elonology.com

Category: Strategy

  • The Internet is a Great Place to Start

    The Internet is a Great Place to Start

    Elon used to sleep on the floor.

    When Elon started out as an Entrepreneur in Silicon Valley with his brother Kimbal they were so hard up for cash they rented a small office. They slept on the couch, and a beanbag on the floor.

    When you’re just starting out the odds are you don’t have a ton of capital to work with.  This is why Elon recommends starting out online:

    “I think for somebody who’s just starting out as an Entrepreneur,I think the Internet is a great place to start because if you’re just starting out, unless you’ve got a ton of capital that somebody gave you or you inherited or something you have to start a company that requires a small amount of capital…

    Where it’s heavily weighted toward the intellectual capital in your head…so I think anything to do with software and with the Internet is a really good starting point.”

    When Zip2 was acquired by Compaq Elon got $20,000,000 out of the deal.

    It would have been impossible for Elon to have done electric cars or rockets right out of the gate because it requires plenty of capital to enter those industries.  

    In fact even with the over $100 million Elon earned from being the largest shareholder of PayPal when they were acquired by Ebay he went all in with SpaceX and Tesla to the point where he invested every single dollar and had to borrow money to pay his bills.

    Elon’s heroic investments of capital, blood, sweat and tears are a big part of the reason why SpaceX and Tesla have been able to survive, thrive and dominate.

    The Paradigm Shifting Power of The Internet

    When Elon describes the birth of the Internet he often exclaims the invention of the Internet is like humanity acquiring a nervous system.

    In his 2020 AxelSpringer Award Talk Elon said of the Internet:

    “The Internet…Really the Internet is like a nervous system for humanity.

    Whereas previously communication was more like osmosis.  For information to travel someone would have to call someone over the phone.  Or write them a letter.  And then that letter would be carried by a series of people to the destination.

    Now communication can happen instantly from any place in the world to anyone and does not need a human to carry it.

    This is sort of like at a cellular level you see say a primitive small multicellular creature will communicate via osmosis from one cell to the next or diffusion essentially.

    But once you have a more sophisticated organism you have a nervous system.  The speed at which information can travel is much faster.  And the accessibility of information is fundamentally different.

    If you want in the middle of the amazon jungle with a satellite connection and you have access to all the world’s information…

    Whereas previously even if you live in the library of congress in the US where all the books are, you still would only have access to a fraction of the world’s information.

    This is basically humanity becoming a super organism.  To the degree that’s not possible unless you have essentially instant live speed communication from anywhere to anywhere, as opposed to osmosis.  Diffusion.”

    The above statement from Elon puts into powerful perspective the power and importance of the Internet.

    And Elon lived near the heart of Silicon Valley for decades.  Only recently did Elon move to Texas, where SpaceX now launches rockets from Boca Chica (AKA Starbase).

  • Reinvest In Your Own Success

    Self-Funded Ambition: Elon Musk’s Path of Personal Reinvestment.

    “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.“ ~Elon Musk

    When Elon started Zip2 with his younger brother Kimbal he was so hard up for money they worked and slept in the office, because it was cheaper than an apartment, and they could not afford both.

    Elon and Kimbal only had one computer so during the day it was used as a server for Zip2, and Elon would code during the night, every night.

    Elon is one year older than Kimbal and “Team Musk” proved to be an awesome duo.

    Zip2 was acquired by Compaq for $307,000,000.  Elon received $22 million and Kimbal received $15 million for their shares of the company when Elon was 27 years-old and Kimbal was 26.


    After becoming a multi-millionaire Elon could have easily retired and lived the rest of his life relaxing on a beach…but laziness has never been Elon’s style.

    Elon took half of his money and put it into an online financial services company he launched, called X.com.

    This is why Elon became the largest shareholder when X.com merged with PayPal.  Elon brought the most to the table.

    In large part because of the $12,000,000 Elon reinvested into his success with PayPal they were able to offer $20 for each new user and this turbo-boosted new user growth and helped PayPal achieve 100,000 users within their first active month.

    After the new user bonus was removed people continued to join PayPal for many reasons because it was – and still is – a very robust online payment and financial solution.

    At first Elon and the PayPal team built out a large suite of solutions to solve all financial services desired by customers.  It turned out email payments intrigued investors the most so they focused on that innovation and the business grew at an amazing pace, often many thousands of new users per day.

    In October 2002 when eBay acquired PayPal the acquisition was for $1.5 Billion dollars and of this amount Elon received $180 Million.

    In 2020 PayPal Elon bought back his x.com domain, which was part of the acquisition deal with eBay.

    Of the $180,000,000 Elon had after selling PayPal he ended up investing all of that money into SpaceX, Tesla, and Solar City.

    “My proceeds from PayPal were $180m. I put $100m in SpaceX, $70m in Tesla and $10m in Solar City. I had to borrow money for rent.”

    And though it certainly seemed very risky at the time reinvesting everything in his success the effort has definitely paid off.  If Elon had chosen to quit rather than risk it all he would certainly not be one of the wealthiest humans alive today and the world would not be as awesome of a place.

    SpaceX has revolutionized the rocket industry by making rockets reusable.  They first achieved a successful landing and recovery of a first stage rocket booster in December 2015.

    In November 2016 Tesla acquired Solar City, which was then the largest provider of solar rooftop panels.

    Tesla has been revolutionizing the auto industry and energy market since Elon Musk became involved with the new company in 2004.

    Since then Tesla has won the highest safety honor from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.  

    With ceaseless innovation they have successfully shifted the entire car market towards electrification and emerged as the market leader.  In 2020 Tesla became the most valuable car company in the world.

    And on January 7th, 2021 Elon Musk surpassed Jeff Bezos and officially became the wealthiest man alive.

  • Work Like Hell

    Work Like Hell

    Elon Musk’s work ethic is fierce.

    This is Elon’s advice for a young Entrepreneur wanting to achieve success:

    “Work like hell. I mean you just have to put in 80 to 100 hour weeks every week. [This] improves the odds of success. If other people are putting in 40 hour work weeks and you’re putting in 100 hour work weeks, then even if you’re doing the same thing you know that… you will achieve in 4 months what it takes them a year to achieve.”~Elon Musk

    Elon also mentioned a similar point during his 2012 USC Commencement Address.  He said:

    “You need to work super hard.  So what does super hard mean?

    Well, when my brother and I were starting our first company, instead of getting an apartment, we just rented a small office and we slept on the couch and we showered in the YMCA. 

    We’re so hard up that we had just one computer. 

    So the website was up during the day, and I was coding at night. 

    7 days a week, all the time.

    And I, sort of briefly had a girlfriend in that period and in order to be with me, she had to sleep in the office. 

    So, work hard, like, every waking hour…

    Particularly if you’re starting a company.”

    Working every waking hour is not for everyone – but it is for people who want to achieve at the highest level.

    During vital growth phases of SpaceX and Tesla, Elon worked as many as 120 hours per week and would sleep in the conference room or even on the factory floor.

    These days he tends to work 80-90 hours per week, which is still more than twice the amount of someone who works 40 hours per week.

    In a PandoMonthly fireside chat Elon explains how companies succeed:

    “You only build value in a company if you’re doing hard work to solve tough problems.  That’s why companies are valuable.”

    If you are thinking about starting a company realize the more hours you put towards your business the more your business will grow.  The closer you get to Elon’s level of working every waking hour the greater your odds of success will be.

  • Striving to Be The Best is a Strong Strategy

    Striving to Be The Best is a Strong Strategy

    The 10x Rule: Why Your Product Must Be Significantly Better to Win

    The great news about precedents and superlatives is you don’t need millions of dollars to realize their power for your business or brand.

    One way you can realize the marketing power of precedents is by setting a precedent for the most powerful piece of content for a high volume keyword phrase in your niche.

    Google’s mission is to “Organize the world’s information.” So give Google and people what they want – the best organized and most compelling piece of content that sets a precedent for quality or clarity.

    When you start with the best quality and most in depth content on a topic your chances for getting strong ranking and marketing results with Google search increases.

    List posts do particularly well in Google.

    If the top post for the keyword phrase you are targeting is a top 10 tips post, a strong strategy is to create a list post with 50+ tips.

    Strive to be significantly better than the post that is currently ranking number one for the keyword phrase you are targeting.

    Then if you can take that precedent setting content and serve it up in a variety of media types it will further enhance your chances of a strong ranking.

    Some ways you can raise the bar for your excellent content include:

    • Video Content
    • Audio Content
    • .PDF’s
    • Slide Share Presentation
    • Free Downloads
    • And more!

    You can even use some of the above bonus content examples as lead magnets and offer them as incentives for people to join your email list.

    Only by striving for world class quality can you achieve world class results.

    Don’t settle for mediocrity, strive to be the best you can be with what you do!

    The precedent of falcon wing doors on the Tesla Model X is a great example of setting a new precedent of better doors than gullwing, as they still go up but due to the double hinge can park beside another vehicle and still have the doors go up.

    By setting a precedent for a new level of quality you will get people talking and sharing your business naturally and you will tap into the power of word of mouth marketing when people discuss the awesome work you do.

  • The Importance of Prototypes and Production

    Stop Celebrating Prototypes; Start Planning Production.

    When asked why the Tesla Cybertruck and Roadster are taking so much time to produce, Elon explains: “Design Is Easy.  Production is Hard.”

    Don’t get Elon wrong: He’s not saying design is not worth obsessing over or that Tesla and SpaceX do not obsess over design…

    Because obsessing over design has helped make Tesla vehicles and SpaceX products as awesome as they are.

    But a design on paper is easier than a prototype in clay, and a prototype is easier than a product on a production line.

    The machine that builds the machine is the ultimate challenge.

    Elon has said production is at least an order of magnitude harder than developing a prototype, when talking about Tesla.

    So once you get a prototype to work with, you can shift your focus to finding investors and getting the funds, factory and people so you can get into production!

    The rate of innovation is why Tesla’s do not have model years, because improvements are being made constantly, and certainly not at a once per year pace.

    Because you’ve got to constantly innovate and iterate to create something great.

    Get from the design to the prototype phase as soon as possible.

    Because once you have a prototype you can focus on the challenges that come with production and delivery.

  • Manifest Motives Worth More Than Money

    Manifest Motives Worth More Than Money

    Be guided by doing the right thing.  It’s always right to do the right thing.

    Elon has a current estimated net worth of $600+ billion as of December, 2025, and this does not factor in his crypto assets. 

    His net worth fluctuates depending on the price of Tesla shares and the valuation of SpaceX.

    Interestingly Elon went on the record in a Reddit Storytime with NASA and said:

    “I actually don’t care about money at all.  At all.  But I do care about us becoming a space faring civilization.”

    For Elon it’s certainly not all about the money: First and foremost for Elon it’s about the missions.

    When we make mistakes, it’s just because we were being foolish or stupid or whatever, but it’s really always made with the right motivations.  

    We say the things we believe even when sometimes those things we believe are delusional.”

    Elon is a genius among geniuses and part of this is his ability to recognize when re-calibration is necessary.

    Even the smartest among us make mistakes.  Making mistakes is a part of making things work better.  Elon elaborated on this idea at a Baron Investment Conference: 

    “We’d made so many mistakes in the beginning of Tesla we basically had to recapitalize the company completely…Almost every decision we made was wrong.”

    Being right is often a process of eliminating and learning from what is wrong…

    A big part of the power of Tesla and everything Elon does is his willingness to be wrong, and then use this knowledge to pave the path to a more righteous realization.

    Thinking you are always right will always stifle innovation.

    Naive teenagers often think they are always right…and they often are proved wrong at this point.

    Elon has likely made more right business decisions than almost anyone else alive and yet he says: 

    “We start from the point of view that we are wrong.  And our goal is to be less wrong.”

    The more wrongs you can improve upon…

    The more likely you will ultimately be right.

  • Pursue Organic Media Opportunities

    Pursue Organic Media Opportunities

    Elon Musk was being interviewed in the Tesla factory and said to the interviewer “Feel free to come with a video crew to the Tesla factory anytime.”

    Elon is prolific with doing interviews on both mainstream media and with YouTubers.

    The way to do this is to create a spreadsheet with ~100 potential people who you can do a video or podcast promotion with.  Reach out to them and see if you can help them generate content by getting on their show.  Tracking technology can determine if they drive sales and if they do you can split profit with them so both of you win!

    Elon is on plenty of video blogs (AKA vlogs) and podcasts.

    Because getting traction in the millions of views for an appearance is a solid ROI for his efforts. Elon is big on video marketing and has been leveraging it for decades.

    It is unclear if he pays to do so but likely he is able to get on the appearances for free due to the amount of awareness he can generate for the vloggers.

    To find channels actively seeking guests:

    • Use platforms like MatchMaker.fm, PodMatch.com, or PodcastGuests.com — these connect YouTube podcasters with potential guests (many specify YouTube/video formats).
    • Search X (Twitter) or Reddit for posts like “#PodcastGuest” or “YouTube interview guests wanted.”
    • Check channel descriptions or community tabs for submission info.

    If you’re an expert in a specific niche (e.g., business, health, tech), target matching shows for better chances. Popular interview channels thrive on diverse, engaging guests, so compelling pitches help!

    As Tesla typically avoids traditional advertising YouTube has been a key reason why Elon and his companies have been able to get so much attention and success, much more so than any other car company, for a fraction of the cost.

  • Aim to Make a Big Difference

    Aim to Make a Big Difference

    If you want the change you are affecting to be disruptive it must be a big difference.

    “If it’s just incremental, it’s unlikely to be something major.  It’s got to be something that’s substantially better than what’s gone on before.” (SXSW 2013)

    Why take baby steps when you can take big strides?

    Why limit yourself and your capabilities?

    Dream big.

    Shooting for Mars likely makes a Moon mission more attainable.

    Shooting for a billion likely makes a million come faster.

    The bigger your goals the more motivated you will be to chase them.

    With Moon base and Mars missions in the works SpaceX is launching more rockets than any other government or company.  Elon and SpaceX are winning the space race and big thinking has helped them engineer their way to the market leader position where they are clearly setting the pace for advancement in space.

    Put yourself in the shoes of the consumer, Elon says.

    “They are going to buy the trusted brand unless there is a big difference.“

    So if you want to set yourself apart from the competition don’t just try to be a bit better.
    Strive to be significantly better.

  • Focus on Signal Over Noise

    For years Elon and Tesla never spent any money on advertising.

    They focused instead on investing in R&D and design since these aspects of business help make the products as good as possible.

     “I ask myself: Will this activity result in a better product or service? If not, I stop those efforts.”

    There are grey areas like “Is a Tesla sign design an ad?” but ultimately the important takeaway is how money invested into design and manufacturing is a far better value than money burned on ads that do not significantly move a company forward.

    Elon has created Billions of dollars in growth by focusing his investments and then exercising control to accelerate growth.

    Here’s a quote from Elon talking with Inc. on the subject:

    “It’s OK to have your eggs in one basket as long as you control what happens to that basket.”

    Speaking of focus, a powerful statement Elon shared at the USC commencement address he gave is to:

    “Focus on signal over noise. A lot of companies get confused.  They spend money on things that don’t actually make the product better.

    For example at Tesla we’ve never spent any money on advertising.  We put all of the money into R&D and manufacturing and design to try to make the car as good as possible.

    And I think that’s the way to go.

    For any given company just keep thinking about are these efforts that people expending are they resulting in a better product or service, and if they are not, stop those efforts.“

    Focus on what actually moves the needle forward.  

    Focus on signal over noise.

  • Really Like What You Do

    Really Like What You Do

    Fueled by Interest: The Secret to Elon Musk’s 100-Hour Work Weeks.

    If I did not have a passion for Elon Musk and the businesses he magnetizes I would have had a much harder time writing so many posts about him.

    Since Elon is so fantastically fascinating to me I have found the energy to pour into these pages, and plenty of content from the interesting tips he’s shared.

    Here’s a timeless Elon quote that speaks to the importance of liking what you do:

    “Really liking what you do in whatever area that you get into, even if you’re the best of the best there’s always a chance of failure, so I think it’s important that you really like whatever you’re doing.  If you don’t like it, life is too short.

    If you like what you’re doing you think about it even when you’re not working, it’s something that your mind is drawn to, and if you don’t like it you just really can’t make it work I think.“

    When you really like what you do it enables you to find the energy to persist through the challenges that a growing business will undoubtedly face.

    The more competitive you decide to be, the greater your odds are for victory.

    Really liking what you do enables the obsession needed to ignore the hate and find great ways to dominate.

    Don’t spread yourself thin: Go all in on something you really like…

    Then obsess over it so you can optimize everything you do and dominate your market.