Elon Musk 1

Name: Jonatan Estrada

Instructor: Mr. Buckle
Course: English
Date :02/10/2021

Elon Musk: Shaping the Future of Technology

Introduction
Elon Musk is a South Africa-born innovator and businessman who is the CEO of Tesla,

SpaceX, and other subsidiary companies. He is actively involved in revolutionizing

transportation through electric cars and space exploration through his spacecraft company. His

intense self-confidence and ambition have transformed the automotive and aerospace industries

which are mostly dominated by government entities and big corporations. For instance, Tesla is

now competing with other automotive companies such as Ford, Honda, and Toyota while

SpaceX is partnering with NASA to improve space exploration missions. Elon demonstrates the

visionary leadership style that involves continuous learning, breaking barriers, and developing

new ways of solving problems. Elon Musk has had an impact on the world and has left a lasting

legacy by pioneering e-commerce, delivering private spaceflight on earth and the lunar orbit,

producing efficient and cost-effective electric cars, and renewable energy.

Early Years

Elon Musk was born in 1971 in Pretoria, South Africa where he developed an interest in

inventions from an early age. His mother was a nutritionist and a model while his father was an

engineer. By the age of 10, he started to teach himself how to program using computers and at 12

years he developed a space fighting game called Blastar (Biography 1). Elon was short and

introverted therefore was bullied in school until 15 years when he learned karate and wrestling.

At the age of 17 years, he moved to Canada and studied at Queen’s University after he received

his Canadian citizenship the same year. 1n 1992, Elon shifted to the University of Pennsylvania
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to study physics and business. Thereafter, he pursued his PhD in energy physics at Stanford

University. After just 2 days, Elon dropped out of Stanford to launch his first company called

Zip2 Corporation in 1995 (Biography 1). In 2002, Elon finally became a United States citizen. 

Famous Years

Throughout his career, Elon has experienced tremendous success that has made him

famous across the world. In 1989, Elon relocated to Canada to avoid serving in the South African

military that was advocating for apartheid. Another famous year in Elon’s career was in 1995

when he enrolled at Stanford University for a PhD program but dropped out to take advantage of

the internet boom occurring at the time (Iyer 1). Besides, in 1995, Elon started the online city

guide called Zip2 Corporation with his brother, Kimbal Musk. The website provided content for

websites such as the Chicago Tribune and The New York Times. Another landmark in Elon’s

career was in 2002 when he founded SpaceX that develops spacecraft for commercial space

travel. Elon made history on May 22, 2012, by spearheading the launch of the Falcon 9 rocket

into space which utilized an unmanned capsule (Ryba 1). In 2003, Elon founded Tesla to provide

affordable electric cars to the market. In April 2017, Tesla surpassed General Motors and became

the most valuable car producer in the United States. 

Elon Musk’s Impacts

Elon has had a tremendous impact on the world by coming up with inventions that

improve the lives of humans. One of his contributions to innovation was injecting $10 million

into X.com which later formed PayPal. He was appointed the CEO of the online-payment

platform in April 2000, however, he was ousted as CEO and later earned $165 million (Wayne

9). His ambition in innovative ventures compelled him to continue investing in new ideas. Elon
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Musk is known for his vision with the products he has developed which justifies his previous

mistakes. 

Elon Musk reawakened space exploration by investing $100 million into SpaceX from the sale of

PayPal to eBay. SpaceX has the vision to fly people to Mars at low costs by 2024. The first three

rocket launches by SpaceX failed which raised suspicion on the investors of the company. Musk

took risks which turned out to be successful and SpaceX received a contract of $1.6 billion from

NASA towards the development and testing of the launch vehicles (Vance 14). He went all out

with the launches and fortunately the plan worked out for him and the company. The successful

rocket launch in 2008 marked the achievement of a lifetime dream for Elon Musk and forever

changing the industry. 

In 2003, Elon Musk invested in Tesla Motors to produce affordable electric vehicles with

zero emissions. The company was successful in producing a high-performance car called

Roadster but failed in its cost-effectiveness (Vance 22). The vehicle was not launched as the

financial crisis in 2008 affected the company to the point of almost going bankrupt and shutting

down. Musk was forced to invest his $35 million savings and borrow from banks and friends to

fund the Model S and prevent Tesla from collapsing. He divorced his wife and survived on

personal loans from his colleagues until October 2009 as he had run out of cash to cover the

expenses of the company. The hard work and relentless focus gained positive results as Tesla

vehicles received great performance reviews thereby increasing their sales. 

Another impact that Elon has had is the advancement of sustainable energy for a wider

consumer base. This is through the purchase of SolarCity company in 2016 for $2.6 billion to

produce commercial and grid-scale energy. Elon leads the company in producing end-to-end

clean energy products such as commercial solar panels, Tesla Solar Roof, and installation
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technology of renewable energy. In 2020, Elon declared that Tesla Solar is the lowest-cost solar

panel in the country. The company seeks to replace non-renewable sources of energy such as

coal, oil, and natural gas. 

Conclusion

Elon Musk is an innovative executive who is actively involved in a hands-on approach to

finding solutions to transportation, space exploration and renewable energy. The multiple

projects he has embarked on in his career have become successful due to his strong vision.

Particularly, he is always dedicated to the continuous improvement of the industry by

incorporating customer needs into his product development. Tesla and SpaceX are among the

most successful companies in the transportation and space exploration industries respectively

due to the leadership and new insights that Elon provides.

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Works Cited

Biography. "Elon Musk Biography". Biography, 2021, https://www.biography.com/business-

figure/elon-musk#:~:text=Early%20Life&text=He%20taught%20himself%20how

%20to,himself%20with%20karate%20and%20wrestling. Accessed 14 Feb 2021.

Iyer, Gaurav S. "What Spacex CEO Elon Musk Says About Getting a Phd". Profit Confidential,

2016, https://www.profitconfidential.com/news/what-spacex-ceo-elon-musk-says-about-

getting-a-phd/. Accessed 15 Feb 2021.

Ryba, Jeanne. “Commercial Space Transportation”. NASA, 2012,

https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/cargo/spacex_launch.html

Vance, Ashlee. Elon Musk: How the billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla is shaping our future.

Random House, 2015.

Wayne, Leslie. "A bold plan to go where men have gone before." The New York Times (2006).