I’m embarrassed to admit that I knew very little about Elon Musk prior to catching this Stanford eCorner chat last week. His association with Tesla, SpaceX, and more recently the Hyperloop project was essentially where my knowledge began and ended.
After attending the LAUNCH Festival earlier this month, it was clear that I had to quickly get up to speed. Why? During each of the Calacanis hosted “Fireside Chats” he asked his keynote guests roughly the same question: “Who is the entrepreneur you are most impressed by?” Unanimously, the answer was Mr. Musk.
Trending entrepreneurs, CEO’s, angels, VC’s, his holiness Peter Thiel — they all had the same answer. Thiel expanded on his answer by explaining that what makes Musk most impressive — beyond the impeccable track record and his ability to jump between industries with nary a pause — is his success in building companies that operate in the world of atoms, rather than in the world of bits (more here). Innovation in atoms is certainly a more significant challenge, but Thiel argues it is also the solution to many of our most pressing issues. Musk is one of few who is successfully “achieving in atoms.”
While it was recorded in 2003, the takeaways are no less relevant. GET YOUR LEARN ON!
rorycgallagher 