New Delhi: Elon Musk is an entrepreneur and a co-founder of PayPal, Tesla Motors and Space Exploration Technologies. He is the CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX, and chairman of SolarCity, the leading residential solar provider in the U.S.Termed as new “Steve Jobs” in the US, Musk was born and grew up in South Africa. His father is a South African engineer and his mother a dietitian and model. His love for technology started at age 10 when his father bought his first computer. And at the age of 12 he sold his first commercial software, a space game called Blaster. Musk emigrated to Canada in June 1989 at age 17. He left Canada in 1992 after getting a scholarship to study business and physics at the University of Pennsylvania. He earned an undergraduate degree in economics and stayed on another year to finish a second bachelor's degree in physics.In 1995, he moved to California to enroll in a graduate program in high energy physics at Stanford, in which he stayed just two days before dropping out to start Zip2, which provided online content publishing software for news organizations. In 1999, Compaq's AltaVista division acquired Zip2 for $307 million in cash and $34 million in stock options.Then in March 2002, he co-founded X.com, a financial services and email payments company. One year later, X.com acquired Confinity. In February 2001, X.com changed its legal name to PayPal. In October 2002, PayPal was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in stock. In June 2002, Musk founded his third company, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), of which he is currently the CEO and CTO. SpaceX develops rockets and spacecrafts for missions to Earth orbit and beyond. Musk served as chief engineer for Falcon 1, the first privately developed liquid-fueled rocket to reach orbit, as well as falcon 9 and the Dragon spacecraft. In 2008 SpaceX won a NASA contract to replace the cargo transport function of the space shuttle with Falcon 9 and Dragon.In addition he is also the owner and Chairman of the Board of Tesla Motors, which builds a high-end luxury electric vehicle. He is also the primary investor and Chairman of the Board of SolarCity, a photovoltaics products and services startup company. Here are some of best quotes by Elon Musk: I think that's the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself. I've actually made a prediction that within 30 years a majority of new cars made in the United States will be electric. And I don't mean hybrid, I mean fully electric. Great companies are built on great products. I don't create companies for the sake of creating companies, but to get things done. I don't spend my time pontificating about high-concept things; I spend my time solving engineering and manufacturing problems. I just want to retire before I go senile because if I don't retire before I go senile, then I'll do more damage than good at that point. I think life on Earth must be about more than just solving problems... It's got to be something inspiring, even if it is vicarious. I tend to approach things from a physics framework. And physics teaches you to reason from first principles rather than by analogy. I hate writing about personal stuff. I don't have a Facebook page. I don't use my Twitter account. I am familiar with both, but I don't use them. I'm reasonably optimistic about the future, especially the future of the United States - for the century, at least. I've actually not read any books on time management. I'm personally a moderate and a registered independent, so I'm not strongly Democratic or strongly Republican. If you're trying to create a company, it's like baking a cake. You have to have all the ingredients in the right proportion. In order to have your voice be heard in Washington, you have to make some little contribution. It's OK to have your eggs in one basket as long as you control what happens to that basket. Patience is a virtue, and I'm learning patience. It's a tough lesson. Selling an electric sports car creates an opportunity to fundamentally change the way America drives. The United States is definitely ahead in culture of innovation. If someone wants to accomplish great things, there is no better place than the U.S. When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor. When Henry Ford made cheap, reliable cars people said, 'Nah, what's wrong with a horse?' That was a huge bet he made, and it worked. When I was in college, I wanted to be involved in things that would change the world. My vision is for a fully reusable rocket transport system between Earth and Mars that is able to re-fuel on Mars - this is very important - so you don't have to carry the return fuel when you go there. Biofuels such as ethanol require enormous amounts of cropland and end up displacing either food crops or natural wilderness, neither of which is good.Boeing just took $20 billion and 10 years to improve the efficiency of their planes by 10 percent. That's pretty lame. I have a design in mind for a vertical liftoff supersonic jet that would be a really big improvement. I always invest my own money in the companies that I create. I don't believe in the whole thing of just using other people's money. I don't think that's right. I'm not going to ask other people to invest in something if I'm not prepared to do so myself.
Updated on: December 28, 2013 7:57 IST
