5 Startup Lessons to Learn From Elon Musk
Last Updated: By TRUiC Team
Beyond the quotes we hear repeated from famous entrepreneurs like Elon Musk about entrepreneurship and success, there are a litany of lessons to be learned from their story of founding, managing, and growing wildly successful companies. These are the unexpected startup insights from Elon Musk’s life.
Entrepreneurship Lessons From the Life of Elon Musk
Elon Musk is a regular fixture in news headlines and Twitter feeds; however, some of the most valuable entrepreneurial insights from the SpaceX founder can be found in the timeline of his unique life beyond the commonly discussed entrepreneurial successes and failures.
1. Think Several Steps Ahead
In 1989, Musk moved to Canada in order to attend Queen’s University at age 17. While this is and of itself an achievement, it wasn’t without an ulterior motive. Musk planned to migrate to the United States; however, the move to Canada from his home country of South Africa proved easier and got Musk closer to his ultimate goal of landing in the US.
While his initial descent into North America wasn’t exactly the location he hoped for in the long term, the decision to go to Canada with his mother and brother would get him one step closer to the location.
2. Don’t Let a Setback Stop You From Achieving Your Goals
In 1999, with $10 million in funding from the sale of his company, Zip2, Musk co-founded X.com and a year later merged with Confinity in order to form PayPal. Yet, later that year, Musk was fired as CEO of PayPal due to several disagreements regarding branding and management of the company.
However, the loss of his position at PayPal would lead Musk to begin his trajectory into what would become one of his signature interests — space exploration. By 2002, SpaceX was founded with $100 million of his own funding, eventually securing several contracts with NASA.
3. Leverage Your Success to Help Others
In 2002, the same year SpaceX was launched, Musk also took on a projection of a different kind by starting the Musk Foundation — an organization dedicated to renewable energy, science and engineering education, and pediatric health. The foundation has since been responsible for a myriad of impactful social projects and charitable donations, such as water filtration systems for all schools in Flint, Michigan.
In addition to this, Musk helped with the creation of OpenAI, a not-for-profit artificial intelligence research company. The aim of the company is to develop strategies to utilize AI in order to benefit humanity safely.
4. Never Take Yourself Too Seriously
Over the course of Musk’s career, he has been the topic of much controversy, scrutiny, and many times the subject of a joke. However, Musk has on many occasions been in on the jokes by being included in cameos on “The Simpsons,” “The Big Bang Theory,” and “Saturday Night Live” — each time playing himself.
Not only does it make Musk infinitely more likable, but it is also a clear representation of his ability to have a laugh, even at his own expense - a skill that is beneficial to combat the ups and downs of entrepreneurship.
5. There is Power in Self-Education
Despite founding the most successful private rocket company in the world, Elon Musk has no formal education in aeronautics despite his extensive academic background. When asked how he was able to launch a company of this type and caliber without formal education, Musk’s response is typically that he has spent a great deal of time reading.
As a strong advocate of self-teaching, this is no surprise. However, there is a lesson here: there are many skills you can learn through self-teaching and by dedicating time to educating yourself.
