Musk becomes the richest man in the world again: My 5 entrepreneurship and life suggestions for young people
Recently, according to the Forbes real-time rich list, Tesla CEO Elon Musk regained his position as the world's richest man with a net worth of US$203.4 billion.
Musk said that if it was just to increase his net worth, he would not choose to start Tesla and Space X, but would go into the financial industry or the oil industry. For a long time, he started his business to solve "the sense of existential crisis" and "influence the future of mankind".
Today, we share two Musk speeches to see how he succeeded in starting a business, and what advice he has for those who are unwilling to be ordinary——
This is Musk’s speech at the USC Marshall School of Business in May 2014, and his sharing of the secrets of success. When he mentioned his entrepreneurial experience, he also said that collecting feedback is very important, and use it to revise your previous experience . assumption. We share it with everyone.
"I've always had an existential crisis"
When I was a kid, people often asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, but I didn't really know. Then I thought it would be cool to invent, because science fiction writer Arthur Clark (author of "2001: A Space Odyssey") once said, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
Think about it, if humans 300 years ago saw that today we can fly, communicate over long distances, use the Internet, and instantly find information from all over the world, they would definitely say that this is magic. If I can invent very advanced technology, wouldn't it be like doing magic?
I have always had a sense of existential crisis, wanting to find out what is the meaning of life, what is the purpose of existence. The final conclusion is that if we have a way to make the knowledge of the world more and more advanced and the scale and scope of human consciousness expand day by day, then we will be more able to ask the right questions, so that our wisdom and spirit will be better. Much enlightenment.
So, I decided to study physics and business. Because to achieve such a lofty goal, you have to understand how the universe works, how the economy works, and you have to find the best team of talents to invent things together.
In 1995, I came to California (entered Stanford University to study for a Ph.D.), trying to find out how to increase the energy density of electric vehicles, for example, is there a better capacitor that can be used as a battery replacement.
But at that time, with the rise of the Internet, I faced two choices: continue to study capacitor technology, which has little chance of success, or devote myself to the Internet business. In the end, I chose to drop out of school and participate in online startups, one of which was PayPal.
The most important realization of the creation of PayPal comes from its birth process. We originally planned to use PayPal to provide integrated financial services, which is a large and complex system. As a result, every time I introduce this system to others, no one is interested. When we introduce it again, there is a small function of email payment in the system, and everyone becomes very interested.
So we decided to focus on email payments, and PayPal was an instant hit. However, if we hadn't noticed other people's reactions and made changes in the first place, we might not have been so successful. So it's important to gather feedback and use it to revise your previous assumptions.
After the success of PayPal, I began to think, what are the problems in front of me that are most likely to affect the future of mankind? In my opinion, the biggest problem facing the planet is sustainable energy, that is, how to produce and consume energy in a sustainable way. If this problem is not addressed in the twenty-first century, we are headed for disaster. Another big problem that may affect human survival is how to migrate to other planets.
The first question led me to found Tesla and SolarCity (the largest supplier of rooftop solar systems in the US). The second question led me to found the space technology company SpaceX.
In 2002, in order to solve the problem of space transportation, I founded SpaceX. The people I talked to at the time advised me not to do it, and a friend even found a video of a rocket exploding for me to watch (laughter). He was actually right. I had never made a physical product, so it was really difficult at the beginning. The rocket launch failed three times in a row, which was very painful.
But we learned from each failure, and finally in 2008, the fourth launch was successful, putting the Falcon 1 into Earth orbit. At that time, I had used up all the funds, and luckily it succeeded.
Afterwards, our transport rockets went from Falcon 1 to Falcon 9, and we developed the Dragon spacecraft. Recently, after its launch, the Dragon successfully connected with the International Space Station and returned to Earth. I literally broke into a cold sweat, I can't believe we did it.
However, there is much more to be achieved if humans are to colonize other planets. So, I hope you also come and join SpaceX or other space exploration companies. This is not to be pessimistic about the earth. In fact, I am quite optimistic about the future of the earth. I think there is a 99% probability that human beings can live in peace for a long time. However, even if the earth has only 1% future risk, it is enough to stimulate us to prepare early and make a "planetary backup".
In 2003, to demonstrate the potential of electric vehicles, I founded Tesla Inc. In the past, many people believed that electric vehicles were too slow, could not run very far, and were ugly, just like golf carts. In order to change people's impression, we developed the Tesla Roadster, an electric sports car with fast speed, long range and stylish appearance.
So , to start a company, you have to actually prototype a product. Because, no matter how wonderful paper assignments or PowerPoint reports are, they are not as convincing as the actual product.
After the Roadster came out, some people said, "Even if you can make an expensive limited sports car, do you have the ability to make a real mass-produced car?" No problem, we will launch the four-door sedan Model S to prove it to everyone.
This is the entrepreneurial journey that I have come all the way. What I want to say is that you are all magicians in the 21st century, and your imagination has no limits. Don't let anything stop you, let's become magic to your heart's content.
5 Secrets to Success
Musk also shared his secrets of pursuing success in his speech, combined with the important experience he mentioned elsewhere, it is organized as follows:
1. Joining Tesla is equivalent to joining the special forces, you have to work hard
Work like hell. You can improve your odds of success simply by working 80 to 100 hours a week. If other people only work 40 hours a week and you work 100 hours, you do in 4 months what everyone else does for a year, even though you are doing the same thing.
This is especially true for those who want to start a business. When my brother and I started our first company, Zip2, we rented an office, slept on the couch, showered at the YMCA every day, and only had one computer. Our website is only available during the day, because I have to program at night. That's it, seven days a week, every waking hour.
We work six days a week, some (like me) even work seven days. But for many people, they can't work 7 days a week. Our factory is open 7 days a week, but we only have workers working 6 days a week, and obviously, some people want to work a reasonable number of hours.
I think people can keep working 50 hours a week, which is a fantastic workweek. If you join Tesla, you work hard. We're not trying to trick you into trusting you, if you can go work for another company and maybe only work 40 hours a week, but if you work for Tesla, you're working at least 50 hours a week, and sometimes maybe 60 to 50 hours a week. 80 hours.
If it is an hourly worker, then he will receive 1.5 times the hourly wage. If it is a salary system, then we will give cash or company stock as a reward for extra work. So we try to make reasonable compensation, but the general understanding is: if you are in Tesla, then you have chosen special forces.
The United States has this army, but it is okay. But if you work at Tesla, then you are stepping into the game, where there are rewards and punishments. Being in Special Forces sounds cool, but it also means you have to work, work, work, and it's not for everyone.
I think it is very important that people should not always serialize the things that should be done (serialize), and do another one after finishing one thing, but should try to put everything in parallel on the time axis as much as possible. A lot of things have to be conceived for a long time, and you can't speed up the time to complete them, you should let them go at the same time. This is an excellent way to improve entrepreneurial efficiency, and most people tend to serialize different things.
2. Do everything possible to find the most powerful talents
A business is a group of people who come together to create a product or service. Whether you're starting a business or working in an enterprise, the key is working with top talent. You should try to join a good team and work with people who you admire. If you start a business, you must try your best to find the most powerful talents.
One either joins a company where elites gather and respects people, or one works with a mob. In most cases, the success of a company is a group of excellent people who come together to make a great product. No matter how talented this group of people is, they must work together to focus on a correct product direction in order to create great success.
Hiring many people to do a complex task is often a mistake. Quantity can never make up for quality advantages, and more people will reduce efficiency and increase task costs.
The biggest mistake I have made is to place too much value on people's talents instead of their characters. I think it is very important to have a good heart.
Look for two things when hiring - a positive attitude and being easy to get along with. People have to enjoy working with the candidate. There is nothing uncomfortable about working at Tesla.
3. Focus on the signal, not the noise (signal over noise)
A lot of businesses confuse focus and spend a lot of money doing things that don't make the product better. At Tesla, we never advertise, but invest money in research and development and production design, and constantly improve the product.
We also don't discount, if a celebrity comes to buy our car because they like the car, it's not us giving them a discount. Actually I don't like the concept of marketing, I think marketing is a very strange concept, I don't like it. I think marketing is like trying to trick people into buying things.
We don't think too much about intellectual property, paperwork, and legal bells and whistles, we just focus on making the best product we can. Both Zip2 and Paypal are product-focused companies. We are obsessed with making our products the best possible customer experience. This obsession with product quality is far more efficient than armies of salespeople, fancy marketing gimmicks, or the so-called 12-part method.
Every company should ask itself if what we're doing is actually making the product or service better, and if not, call it quits.
Also be very mindful of negative feedback, seek feedback, especially from friends. This might sound like a simple piece of advice, but it's so rarely done, it's very helpful.
(When asked about the most important quality of an entrepreneur:) Dedication to product quality is very important, so persistence and passion from the heart are very important. You have to really love what you do, no matter what field it is. Even if you are the best you can be, you can still fail. So it is extremely important that you love what you do.
Life is too short to waste it if you don't like it. If you love it, you think about it even when you're not working, and your brain can't help but be drawn to it.
4. First principle
The first principles of physics research should not be reasoned by analogy, but should start from the most fundamental truth. Physicists use this principle to understand something counterintuitive, such as quantum mechanics.
What I'm trying to say is that it's different from reasoning by analogy when you boil everything down to the basic nature of things and reason from there. In our lives, we all use analogy to reason, which actually means that we have to copy what others do and then make a little change. You have to. Otherwise, from a psychological point of view, you will not be able to get through the day. But when you want to do a new thing, you have to do things according to the principles of physics.
Use this principle more to judge whether what you do is really reasonable and meaningful, or are you just following others? If you want to start a new business, develop a new product, this is the best way to think about it.
5. An ordinary person can choose to be extraordinary
The older you get, the more responsibilities you have to take on. After you have a family, when you face the risk of failure, you often have to consider other people around you and become more hesitant. So, I will encourage you, now is the best time to take risks, let go if you have a dream, and I guarantee that you will not regret it!
I'm not saying that we must destroy and engage in disruptive innovation, but there are some very important things that need to be achieved. In order to achieve this goal, if there must be some subversion, I will do it... What really encourages me is that when subversive innovation is required, I will do the necessary subversion and destruction.
If something is very important to you, you should stick to it even if everyone is against you.
Only by seeing the possibility of things first, will they have the chance to happen.
If you believe that there will be more opportunities in the future, you have no reason to be sad about lost opportunities. You have reason to regret only when you have more to lose than you could possibly gain.
I think an ordinary person can choose to be extraordinary.
Doing business is like eating glass and staring into the abyss of death, if that seems appealing.
I can't say I've never been afraid. I actually wish I had less worry and fear because it distracts me and my nervous system suffers.
If I am not so committed, it is the greatest risk, because the hope of success is zero.
Many times, people think starting a company is fun, but it's not as much fun as it seems. There may be some good times, but there are actually many bad times. Especially when you start a company and you have to pick out the biggest headaches in the company, there is no point in spending time on things that can't go wrong, so you should only focus on things that can go wrong.
You need a filter in your company that filters out the worst problems. I think you'll feel compelled to do it, so a high annoyance limit is needed. It takes a long time to understand that you deal with the problems your company needs you to deal with, not the problems you want to solve.