WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:04.000 Elon, Welcome to AI startup School. We're just really really 2 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:05.639 blessed to have your presence here today. 3 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:06.960 Thanks for having me So. 4 00:00:08.519 --> 00:00:12.919 From SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink, XAI, and more. Was there ever 5 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:15.679 a moment in your life before all this where you 6 00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:18.960 felt I have to build something great? And what flipped 7 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:20.399 that switch for you? Well? 8 00:00:20.399 --> 00:00:23.000 I didn't originally think I would build something great. I 9 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:26.199 wanted to try to build something useful, but I didn't 10 00:00:26.199 --> 00:00:29.480 think I would build anything particularly great. You've said, probabilistically 11 00:00:29.679 --> 00:00:32.039 seemed unlikely, but I wouldn't to at least try. 12 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:34.679 So you're talking to a room full of people who 13 00:00:34.679 --> 00:00:38.520 are all technical engineers, often some of the most eminent 14 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:40.560 AI researchers coming up in the game. 15 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:44.560 Okay, I I think we should. 16 00:00:44.600 --> 00:00:47.320 I think I'd like the term engineer better than researcher. 17 00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:51.280 I mean, I suppose if there's some fundamental algorithmic breakthrough, 18 00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:54.039 it's a research. Otherwise it's engineering. 19 00:00:54.159 --> 00:00:56.600 Maybe let's start way back, I mean, when you were 20 00:00:56.840 --> 00:00:59.439 this is a room full of eighteen to twenty five 21 00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:03.640 year old excuse younger, because the founder set is younger 22 00:01:03.640 --> 00:01:07.159 and younger. Can you put yourself back into their shoe? 23 00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:10.560 When you know, you were eighteen nineteen, you know, learning 24 00:01:10.599 --> 00:01:13.760 the code, even coming up with this first idea for 25 00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:15.680 zip too. What was that like for you? 26 00:01:15.879 --> 00:01:16.079 Yeah? 27 00:01:16.120 --> 00:01:18.840 Back in ninety five, I was faced with a choice 28 00:01:18.840 --> 00:01:22.319 of either do you know Grass Studies PhD a Stanford 29 00:01:22.840 --> 00:01:26.879 in material science actually working on ultra capacities for potential 30 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:29.120 use in electric vehicles, essentially trying to solve the range 31 00:01:29.159 --> 00:01:32.959 problem for electric vehicles, or try to do something in 32 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:34.640 this thing that most people have never heard of called 33 00:01:34.680 --> 00:01:38.040 the Internet. And I talked to my professor was Bill 34 00:01:38.120 --> 00:01:41.560 Nicks in the material science problement, and said, like, can 35 00:01:41.599 --> 00:01:45.079 I defer for a quarter because this will probably fail 36 00:01:45.239 --> 00:01:47.159 and then I'll need to come back to college. And 37 00:01:48.239 --> 00:01:50.400 then he said this is probably the last conversation we'll have, 38 00:01:50.879 --> 00:01:53.680 and he was right. So but I thought things would 39 00:01:53.680 --> 00:01:56.000 most likely fail, not that they would most likely succeed. 40 00:01:56.680 --> 00:02:01.560 And then in ninety five I wrote basically, I think 41 00:02:01.879 --> 00:02:05.359 the first or close to the first maps directions, Internet, 42 00:02:05.359 --> 00:02:08.159 white pages and yellow pages on the Internet. I just 43 00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:10.080 wrote that. I just wrote that personally, and I didn't 44 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:11.919 even use a website. I just read the port directly 45 00:02:11.960 --> 00:02:15.680 because I couldn't afford h and I could have afforded 46 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:19.960 t one. Original office was on Sherman Avenue in pale Alto. 47 00:02:20.599 --> 00:02:22.800 There was like an I s P on the floor below, 48 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:25.560 so I rolled a hole through the floor and just 49 00:02:26.120 --> 00:02:28.120 ran a land cable directly to the I s P. 50 00:02:29.199 --> 00:02:32.599 And you know, uh, my brother joined me and another 51 00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:36.319 co founder of Great Courier who passed away, and we 52 00:02:36.400 --> 00:02:38.879 at the time we couldn't even afford a place to stay, 53 00:02:38.919 --> 00:02:41.000 so we just the office was five hundred bucks a months, 54 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:42.680 so we just left in the office and and then 55 00:02:42.680 --> 00:02:44.919 shouted the YMC A on page mill and al communo 56 00:02:45.719 --> 00:02:47.879 and uh yeah, and we I guess we ended up 57 00:02:47.919 --> 00:02:51.159 doing a little bit of a useful company as up 58 00:02:51.199 --> 00:02:55.120 to in the beginning, and we did built a lot 59 00:02:55.159 --> 00:03:00.479 of really really good software technology, but we were somewhat 60 00:03:00.520 --> 00:03:03.840 captured by the legacy media companies, and that night Router 61 00:03:04.039 --> 00:03:09.120 New York Times hearst whatnot were investors and customers and 62 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:12.039 and also on the board. So they they kept wanting 63 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:14.000 to use our software in ways that made no sense. 64 00:03:14.719 --> 00:03:17.080 So I wanted to go direct to consumers anyway. As 65 00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:20.039 long story dwelling too much up too, but I really 66 00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:23.240 just wanted to do something useful on the Internet because 67 00:03:23.240 --> 00:03:26.360 I had two choices, like do a PhD and watch 68 00:03:26.400 --> 00:03:29.039 people build the internet or help build the Internet in 69 00:03:29.080 --> 00:03:30.879 some small way. And I was like, well, I guess 70 00:03:30.919 --> 00:03:32.639 I can always try and fail and then go back 71 00:03:32.680 --> 00:03:37.159 to grad studies. And that ended up being like reasonably successful. 72 00:03:37.400 --> 00:03:39.080 Sold for like three hundred million dollars, which is a 73 00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:41.199 lot at the time these days. That's like I think 74 00:03:41.319 --> 00:03:43.479 minimum impulse, but for an AI startup is like a 75 00:03:43.479 --> 00:03:46.879 billion dollars. It's like there's so many freaking unicorns. It's 76 00:03:46.919 --> 00:03:50.479 like heard of unicorns, point of unicorns, a billion dollars situation. 77 00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:53.919 There's been inflation since, so quite a bit more money. 78 00:03:54.479 --> 00:03:57.759 Yeah, I mean, like you could probably buy a burger 79 00:03:57.800 --> 00:03:59.719 for a nickel. Well not quite, but I mean, yeah, 80 00:04:00.039 --> 00:04:03.240 has been a lot of inflation. But I mean the 81 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:07.120 high level of AI is is pretty intense. As you've seen, 82 00:04:07.879 --> 00:04:10.479 you know, you see companies that are I don't know, 83 00:04:10.680 --> 00:04:13.639 less than a year old getting sometimes billion dollar, multi 84 00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:17.639 billion dollar valuations, which I guess could could pan out 85 00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:21.399 and probably will pan out in some cases, but it 86 00:04:21.480 --> 00:04:23.439 is I ordering to see some of these valuations. 87 00:04:23.879 --> 00:04:24.720 Yeah, what do you think. 88 00:04:24.879 --> 00:04:29.360 I mean, Well, I'm pretty bullish. I'm pretty bullish, honestly, so. 89 00:04:29.600 --> 00:04:31.120 I think the people in this room are going to 90 00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:34.199 create a lot of the value that you know, a 91 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:36.839 billion people in the world should be using this stuff 92 00:04:36.959 --> 00:04:39.680 and we're not even we're scratching the surface of it. 93 00:04:39.879 --> 00:04:42.759 I love the Internet story in that, even back then, 94 00:04:43.079 --> 00:04:45.120 you know, you are a lot like the people in 95 00:04:45.160 --> 00:04:48.680 this room back then, in that, you know, the heads 96 00:04:48.680 --> 00:04:51.680 of all the CEOs of all the legacy media companies 97 00:04:51.720 --> 00:04:54.439 look to you as the person who understood the Internet, 98 00:04:54.600 --> 00:04:57.319 and a lot of the world, you know, the corporate world, 99 00:04:57.560 --> 00:04:59.839 like the world out large that does not understand what's 100 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:02.000 happening with AI, they're going to look to the people 101 00:05:02.040 --> 00:05:04.959 in this room for exactly that. It sounds like, you know, 102 00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:06.720 what are some of the tangible lessons. It sounds like 103 00:05:06.759 --> 00:05:09.160 one of them is don't give up board control or 104 00:05:09.199 --> 00:05:11.480 be careful about have a really good lawyer. 105 00:05:12.399 --> 00:05:14.439 I guess with the first my first start up, the 106 00:05:14.439 --> 00:05:18.480 big really the mistake was having too much shareholder and 107 00:05:18.560 --> 00:05:23.079 board control from legacy media companies who then necessarily see 108 00:05:23.079 --> 00:05:26.959 things through the lens of legacy media, and that they'll 109 00:05:27.040 --> 00:05:29.399 kind of make you do things that seem sensible to them, 110 00:05:29.439 --> 00:05:33.319 but really don't make sense with the new technology. I 111 00:05:33.399 --> 00:05:36.199 know I should point out that I that I didn't 112 00:05:36.199 --> 00:05:39.199 actually at first intend to start a company. I try 113 00:05:39.240 --> 00:05:43.000 to get a job at Netscape SMI resumes Netscape and 114 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:46.120 Mark Hendrieson knows about this, but I don't think you 115 00:05:46.160 --> 00:05:48.800 have a swim my resume, and then nobody responded. So 116 00:05:49.639 --> 00:05:51.199 and then I tried hanging out in the lobby of 117 00:05:51.279 --> 00:05:53.680 Netscape see if I could like bump into someone, but 118 00:05:53.720 --> 00:05:55.600 I was like too shy to talk and talk to anyone. 119 00:05:55.639 --> 00:05:57.480 So I'm like, man, this is ridiculous. So I'll just 120 00:05:57.560 --> 00:05:59.399 write sof for myself and see how it goes. So 121 00:05:59.439 --> 00:06:00.879 it wasn't actually from the stand point of like I 122 00:06:00.879 --> 00:06:02.160 want to start a company. I just want to be 123 00:06:02.240 --> 00:06:04.600 part of building you know, the Internet in some way. 124 00:06:05.360 --> 00:06:07.360 And and since I couldn't get a job at an 125 00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:10.160 ARAC company, I had to start a interac company anyway. 126 00:06:10.199 --> 00:06:12.680 The yeah, yeah, I mean from an AI will so 127 00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:16.720 profoundly change the future. It's difficult to fathom how much. 128 00:06:16.839 --> 00:06:20.319 But you know, the the economy is, assuming we don't 129 00:06:20.399 --> 00:06:23.879 things don't go awry, and like AI doesn't kill us 130 00:06:23.920 --> 00:06:28.600 all in itself, then you'll see ultimately an economy that 131 00:06:28.839 --> 00:06:31.920 is not not ten times more than the current economy. Ultimately, 132 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:34.959 like if we become say or whatever, our future machine 133 00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:39.680 descendants or but mostly machine descendants become like a cotttership 134 00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:43.920 scale to civilization or beyond, we're talking about an economy 135 00:06:43.959 --> 00:06:47.279 that is thousands of times maybe millions of times bigger 136 00:06:47.319 --> 00:06:48.639 than the economy today. 137 00:06:48.800 --> 00:06:50.160 So yeah, I mean I. 138 00:06:51.160 --> 00:06:52.600 Did sort of feel but like, you know, when I 139 00:06:52.639 --> 00:06:54.399 was in DC taking a lot of flag for like 140 00:06:54.480 --> 00:06:56.920 getting rid of waste and fraud, which is an interesting 141 00:06:56.959 --> 00:06:59.040 side quest as side quest go. 142 00:06:59.800 --> 00:07:02.639 But but I've got to get back to the main quest. Yeah, 143 00:07:02.639 --> 00:07:03.000 I got to. 144 00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:05.639 Get back to the main quest here, So back to 145 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:06.360 the main quest. 146 00:07:07.360 --> 00:07:09.519 So but I did feel, you know a little bit 147 00:07:09.560 --> 00:07:11.920 like there's you know, it's like fixing the government. It's 148 00:07:11.959 --> 00:07:14.319 kind of like there's like, say, the beach is dirty 149 00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:17.240 and there's like some needles and vcs and like trash, 150 00:07:17.279 --> 00:07:18.920 and you want to clean up the beach. But then 151 00:07:18.920 --> 00:07:21.920 there's also this like thousand foot wall of water, which 152 00:07:21.959 --> 00:07:25.240 is a tsunami of ai, like, and how much does 153 00:07:25.319 --> 00:07:27.639 cleaning the beach really matter if you got a thousand 154 00:07:27.639 --> 00:07:29.920 foot tsunami about to hit not that much. 155 00:07:30.279 --> 00:07:32.480 Well, we're glad you're back on the main quest. It's 156 00:07:32.600 --> 00:07:33.319 very important. 157 00:07:33.480 --> 00:07:36.399 Yeah, back to the main quest, building technology, which is 158 00:07:36.959 --> 00:07:39.879 what I like doing. It's just so much noise like this, 159 00:07:39.879 --> 00:07:42.519 The single noise ratio in politics is terrible. 160 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:45.160 So, I mean, I live in San Francisco, so you 161 00:07:45.399 --> 00:07:46.480 don't need to tell me twice. 162 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:48.959 Yeah, DC is like, you know, kind of I guess 163 00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:52.720 it's all politics in DC. But the if you're trying 164 00:07:52.720 --> 00:07:56.040 to build a rocket or cars, or you're trying to 165 00:07:56.120 --> 00:07:59.519 have software that compiles and runs reliably, then you have 166 00:07:59.560 --> 00:08:02.920 to be maximally true seeking or your software or your 167 00:08:02.920 --> 00:08:06.639 hardware won't work like you can't fool like math and 168 00:08:06.639 --> 00:08:09.720 physics are rigorous judges. So I'm used to being in 169 00:08:09.879 --> 00:08:13.759 a maximally true seeking environment and that's definitely not politic. 170 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:16.920 So an I'm good glad to be back in technology. 171 00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:18.680 I guess I'm kind of curious going back to the 172 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:21.519 ZIP too moment, you had hundreds of millions of dollars 173 00:08:21.639 --> 00:08:24.360 or you had an exit worths of millions of dollars. 174 00:08:24.519 --> 00:08:25.879 I got twenty million dollars. 175 00:08:25.759 --> 00:08:28.120 Right, Okay, so you solved the money problem at least, 176 00:08:29.279 --> 00:08:31.959 and you basically took it and you rolled. You kept 177 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:35.440 rolling with X dot Com, which is in PayPal and Confinity. 178 00:08:35.960 --> 00:08:38.120 Yes, I kept the chips on the table. 179 00:08:38.399 --> 00:08:40.879 Yeah, so not everyone does that. A lot of the 180 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:43.399 people in this room will have to make that decision. Actually, 181 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:45.799 what drove you to jump back into the ring. 182 00:08:45.840 --> 00:08:48.200 Well, I think I felt with with Zip too, we'd 183 00:08:48.200 --> 00:08:51.919 both like incredible technology but never really got used. You know, 184 00:08:51.960 --> 00:08:54.080 I think, at least from my perspective, we had better 185 00:08:54.080 --> 00:08:57.200 technology than say Yahoo or anyone else, but it was 186 00:08:57.279 --> 00:09:00.759 constrained by our customers. And so I wanted to do 187 00:09:00.799 --> 00:09:03.639 something that where okay, we wouldn't be constrained by our customers, 188 00:09:03.720 --> 00:09:06.720 go direct to consumer. And that's what ended up being 189 00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:10.639 like X dot com PayPal, essentially X dot Com merging 190 00:09:10.679 --> 00:09:14.840 with Confinity, which together created PayPal, and then that actually 191 00:09:15.159 --> 00:09:18.519 the sort of PayPal diaspora has it might have created 192 00:09:18.600 --> 00:09:22.080 more companies then, so more companies than probably any anything 193 00:09:22.120 --> 00:09:25.399 in the twenty first century. You know, so many talented 194 00:09:25.399 --> 00:09:29.440 people were at the combination of Confinity and X dot Com. 195 00:09:29.480 --> 00:09:32.279 So I just wanted to, like, I felt like we 196 00:09:32.440 --> 00:09:34.879 kind of got our wings clift somewhat with Zip two 197 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:36.919 and it's like, okay, what if our wings on clipped 198 00:09:36.919 --> 00:09:39.480 and we go direct to consumer, And that's that's what. 199 00:09:39.639 --> 00:09:40.679 PayPal ended up being. 200 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:45.159 But yeah, with I got that like twenty million dollar 201 00:09:45.279 --> 00:09:48.720 check for my share of ZIP two. At the time, 202 00:09:48.759 --> 00:09:51.600 I was living with in a house with four housemates 203 00:09:52.320 --> 00:09:54.840 and had like a ten grand in the bank, and 204 00:09:54.840 --> 00:09:58.399 then the check rights in the mail of all placesn't 205 00:09:58.679 --> 00:10:00.639 in the mail. And then now then my bank a 206 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:03.559 bounce went from tenenty to twenty million in ten thousands. 207 00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:06.559 You're like, well, okay, sluck to pay taxes on that 208 00:10:06.639 --> 00:10:09.639 at all. But then I ended up putting almost all 209 00:10:09.679 --> 00:10:12.639 of that into x dot com and as you said, 210 00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:15.320 just kind of keeping almost all the chips on the table. 211 00:10:16.159 --> 00:10:17.679 And yeah, and then. 212 00:10:17.600 --> 00:10:20.679 After Paypala was like, well, I was kind of curious 213 00:10:20.679 --> 00:10:22.600 as to why we had not sent anyone to Mars, 214 00:10:22.919 --> 00:10:25.080 and I went on then went on the NASA website 215 00:10:25.080 --> 00:10:27.360 to find out when we're sending people Tomors, and there 216 00:10:27.399 --> 00:10:29.519 was no date. I thought, maybe it's just hard to 217 00:10:29.559 --> 00:10:32.840 find on the website, but in fact that there was 218 00:10:32.919 --> 00:10:35.360 no real plan to send people to Mars. So then 219 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:37.559 you know, I've come to this is such a long story. 220 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:39.279 So I don't want to take up too much time here. 221 00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:42.240 But I think we're all listening with rapt attention. 222 00:10:42.320 --> 00:10:44.320 So I was actually I was on the long end 223 00:10:44.360 --> 00:10:47.039 of the expressway with my friend day O RESSI were 224 00:10:47.080 --> 00:10:50.080 like housemates in college, and day was asking me what 225 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:51.600 I'm what we're going to do? What am I going 226 00:10:51.679 --> 00:10:53.559 to do after a PayPal And I was like, like, 227 00:10:53.600 --> 00:10:55.080 I don't know. I guess maybe I'd like to do 228 00:10:55.159 --> 00:10:57.639 something philanthropic in space, because I didn't think I could 229 00:10:57.639 --> 00:11:00.200 actually do anything commotional in space because that seem like 230 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:03.840 the purview of nations. So but you know, I'm kind 231 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:05.720 of curious as to when we're going to send people 232 00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:07.720 to Mars. And that's when I was like, oh, it's 233 00:11:07.720 --> 00:11:09.960 not on the website, and I started digging on not 234 00:11:10.039 --> 00:11:11.679 that there's nothing on the NAST website. 235 00:11:11.720 --> 00:11:12.519 So then I started. 236 00:11:12.240 --> 00:11:16.639 Digging in and and and I'm definitely summarizing a lot here. 237 00:11:16.679 --> 00:11:21.679 But my first idea was to do a philanthropic mission 238 00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:25.639 to Mars called Life to Mars, where would send a 239 00:11:25.639 --> 00:11:29.759 small greenhouse with see some dehydrated nutrient gael land out 240 00:11:29.759 --> 00:11:32.519 on mosque and grow, you know, hydrate the jail and 241 00:11:32.519 --> 00:11:35.120 then you have this great sort of money shot of 242 00:11:35.240 --> 00:11:38.159 green plants on a red background. But the longest time, I, 243 00:11:38.159 --> 00:11:40.000 by the way, I didn't realize money shot, I think is. 244 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:40.720 A porn reference. 245 00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:44.279 But anyway, the point is that that would be the 246 00:11:44.279 --> 00:11:46.639 great shot of green plants on a red background, and 247 00:11:46.759 --> 00:11:50.240 to try to inspire you know, NASA and the public to. 248 00:11:50.679 --> 00:11:52.360 Send astronauts to to Mars. 249 00:11:52.759 --> 00:11:55.919 As I learned more, it came to realize and along 250 00:11:55.960 --> 00:11:58.039 the way, by the way, I went to Russia in 251 00:11:58.039 --> 00:12:00.200 like two thousand and one and two thousand and two 252 00:12:00.320 --> 00:12:03.480 to buy ICVMS, which is like, that's an adventure, you know, 253 00:12:03.559 --> 00:12:05.440 you go and meet with Russian high command and say 254 00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:06.879 I'd like to buy some ICVMS. 255 00:12:07.279 --> 00:12:09.279 This was to get to space, yeah, as a rocket 256 00:12:09.639 --> 00:12:10.240 to not. 257 00:12:10.120 --> 00:12:11.159 To nuke anyone, but. 258 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:17.120 They had to as a result of onstroduction talks, they 259 00:12:17.159 --> 00:12:20.399 had to actually destroy a bunch of their big nuclear missiles. 260 00:12:20.440 --> 00:12:22.320 So I was like, well, how about if we take two. 261 00:12:22.200 --> 00:12:25.480 Of those, you know, minus the nuke, added an additional 262 00:12:26.200 --> 00:12:29.440 upper stage for Mars. But it was kind of trippy, 263 00:12:29.639 --> 00:12:32.159 you know, being in Moscow in one of two thousand 264 00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:35.519 and one negotiating with like the Russian military to buy ICVM, 265 00:12:35.720 --> 00:12:41.960 like that's crazy, but they kept also raising the price 266 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:44.360 on me, so that so like literally it's kind of 267 00:12:44.360 --> 00:12:46.960 like the opposite of what negotiation should should do. So 268 00:12:47.240 --> 00:12:49.200 I was like, man, these things are getting really expensive. 269 00:12:49.320 --> 00:12:51.559 And then I came to realize that actually the problem 270 00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:53.840 was not that there was insufficient world to go to Mars, 271 00:12:53.879 --> 00:12:56.919 but there was no way to do so without breaking 272 00:12:57.000 --> 00:12:59.159 the budget, you know, or even breaking the NASA budget. 273 00:12:59.200 --> 00:13:02.519 So that's where I decided to start SAX SpaceX to 274 00:13:03.240 --> 00:13:05.919 advance rocket technology to the point where we could send 275 00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:07.720 people to Mars. 276 00:13:07.879 --> 00:13:09.559 And that was in two thousand and two. 277 00:13:09.639 --> 00:13:12.960 So that wasn't you know. You didn't start out wanting 278 00:13:13.000 --> 00:13:16.240 to start a business. You wanted to start just something 279 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:19.559 that was interesting to you that you thought humanity needed. 280 00:13:19.759 --> 00:13:22.000 And then as you sort of you know, like a 281 00:13:22.080 --> 00:13:25.240 cat pulling on you know, a string, it just sort 282 00:13:25.240 --> 00:13:27.799 of the ball sort of unravels. It turns out this 283 00:13:27.879 --> 00:13:30.039 is could be a very profitable business. 284 00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:34.519 I mean it is now, But there had been no 285 00:13:34.759 --> 00:13:37.799 prior example of really a rocket startup seating. There have 286 00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:40.759 been various attempts to do commercial rocket companies and that 287 00:13:41.080 --> 00:13:45.759 all failed. So again with SpaceX, starting SpaceX was really 288 00:13:45.799 --> 00:13:47.919 from the standpoint of, like I think there's like a 289 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:51.360 less than ten percent chance of being successful, maybe one percent, 290 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:56.000 I don't know. But if a startup doesn't do something 291 00:13:56.039 --> 00:13:59.639 to advance rocket technology, it's definitely not coming from the 292 00:13:59.639 --> 00:14:03.080 big defense contractors because they just impedance smashed the government, 293 00:14:03.240 --> 00:14:06.159 and the government just wants to do very conventional things. 294 00:14:06.279 --> 00:14:08.480 So there's it's either coming from a startup or it's 295 00:14:08.519 --> 00:14:11.080 not happening at all. So so like a small chance 296 00:14:11.240 --> 00:14:13.679 of success is better than no chance of success, and 297 00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:18.080 so that yeah, so SpaceX started that in mid mid 298 00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:20.960 two thousand and two expecting to fail, Like I said, 299 00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:23.639 probably ninety percent chance of failing. And even like when 300 00:14:23.679 --> 00:14:26.279 recruiting people, I didn't like to try to make out 301 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:28.159 that it would probably I said, we're probably going to die, 302 00:14:28.840 --> 00:14:32.360 but four chance we might not die. But this is 303 00:14:32.399 --> 00:14:34.879 the only way to get people to Mars and advanced 304 00:14:34.879 --> 00:14:38.240 state of the art. And then I ended up being 305 00:14:38.279 --> 00:14:40.840 chief engineer of the rocket, not because I wanted to, 306 00:14:40.919 --> 00:14:43.039 but because I couldn't hire anyone. 307 00:14:42.799 --> 00:14:43.320 Who was good. 308 00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:45.919 So like none of the good sort of chief engineers 309 00:14:45.919 --> 00:14:47.720 would join because it's like this is too risky you 310 00:14:47.720 --> 00:14:50.080 were going to die. And so then I ended up 311 00:14:50.120 --> 00:14:52.360 being chief engineer of the rocket. And you know, the 312 00:14:52.399 --> 00:14:54.399 first three flights did fail, so it's a bit of 313 00:14:54.399 --> 00:14:58.399 a learning exercise there, and fourth one fortunately worked. But 314 00:14:58.440 --> 00:15:00.799 if the fourth one hadn't worked, I had no money 315 00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:03.159 left and that would have been it would have been curtains. 316 00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:04.399 So it was a pretty close thing. 317 00:15:04.600 --> 00:15:07.279 If the fourth launch of Falcon Nott work, it would 318 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:09.200 have been just curtains and we would have just been 319 00:15:09.279 --> 00:15:12.919 joined the graveyard of prior rocket startup. So it's like 320 00:15:13.320 --> 00:15:16.440 my estimate of success was not far off. We'd just 321 00:15:16.559 --> 00:15:18.840 be made it by the skin of our teeth. And 322 00:15:19.320 --> 00:15:22.879 Tesla was happening sort of simultaneously. Like two thousand and 323 00:15:22.879 --> 00:15:26.039 eight was a rough year because at mid two thousand 324 00:15:26.080 --> 00:15:29.159 and eight we're called summer two thousand and eight, the 325 00:15:29.200 --> 00:15:32.360 third the third launch of SpaceX had failed, a third 326 00:15:32.399 --> 00:15:35.600 failure in a row. The Tesla financing round had failed, 327 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:40.039 and so Telsa was going bankrupt fast. It was just like, man, 328 00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:42.039 this is a grim this is this is going to 329 00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:46.919 be a tale of warning of an exercise in hubers. 330 00:15:47.039 --> 00:15:49.320 Probably throughout that period, a lot of people were saying, 331 00:15:49.559 --> 00:15:51.519 you know, Elon is a software guy. 332 00:15:51.840 --> 00:15:52.320 Why are you. 333 00:15:52.440 --> 00:15:55.120 Working on hardware? Why would you? Yeah, why would he 334 00:15:55.200 --> 00:15:56.000 choose to work on this? 335 00:15:56.120 --> 00:15:58.320 Right, Harp said, So you can look at the like 336 00:15:58.360 --> 00:16:00.279 the because it's still the you know, the press of 337 00:16:00.360 --> 00:16:02.480 that time is still online. You could just search it. 338 00:16:02.639 --> 00:16:06.360 And and they kept calling the Internet guy. So like 339 00:16:06.600 --> 00:16:11.639 Internet guy aka fool is attempting to build a rocket company. 340 00:16:12.279 --> 00:16:16.320 So you know that we got ridiculed quite a lot. 341 00:16:17.039 --> 00:16:20.159 And it does sound pretty absurd, Like internet guy starts 342 00:16:20.320 --> 00:16:23.720 rocket company doesn't sound like a recipe for sess frankly, 343 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:25.679 so I didn't hold against them. I was like, yeah, 344 00:16:25.799 --> 00:16:28.519 you know, admittedly it does sound improbable, and I agree 345 00:16:28.559 --> 00:16:31.559 that it's improbable. But fortunately the fourth launch worked and 346 00:16:32.679 --> 00:16:36.600 uh and, and NASA warded us a contract to resupply 347 00:16:36.639 --> 00:16:39.240 the space station uh and. I think that was like 348 00:16:39.320 --> 00:16:43.480 maybe December twenty second. It was like right before Christmas. 349 00:16:43.879 --> 00:16:46.600 Because even the fourth launch working wasn't enough to succeed. 350 00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:49.480 NASA also needed we also needed a big contract to 351 00:16:49.519 --> 00:16:51.799 keep us a life. So so I got I got 352 00:16:51.799 --> 00:16:55.960 that call from like the NASA NASA team and I literally, 353 00:16:57.200 --> 00:16:59.200 we're rewarding you one of the contracts to re supply 354 00:16:59.240 --> 00:17:01.399 the space station, like literally blurt it out, I love 355 00:17:01.440 --> 00:17:04.599 you guys, which is not normally you know what they hear. 356 00:17:05.480 --> 00:17:08.160 It's usually pretty, you know, sober. But I was like, man, 357 00:17:08.200 --> 00:17:11.920 this is a company saver. And then we closed the 358 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:15.119 Tesla financing around on the last hour of the last 359 00:17:15.200 --> 00:17:17.519 day that it was possible, which was six pm December 360 00:17:17.559 --> 00:17:19.960 twenty fourth, two thousand and eight. We would have bounced 361 00:17:19.960 --> 00:17:22.720 payroll two days after Christmas if that round had had closed. 362 00:17:22.759 --> 00:17:24.400 So that was a nerve wracking end of two thousand 363 00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:25.119 and eight, that's for sure. 364 00:17:25.240 --> 00:17:27.920 I guess from your PayPal and zip two experience jumping 365 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:32.000 into these hardcore hardware startups, it feels like one of 366 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:35.160 the through lines was being able to find and eventually 367 00:17:35.200 --> 00:17:39.000 attract the smartest possible people in those popular fields. You know, 368 00:17:39.240 --> 00:17:41.279 what would I mean the people in this room, like 369 00:17:41.400 --> 00:17:42.880 some of most of the people here I don't think 370 00:17:42.920 --> 00:17:45.640 have even managed the single person yet, they're just starting 371 00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:47.960 their careers. What would you tell to, you know, the 372 00:17:47.960 --> 00:17:50.640 elon who's never had to do that yet. 373 00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:52.839 I generally think to try to try to be as 374 00:17:52.920 --> 00:17:55.400 useful as possible. So it may sound trit but it's 375 00:17:55.920 --> 00:17:58.400 it's so hard to be useful, especially to be useful 376 00:17:58.440 --> 00:18:00.880 to a lot of people, Where you say the area 377 00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:02.960 under the cove of total utility is like how much 378 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:04.880 how useful have you been to your failer human beings? 379 00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:05.119 Times? 380 00:18:05.119 --> 00:18:08.240 How many people? Like it's almost like like the physics 381 00:18:08.279 --> 00:18:10.759 definition of true work. It's incredibly difficult to do that. 382 00:18:11.079 --> 00:18:14.079 I think if you aspire to do true work, your 383 00:18:14.119 --> 00:18:18.319 probably success is much higher, Like like, don't inspire to glory, 384 00:18:18.359 --> 00:18:19.079 aspire to work. 385 00:18:19.160 --> 00:18:21.720 How can you tell that it's true work? Like is 386 00:18:21.720 --> 00:18:24.480 it external? Is it like what happens with other people? 387 00:18:24.599 --> 00:18:26.480 Or you know what the product does for people? Like 388 00:18:26.519 --> 00:18:28.559 what you know? What is that for you when you're 389 00:18:28.559 --> 00:18:30.359 looking for people to come work for you? Like what 390 00:18:30.440 --> 00:18:32.319 you know? What's the salient thing that you look for? 391 00:18:32.440 --> 00:18:35.079 Or if they're that's certain question I guess it's I 392 00:18:35.079 --> 00:18:37.799 mean in terms of off your in product, you have 393 00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:39.799 to say, like, well, if this thing is successful, how 394 00:18:39.880 --> 00:18:41.400 useful will it be to how many people? 395 00:18:41.599 --> 00:18:43.839 And that's that's what I mean. 396 00:18:43.880 --> 00:18:46.279 And then you do you do whatever you know, whether 397 00:18:46.279 --> 00:18:48.559 you're CEO or any role in a startup, you do 398 00:18:48.599 --> 00:18:51.319 whatever it takes to succeed, like and just and just 399 00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:56.039 always be smash smashing your ego like like internalized responsibility. 400 00:18:56.240 --> 00:18:59.559 Like a major failure mode is when ego to ability 401 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:03.640