives, and family for the book.
  • At SpaceX headquarters near Los Angeles, Musk has two posters of Mars — one as Mars is today and one of Mars as Elon sees it in the future. 
  • Musk has stated that his life purpose is to have humanity exist on Mars.
  • Many of Musk’s ideas seem unrealistic, but in 2012 his companies started to succeed.
    • SpaceX flew a supply capsule to the international space station.
    • Tesla Motors delivered the Model S.
    • Solar City — a solar energy company that Musk was the top shareholder and chairman of — went to an IPO.
  • SpaceX headquarters are in Hawthorne, California, where Musk is building many rockets from scratch. 
    • SpaceX is made up of several big factories that used to be run by Boeing.
  • Mask is confident, but doesn’t always show it. He’s kind of shy, awkward.
    • He’s very smart and expects you to keep up.
  • Tesla also used to work out of SpaceX headquarters.
    • Musk likes to wander around the buildings, collecting information from people.
  • Innovation is a finite resource. It has become harder and harder to come up with life-changing inventions because most of the big ones have already been discovered.
    • Twitter, Facebook are the new-age inventions.
    • This is why Musk is unique in today’s world. He’s always innovating.
  • Fresh out of college, Musk founded ‘Zip Two’ in 1995. It was a big success.
    • It was later bought for $307 million in 1999. Musk pocketed $22 million. 
  • Musk then poured the $22 million into creating PayPal. 
    • eBay later bought it for $1.5 billion in 2002. 
  • Musk then poured $100 million into creating SpaceX, $70 million into Tesla, $10 million into Solar City.
  • Musk’s companies try to reinvent the conventional norms of their industries. He has gained enemies because of this. 
    • SpaceX rockets are designed to take payloads, people to space while returning back to launch safely.
    • Tesla sells cars over the Internet, eliminating the need for gas, and eliminating the need for maintenance trips (oil changes, tune ups, etc.)
      • Selling over the web also hurts dealerships.
  • Musk net worth – $10 billion as of this book.
  • Part of what has driven Musk and his success has been his purpose and vision to put people on Mars and help the planet.
  • Tesla headquarters in Palo Alto, California. Factory in Fremont, California.
  • Musk has five kids. He lost one infant son.
  • Musk’s companies combine software with physical things. His background is in software engineering.
    • Ex. Tesla — These cars are like a car connected to an iPad. 

Chapter 2

  • 1971 — Musk was born in South Africa
  • Musk first began to make waves at 12 years old after creating a video game by himself. 
    • The game was covered by a South African magazine.
  • Musk made it to the United States in his 20s. 
  • Musk’s family has a lot of chiropractors in it. 
  • Musk’s grandparents flew planes. 
    • His family was from Canada originally before moving to South Africa.
    • His grandpa died in a plane accident.
  • Musk has two siblings — a brother and a sister.
  • As a kid, Musk used to block everything out. His parents and doctor thought he was deaf, but he wasn’t. He got picked on by other kids for this behavior. 
    • His mind is described as very visual. He has a photographic memory.
  • Musk used to read a ton and still does. 
    • He was very smart and got teased for this. He often corrected people.
  • Musk’s dad was an engineer and made good money. His parents ended up divorcing.
    • Musk ended up wanting to live with his dad because he felt sorry for him. While living with him, Musk helped his dad with engineering projects. 
    • His dad was not very well-liked by the rest of the family. He was a nutcase. 
  • Musk was bullied a lot in high school, to the point where he ended up changing schools.
  • Musk later moved to Canada because he wanted it to be a pitstop on his way to the United States eventually. 
    • He also wanted to avoid South Africa’s required military service. 
    • Ultimately, South Africa just didn’t have the best opportunities for entrepreneurs like Musk. 

Chapter 3

  • Musk worked odd jobs in Canada while getting his feet under him. 
  • Musk attended Queens University in Canada. He started to find his stride in all areas while he was in college. 
  • Musk is very intense in everything he does and it tends to stand out.
  • 1992 — Musk transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League school. 
    • He earned a bachelor’s degree in physics. Also earned a bachelor’s degree in economics. 
      • He wrote a great paper on energy, physics, and business for one of his classes.
  • In the paper, he identified the Internet, renewable energy, and space as the three areas where he could make the most impact and pursue impactful projects.

Chapter 4

  • While in college, Musk held down multiple internships in Silicon Valley in the summers.
  • Musk later enrolled at Stanford University to pursue a post-graduate doctoral degree in physics.
    • He dropped out after two days to pursue a business with his brother Kimbel. 
  • 1995 — Together, the brothers started ‘Zip2’, in Palo Alto California.
    • ‘Zip2’ created a searchable directory of businesses and tied it into Maps.
    • Elon did the coding, Kimbel did the sales.
    • The brothers lived at the office. They ate four times a day at Jack-In-The-Box. 
  • Mosque was told by some businesses that advertising on the Internet is, “the dumbest thing ever.”
    • ‘Zip2’ began growing. Musk was beginning to gain confidence.
  • 1999 — ‘Zip2’ was bought out at $399 million by Compact Computers.

Chapter 5

  • Musk then started X.com – a financial services company on the web.
    • He put most of his money into this. Risky. 
    • Musk saw a flaw in the financial services industry. He wanted to exploit it.
      • The idea of having to go to a teller at a bank seemed absurd given the capabilities of the Internet.
      • The big risk with this company was that you are handling people’s sensitive banking information online, where hackers could cause issues.
  • At this point, Musk was a bit of a celebrity and full of confidence. 
  • X.com cofounder butted heads with Musk, eventually taking most of the employees to start their own company because they did not like him.
  • X.com became PayPal. There were no overdraft penalties with PayPal.
  • Person-to-person transfers were made via email. This was revolutionary.
  • More fights over various elements of the company led X.com leadership and employees to try to push Musk out of the company.
    • As Musk was boarding a plane for his honeymoon, they sent letters of no confidence to the x.com board.
    • Musk was replaced as CEO and became an advisor. 
    • Musk continued investing and supporting the company despite everything that had happened. 
  • In July 2002, eBay offered $1.6 billion for PayPal.
    • Musk got $250 million.
    • Lots of drama happened after the sale. The media turned on Musk.
  • Musk almost died after contracting malaria while traveling in Africa.

Chapter 6

  • Musk moved from Northern California to Los Angeles. His obsession with space had a lot to do with the move. 
  • Musk started an organization called The Life to Mars.
    • Scientists showed up to the organization’s meetings.
    • Musk and his team wanted to send mice to space as a test. 
      • The goal quickly changed to sending a rocket with a robotic greenhouse to space instead. The goal was to shoot a rocket to Mars, have it open briefly to receive Martian soil, which would create a plant. This would produce the first oxygen on Mars.
        • Engineering and money issues were an obstacle.
        • Contamination issues against NASA rules was also a problem. 
  • 2001 — Musk and two others went to Russia to buy a rocket to accomplish this mission.
    • People close to Musk started to think he was going crazy.
    • Russians told the group it would cost $8 million each for one rocket.
      • Musk countered before eventually leaving the meeting.
  • Musk decided to build his own rocket.
  • 2002 — Space Exploration Technologies was born. Musk bought a big factory and headquarters in El Segundo, California.
    • The company builds its own engines for cheap. It contacts suppliers for other components.
    • Falcon I was the first rocket built. It was scheduled for launch in late 2003.
  • Mary Beth Brown was hired as Musk’s assistant. She was basically Pepper Potts to Iron Man. 
  • Musk is sometimes very moody. He has a tendency to anger employees and other people. 
  • SpaceX targeted Omelek Island between Hawaii and Guam for launchpad.
    • Part of the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
  • Multiple attempts to launch failed. 
  • 2006 — Falcon I launched. 
    • Blew up in midair shortly after lunch.
  • 2007 — Falcon I re-launch. 
    • It went better, but didn’t reach orbit.

Chapter 7

  • 2003 — J.B. Straubel and Elon Musk meet.
    • Straubel had designed an electric car idea. Musk was intrigued.
      • The lithium ion battery had come a long way over the years.
  • Very difficult to start a startup car company.
    • The last successful one in the US was Chrysler in 1925.
    • Money and no how are the two biggest issues.
  • Nikolai Tesla created an electric motor a century earlier. Tesla founders believed getting the power from the motor to the wheels was doable.
  • After researching the auto industry, Tesla founders realized that the big car companies no longer build their own cars like Henry Ford used to do.
    • Instead, they get their parts from suppliers.
  • Tesla decided to sell direct, rather than going through dealerships.
  • 2004 — Tesla founders, who had an electric motor and attractive car body, went out seeking investors. 
    • Their car accelerated faster than a Ferrari, which was attractive to investors. 
    • Tesla founders needed $7 million to make a prototype to show off.
    • The small thing they showed off to investors looked like crap. Motor was awesome though.
  • Tesla founders eyed Musk as a lead investor.
    • They pitched it to Musk, who agreed to invest.
    • Musk wanted to get away from dependency on oil, and use solar/electricity instead. 
    • Musk invested $6.5 million into Tesla, and became its biggest shareholder and chairman.
  • Tesla founders really didn’t know what they were doing. They had knowledge that the 18-650 lithium ion battery was really good and would get better. 
  • Tesla began hiring engineers to design models of the power train and battery pack prototypes.
    • The battery pack usually consisted of 7,000 lithium ion batteries. It was loaded into the back of the car.
  • 2005 — Tesla‘s first prototype completed.
    • Musk was impressed. He invested another $9 million.
  • Big early issue — If the batteries got too hot, they would catch fire. Car would catch fire. 
  • Musk had a big influence on the design and style of the car. 
  • Musk put another $12 million into Tesla, along with several other big donors to make up $40 million from investments in this round.
  • Tesla started to make waves in 2005 and 2006.
    • Company set prices for the original Roadster very high. 
    • Other, cheaper models were to be made available a few years later.
  • Musk’s suggestions kept delaying the Roadster’s release.
    • This caused friction between founders and Musk because Musk wasn’t working on Tesla every day like they were. They wanted to release the Roadster and felt that it was ready. 
  • Tesla engineers created a two-speed transmission.
    • Transmission transfers energy from the motor to the wheels.
      • First gear — 0-60 mph.
      • Second gear — 60-130 mph.
  • Tesla’s transmissions could not handle the transition from 1st to 2nd gear very well.
    • This was causing damage to the car.
    • The transmission issues set the Roadster release back significantly.
  • Other manufacturing issues also hurt the company.
    • Musk began to get concerned over the company’s leadership.
  • Musk called for an investigation. It was bad.
    • The investigation found that it was costing Tesla $200,000 to make one Roadster. They were selling each Roadster for $85,000.
    • Three out of every four cars were not working properly because of the manufacturing issues.
  • After the investigation, Musk and others began to question Tesla CEO Martin Eberhard.
  • 2007 — Eberhard is demoted. He later left the company. He was not happy.
    • Eberhard and Musk continue to hate each other and battle each other today. 
  • Tesla realized that the two-speed transmission wasn’t going to work.
    • They had to switch to a one-speed transmission. This required significant changes to the motor and overall design of the car.
  • The new CEO was a specialist in manufacturing. He actually wanted Tesla to merge with a bigger company because it was so messed up at the time.
    • Musk disagreed.
  • 2008 — Tesla was running out of money quickly.
    • Tesla needed more investment money, but the company‘s reputation was at an all-time low because of the manufacturing issues.
    • The recession of 2007-08 was also happening. 

Chapter 8

  • Musk was inspiration for Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man character.
    • Musk was beginning to become more of a celebrity.
  • Musk became worried about his money issues with Tesla and SpaceX failing repeatedly.
    • The media also began to turn on him.
  • 2008 — Musk designed the Falcon 9 and had a successful test fire in Texas. Nine engines are on the Falcon 9. 
    • In the same year, the Falcon 1 had another launch that failed. It was the third failed attempt for the Falcon 1.
  • On the fourth attempt, instead of transporting the body of the Falcon 1 to the island via ship, Musk rented a military chopper to do it. 
    • The flight went horribly and the body of the rocket was damaged on its way to the island. 
      • The estimated repair time was three months. But they fixed it much faster than that.
  • 2008 — Fourth launch of the Falcon 1.
    • It was successful. The rocket reached orbit.
    • The Falcon 1 became the first ever privately made machine to reach orbit.
      • The process took six years.
  • Musk eventually became CEO of Tesla.
  • Late 2008 — Tesla desperately needed more money. Musk begged friends for investments.
    • He somehow raised $20 million of his own money and begged existing investors to match that.
    • He got the money he needed on Christmas Eve, 2008. Tesla would’ve had to file for bankruptcy hours later.
    • Musk’s personal fortune was down to a couple hundred thousand dollars at this point.
  • December 23, 2008 — NASA gives SpaceX $1.6 billion payment for 12 flights to the space station.
    • This grant single-handily saved SpaceX.
  • 2008 was the toughest year ever for Musk.

Chapter 9

  • SpaceX sends a rocket into space about once per month, sending supplies and other stuff to the international space station.
  • Falcon 1 = Work of a startup.
    • Falcon 9 = Work of an aerospace superstar.
  • SpaceX makes its rockets for cheaper than its competition – Boeing, Lockheed Martin.
    • SpaceX makes all of its parts from scratch in the United States. Its rivals by parts from Russia and other countries.
  • SpaceX has become the United States best and most consistent option for space endeavors.
    • The United States makes 1/3 of all satellites that are sent to space, and collects 60% of all revenue.
      • China and Russia collect the rest.
    • The Shuttle Bus was retired, so Russia had control over getting people to the international space station.
      • They charge $70 million per person to do this.
      • SpaceX may eventually be able to do this for cheap and not allow Russia to control the market so much.
  • Musk developing rockets that will come back to the launchpad safely, accurately rather than getting destroyed in the ocean. They will be a reusable rocket.
    • This would significantly lower costs. 
    • There are a lot of skeptics that this is even possible.
  • SpaceX is on its way to becoming the leading commercial space travel company in the world.
    • This is all because of low costs. Musk wants to make space travel so cheap that eventually thousands of rockets can be sent to Mars with people and supplies.
  • Friction Stir Welding is used a lot at SpaceX. It allows the company to manufacture its own parts.
    • It’s a process of combining two thin sheets of metal.
    • Other companies are trying to copy this.
    • It allows SpaceX to shave a lot of weight off the rockets.
  • Musk is known for demanding impossible deadlines and long hours of his employees.
  • Quote: “What Musk would not tolerate were excuses or the lack of a clear plan of attack.”
  • Dragon, a capsule project, costed $300 million.
  • June 2010 — Falcon 9 launched into space and orbited earth successfully.
  • December 2010 — Falcon 9 launched and carried the Dragon capsule, which can land safely in the ocean and be recovered.
  • 2012 — SpaceX successfully sends a Dragon resupply capsule to the international space station.
    • NASA grants SpaceX $440 million to keep developing the Dragon.
  • Dragon 2 was later revealed. It was much improved. The Dragon 2 was able to safely land on the ground after its mission.

Chapter 10

  • 2012 — Tesla Model S sedan is released.
    • Can travel more than 300 miles on a single charge.
    • 0–60 in 4.2 seconds.
    • Touchscreen, retractable car handles, Internet, rechargeable. 
  • Tesla cars are not sold at dealerships. They are sold online or through Tesla’s own shops.
  • Glitches and issues were solved by software updates via Internet.
    • Tesla turned car into a gadget with these frequent software updates.
    • Described as “computer on wheels.”
  • Tesla vehicles were viewed by the traditional market as a gimmick at first.
    • Tesla owners were fairly rare, but started to become more frequent.
  • November 2012 — Tesla Model S named Motor Trend Car of the Year.
    • Unanimous vote. First ever. The Tesla Model S beat out a lot of other high-class cars.
      • Tesla sales and stock price soared.
  • 2007 — The Roadster, Tesla‘s original car, was still dealing with issues. Musk did not want to wait to figure it out, he wanted to create the “white star”, which became the Model S.
    • Tesla engineers test drove the Mercedes CLS. They bought it.
      • The engineers used the CCS body as a starting point for creating the model and body design.
      • They tore it up, essentially making a Tesla Model S in the Mercedes CLS body. 
  • 2008 — Tesla recruits experienced designer Franz von Holzhausen from Mazda.
    • He has designed basically every Tesla car.
    • The Model S has Aston Martin, Porsche influences in the design.
  • Musk wanted an aluminum body for the Model S.
    • This had never been done before.
  • He also wanted a big touchscreen in the car. This had also never been done before.
  • 2008 — Tesla unveils the Model S in a media event at SpaceX.
    • The problem was that it was essentially a prop used to show off the car design.
      • To make the car actually work, Tesla needed to get a lot more resources and people. The issue with that was that they were still close to bankruptcy at this point.
  • 2009 — Tesla starts to collect some money through big investments and starts to take off.
    • They also got a government loan, which was big and very significant.
  • 2010 — Tesla acquires a factory.
    • General Motors and Toyota joined forces to create a few cars and bought a factory. When the 2008 recession hit, both companies bailed on the partnership.
    • Tesla bought the factory from GM and Toyota for $42 million. This factory was once worth $1 billion.
      • Tesla also received a $50 million investment from Toyota for 2.5% of the company.
        • This was a big steal for Tesla. It helped them a lot. 
  • Summer 2010 — Tesla prepares for an IPO.
    • Musk originally didn’t want to do it because he would have to give up some control of the company. He had past issues with doing this at Zip2 and X.com.
      • But Tesla desperately needed cash inflow so they did it.
  • June 29, 2010 — Tesla went public, raising $29 million.
    • Tesla became the first car company to go public since Ford in 1959. 
  • 2012 — Tesla Model S is released.
    • Tesla had thousands of orders but could only produce 10 cars per week at first.
  • 2012 — Tesla began to develop charging stations.
    • Tesla software can tell you where the closest charging station is. 
    • This was considered risky because Tesla was already hurting on cash, resources, and time.
  • Tesla’s batteries are a competitive advantage.
    • Performance is superior compared to other companies because Tesla developed a unique way of linking the cells together in the battery.
    • Battery cells are designed to vent heat in a specific way.
    • Coolant runs through the entire battery pack.
    • Tesla designed their batteries from the ground up.
    • The way the batteries are designed allow Tesla cars to charge very quickly compared to other companies.
    • Radiators and chillers cool the batteries and chargers as they operate.
    • Chargers can charge 150 miles of range in 20 minutes.
      • By comparison, the Nissan Leaf charges 80 miles in eight hours.
  • 2013 — Tesla in crisis. The company had a ton of reservations for its cars, but very few purchases.
    • The factory did not have enough orders to push out. The factory was sitting idle.
    • Musk told employees to get on the phone with people who reserved cars and close the deal
      • “If we don’t deliver these cars, we’re fucked.” — Musk to employees. 
  • Musk guaranteed a specific sales price for Tesla owners who might want to sell their car in the future.
    • Setting this future sales price was meant to convince people to buy a Tesla. They had a locked in and guaranteed sales price they could fall back on if they later wanted to sell the car. 
  • The lack of orders resulted in Musk shutting down the factory briefly.
    • Musk told the media it was for maintenance reasons.
  • The situation was so bad, Musk struck a handshake deal with the Google CEO to sell Tesla to Google.
    • Before the official deal was in place, a stream of purchases came flooding in.
      • Tesla ended up having a huge first quarter in 2013.
        • This stunned Wall Street.
        • May 8, 2013 — Tesla posted a profit of $11 million. It was the first profitable quarter for the company since it went public in 2010.
        • Tesla stock went from $30 per share to $130 per share.
        • These events allowed Tesla to pay back a $465 million loan to the government.
  • Tesla cars have a regenerative braking system.
    • In stop and go situations, the car will kick the motor into reverse via software to slow down the wheels instead of using brake pads and friction to slow the wheels.
      • The Tesla motor generates electricity during this process, sending that energy to the battery.
      • This process results in better mileage and battery life in the city.
  • Tesla technically is a car, energy, technology company.

Chapter 11

  • 2012 — Solar City goes public.
  • 2014 — Solar City valued at $7 billion.
  • Tesla Model 3 – Started at $35,000.
  • Tesla needs a huge supply of batteries to make its large supply of cars.
  • 2014 — Musk announces ‘The Giga Factory.’
    • It is the world’s largest lithium ion battery facility. There are multiple facilities.
    • With Tesla building its own batteries in these facilities, the company is able to manufacture cheaper batteries than if the it looked to get the batteries from some other outside company. 
    • There are Giga Factories in Nevada and China.
  • There are a few reasons other big car companies have not tried to compete with their own electric cars.
    • First, they would have to buy current, bulky batteries not designed by Tesla. These batteries are far worse than what Tesla manufactures.
    • Secondly, it would take years to just develop a good battery to use in the car.
    • Third, other companies would not be able to get their hands on enough batteries to compete.
      • This battery supply issue is why Musk has Giga Factories making batteries so Tesla never runs out of supply. 
      • It would likely take 6 or 7 years for another company to make a Giga Factory like Tesla’s.
  • Making humans in inter-planetary species remains Musk’s top goal.
    • 2025 — Musk hopes to have created a spaceship capable of taking supplies and people to Mars.