Top 10 Unknown and Interesting Facts About Elon Musk
Elon Reeve Musk FRS is a well-known investor and entrepreneur who is among the wealthiest people in the world. He is well-known for his important positions in Tesla, Inc. and SpaceX. He is also involved with a number of cutting-edge businesses, including xAI, Neuralink, OpenAI, X Corp. (previously Twitter), and The Boring Company. According to Forbes, Musk’s net worth as of August 2024 is an incredible $247 billion, making him one of the richest people in the world.
When Musk relocated to California in 1995 to enroll at Stanford University, his career really took off. However, he left the school after just two days in order to focus on his business endeavors. Musk co-founded Zip2, an online city guide program, with his brother Kimbal. In 1999, Zip2 was sold to Compaq for $307 million.
Musk launched X.com in the same year, and it later merged with Confinity to become PayPal. Musk utilized a portion of the $1.5 billion he received from the sale of PayPal to eBay in 2002 to launch SpaceX. Nowadays, one of the top private space exploration firms in the globe is SpaceX.
Musk became an early investor in Tesla, Inc. in 2004 and went on to become the company’s CEO and product architect. Under his direction, Tesla has transformed the market for electric cars and cemented its standing as a pioneer in renewable energy.
In this blog, we’ll uncover the top 10 unknown and interesting facts about Elon Musk that go beyond the headlines, offering a deeper dive into his life, personality, and remarkable journey.
1. At the age of Twelve, Elon Musk Taught Himself Computer Programming
The most astounding thing about Musk’s early years is how proficient a computer programmer he was able to teach himself. Elon Musk was raised in Pretoria, South Africa, and showed an early interest in technology. He taught himself how to code when he was just 12 years old, and the result was the video game Blastar. A PC magazine purchased the game for about $500, showcasing Musk’s entrepreneurial spirit even at such a young age.
Musk’s later forays into the aerospace industry were incorporated into the space-themed video game Blastar. This early attempt at coding gave the world a peek of his inventiveness and hinted at his future goals. Musk’s remarkable achievement of developing and commercializing a video game at such a young age, despite having no formal programming expertise, signaled the start of his lifelong passion with technology.
2. Musk Withdrew from A Stanford PhD Program in Just Two Days
Although Elon Musk has an amazing educational background, what really interests me is how quickly he made the transition from academia to entrepreneurship. One of the most prominent PhD programs in the world, applied physics at Stanford University, accepted Musk. But two days after he began, he took the audacious choice to stop.
In the mid-1990s, Musk noticed that the internet was starting to take off, and he thought he could make a bigger effect in the IT industry than in academics. Upon leaving Stanford, Elon co-founded Zip2, a software company that offered business directories and maps for newspapers, with his brother Kimbal Musk. This choice ultimately placed Musk on the route to becoming the billionaire inventor we know today, as it resulted in a string of profitable endeavors, including the $307 million sale of Zip2 to Compaq.
3. Musk and Sleep Have a Complicated Relationship
Elon Musk is well-known for his tenacious pursuit of advancement and hard work ethic; he frequently puts in up to 100 hours per week at the office. His extraordinary performance has been attributed to his dedication, but it has also sparked concerns about his personal health, particularly with regard to his sleeping patterns. Musk has acknowledged that he finds it difficult to strike a healthy balance between work and play, frequently getting just six hours of sleep each night.
Musk has admitted in interviews that his sleep schedule isn’t the best and that it has occasionally resulted in burnout. In spite of this, he keeps pushing the frontier of human endurance, forgoing sleep in order to achieve his lofty objectives. Musk’s way of life is evidence of his unwavering dedication to his endeavors, even at the cost of his health. He frequently says that although getting the correct amount of sleep is essential for productivity, he’s still working on it.
4. Elon Musk Nearly Sold Tesla to Google
The fact that Elon Musk almost sold Tesla to Google at one time is among the most unexpected things about him. Due to issues with manufacturing and the supply chain, Tesla was on the verge of bankruptcy in 2013, and Musk was determined to keep the firm afloat. He made contact with Larry Page, the CEO of Google at the time, to talk about a potential acquisition.
Musk suggested that Google pay $6 billion to acquire Tesla and provide an extra $5 billion to cover operating expenses. After Page expressed interest, talks started. But Tesla’s fortunes turned around before the transaction could be signed. By meeting production goals and increasing sales—especially of the Model S—the company was able to turn things around. By the time the agreement was meant to close, Google’s financial assistance was no longer required for Tesla.
This almost-sale to Google is a little-known tale from Tesla’s past that demonstrates the high-risk, high-reward character of Musk’s business endeavors. It serves as a reminder that, sometimes, success requires overcoming hardship and that, even the most prosperous businesses can encounter difficult obstacles.
5. City Guide Software Was Musk’s First Startup
Even though Musk’s businesses, such as SpaceX and Tesla, are well-known today, his first commercial success came from a startup called Zip2. When he and his brother Kimbal founded Zip2 in 1995, it served as a kind of digital city guide software for newspapers, assisting them in creating an online presence. Newspapers can now provide local marketers with an online platform to reach their readership thanks to technology developed by Zip2.
This early endeavor was extremely important since it showed Musk’s vision for the internet’s significance well in advance of its widespread adoption. Musk received $22 million when Zip2 was sold to Compaq in 1999 for $307 million. In addition to giving Musk the money to support his next endeavors, this early success strengthened his conviction that technology has the ability to completely change entire sectors.
6. In 2002, He Obtained U.S. Citizenship
Throughout his life, Elon Musk has resided in a number of nations, including the US, Canada, and South Africa. Even though Musk is frequently connected to Silicon Valley, a lot of people are surprised to learn that he wasn’t always an American citizen. Musk was born and raised in South Africa before relocating to Ontario, Canada, to attend Queen’s University. He eventually transferred to the University of Pennsylvania in the United States.
The official year that Musk became a citizen of the United States was 2002. In addition, he launched SpaceX in this year, which was a pivotal moment in his career as he turned his attention to space exploration. Musk’s cosmopolitan upbringing and experiences in various educational institutions have surely shaped his outlook on the world and method of conducting business.
7. He’s a Self-Declared Sci-Fi Geek
Musk’s passion for science fiction is widely known, and it has greatly influenced his goals. Musk’s love of science fiction books and movies as a child influenced his outlook on the future. Books like Foundation and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy affected his ideas on space exploration, AI, and humankind’s destiny.
Many of the concepts in Musk’s businesses are inspired by his favorite science fiction novels. SpaceX’s objective to inhabit Mars, for instance, seems like something from a science fiction book, and Neuralink’s ambition to combine AI and human consciousness sounds like the storyline of a futuristic film. His love of science fiction has inspired him to pursue his goals of making fantasy come true in the real world in addition to feeding his imagination.
8. Tony Stark (Iron Man) Was Inspired by Elon Musk
It’s no accident that Elon Musk and Tony Stark, the renowned Marvel superhero known as Iron Man, have a lot in common. In reality, Robert Downey Jr. drew inspiration from Musk to play the character in the Iron Man movies. In order to prepare for the role, Downey Jr. and director Jon Favreau even went to the SpaceX offices to get a feel for Musk’s work style and demeanor.
Musk’s presence in Iron Man 2 further cemented his relationship with the character. Tony Stark and Elon Musk are two well-to-do, eccentric inventors who enjoy theatrics and who are passionate about applying technology to address significant issues. Even though Stark is a mythical character, Musk frequently seems to have accomplished just as much in real life.
9. Musk Once Lived on $1 a Day
Even though he is currently among the richest persons in the planet, Elon Musk used to lead a very frugal lifestyle. When Musk was a college student, he made it his personal goal to only spend $1 on food each day. He was able to do this by eating only oranges and hot dogs. Musk has used this tale to demonstrate his willingness to make sacrifices and withstand adversity in order to accomplish his objectives.
Musk learned from this experience that he could live on very little, which offered him the courage to take chances in his business endeavors. He was able to put more of an emphasis on long-term achievement than on temporary comfort because he knew he could survive on practically nothing. This kind of thinking has propelled Musk’s daring approach to business and innovation.
10. Musk Is Considering Dying on Mars—Not on Impact
Musk is well recognized for his dedication to space exploration, particularly to the colonization of Mars, yet this devotion is frequently overlooked. Musk has expressed his desire to pass away on Mars, “not on impact,” on multiple occasions. This witty but insightful remark captures Musk’s long-term idea of humans evolving into a multiverse.
Musk established SpaceX with the express purpose of lowering the cost of space travel and enabling human settlement. In addition to exploration, his goal for Mars colonization is to secure human survival in the event that Earth becomes inhospitable. Given that he is presently working on one of the most ambitious projects in human history—transforming life on another planet—this ambitious ambition sets Musk apart from other tech entrepreneurs.