SpaceX - Acquired  ## Metadata - Author: **Acquired** - Full Title: SpaceX - Category: #podcasts - URL: https://share.snipd.com/episode/cc8bc0e2-6b0a-4381-ad4b-e38102fb2c4a ## Highlights - Elon Musk: From Zip 2 Salesman to Billionaire Key takeaways: (* Elon Musk left his job as a software engineer at PayPal in October 2000 after a series of disagreements with the company's management., * He made his first fortune from the sale of his Zip2 software company in 2002., * In 2006, he founded Tesla Motors, which produced the first electric cars., ..., * In October 2017, he was ousted as CEO of Tesla after a series of financial scandals., * The main take away from the conversation is that Elon Musk is a successful entrepreneur who has made a lot of money.) Transcript: Speaker 2 So this unique brew of life experiences for this man, who is only twenty nine years old, he decides, after, in october of two thousand being ousted for the final time from the newly merrged paypa, that he's had enough. He is done with silican valle. He's hanging up his spurs. He is walking away from it all at age twenty nine, with about two hundred million dollars, some of which, a small amount of which coming from his zip two sale earnings, and a large amount of that from his equity and papal and a silver mc claran f one. Oh, by the way, we didn't talk about this on the tessel episode. Did you know, ben, that he and peter teel were driving said mc laran f one up sand hill road to go meet with saquoia capital one day. Peter asked him what this thing could do. Elon said, essentially, hold my beer. And they end up spinning it around, completely totalling it, being an amazing stroke of fate that they do not die. A and then they end of going to the meeting afterwards with the car totally correct. Speaker 1 My god, i knew they totalled it. I had no idea it was with peter or going to sequoia a tat. It's like almost to they god, they got away with their lives. I mean, this is elon we're talking about here. Speaker 2 Ah, so a lot of this history comes from the great, great ashley vancea biography of elon, appropriately titled elon musk. Else are ou going to title a biography like that? Ah, and and ashley writes, to take this into space x now. ([Time 0:08:04](https://share.snipd.com/snip/3f8d9f81-8a77-4749-9abf-3e61dc22d104)) - The Russian Menace: How Mike Sexton and the InkTail Team Helped Protect America from a Cyber Attack Key takeaways: • Mike came along with the group to meet with Russians about buying an ICBM from Russia. • They met with a lot of Russians and had vodka shots. • Vance describes one meeting where they toasted to America. Transcript: Speaker 2 Yes, ben and i were talking before the show, and i was like, i there's going to be a thing like, just wait, just wait, listeners, there's going to be a thing about mike. Wait. So what's mike's rollan tiss. So he comes over to just be part of this, um, what's the right word? Licke, emissary enterage. Maybe jis kindo, you know, make introductions and meet with people, see how one would go about buying an i. Speaker 1 C b, m from russia. Speaker 2 Re could call it an ic. Bm, call it a rocket to get to space, which is what, you know, the intention here is. So mike, he had worked at nassa earlier in his career, and then he had run inkutel, which is the am. It is part of the gs. That is c i, a kind of venture arm for investing in commercial ventures that are going to be helpful to a, the government. So, ido, who knows why mike was coming with them? Youno, heshe's coming from the government'coming from inkytail. Maybe he's keeping tabs on everything that's going on here. So he comes along, and it basically goes as you would expect, listeners, they meet with a much o russians, youdo cantrail, and maybe maybe mike sets set up some meetings. A, and they kind of go like this. Do vat? Vance describes a bunch of them in the book, you know, they walk in, they sit down, there's a lot o, youkno thing that happens, of course, is vodka shots. And a, vance talks about one meeting where they do, everybody in the room does vodka shots, and the russians are toasting, a, to america. ([Time 0:22:53](https://share.snipd.com/snip/f81d0c00-65f2-490b-bbf1-984577b7f620)) - Elon Musk's Pay Pal Plan Key takeaways: • Elon Musk has pumped almost all of his money into Tesla. • Tesla is in a lot of trouble. • Musk calls his old friends from PayPal to help him out. Transcript: Speaker 1 So elon is what put, so we said, a total of a hundred million, an hundred million into space x. I think he said at some point that that was enough for three or four, and i'm quoting the weight, but y or four herbin here, which was great, which has three or four launches, right? Speaker 2 But that cool, because, you know, helik lik, he's deep into this. He said they're gong to do this. Heller high water. He's put a hundred million in, but he made like close to two hundred from papeall right. So like he's good for it, right? No, he's not, because this is two thousand eight, and two things has just happened. This is summer two thousand eight. One. Elon has now summer two thousand eight, he takes over a co of tesla, and he's pumped almost all the rest of his money into tesla. Seventy million, seventy million a and too lemon brothers is about to collapse, and the world is about to the financial world is about to go, not so good luck raising money. So internally, like, he keeps a cool head to the company and externally, but internally, he is like freaking out. So what does he do? He calls up his old friends from pay pal, who are now at founders fund. Speaker 1 Remember that time we were in mc claren? ([Time 1:04:43](https://share.snipd.com/snip/b42fb5fc-0f45-467d-ab64-a32cb13aca40)) - The Falcon One Launch Key takeaways: (* The Falcon One launches were unsuccessful., * Elan gave a speech after the fifth launch., * Class Ilan said it was one of the greatest days of his life.) Transcript: Speaker 1 And revenue fora these falcon one launches was pretty low. Speaker 2 It was something like seven million, million. But, yes, oh, well, so theyg atseven, the initial price was seven million. I don't know if they'd raised itb by this point in time. Speaker 1 Well, they only ever did five launches the falcon one, so they did, couldn't climb too high. Speaker 2 So they finally, a, they finally succeed. Elan gives a speech afterwards, and class ilane says, well, that was freaking awesome. There are a lot of people who thought we couldn't do it, a lot actually. But as the saying goes, the fourth time is the charm, right? There are only a handful of countries on earth that have done this. It's normally a country thingo company thing. My mind is kind of frazzled, so it's hard for me to say anything, but, man, that was definitely one of the greatest days in my life. Now, to be fair, he has a family and five kids, and, yes, one of but like classic elod, i think probably for most people here too, we showed people we can do it. ([Time 1:07:16](https://share.snipd.com/snip/3eb39ba7-9d3e-42e7-9fcf-4e98bb2961a0)) - The History of Falcon 9 Key takeaways: • The dragon is a nickname for the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. • The first commercial Falcon 9 launch took place in September 2013. • Six Falcon 9 launches took place in 2014. Transcript: Speaker 1 Anddelaro that the reason is called dragon is a elon named it after the peter paul and merry song puff, the magic dragon, where basically it is to to give the finger to everyone said he Could never do it. And, you know, yor you're sort of chasin the dragon, am, and saying, look, here it is. I did it ye. Speaker 2 And i think the m i think the i s s as they were they were pulling in the dragon, said something like a, houston, we've caught ourselves a dragon here, something like that. Were got a dragon by the tail. A. Then the next year, in twenty thirteen, to what we were talking about about using these all the technology they built for the government in the commercial sector. In september twenty thirteenth, the first commercial falcon nine launch takes place. They launch several canadian satellites up into orbit inless just about a year later, and e in then in twenty fourteen, so they complete six falcon nine launches in twenty fourteen. ([Time 1:36:53](https://share.snipd.com/snip/c29c5105-0f66-4d21-a86c-b734240eb900)) - The Importance of Skin in the Game Key takeaways: (* Blue Origin has raised a lot of money from equity investors, but SpaceX has raised a lot more money from debt investors., * Blue Origin is focused on building a profitable business, while SpaceX is focused on developing technology and launching satellites., * This difference in focus has helped SpaceX disrupt the space industry.) Transcript: Speaker 2 But certainly a lot more than a hundred million dollars has gone in in terms of, yes, equity funding into blue origin. It's interesting though, like space x, in terms of equity funding, has rased so much less money, and from the beginning was focused on, this is going to be a revenue generating, profitable business, and so on. The one hand youd think naively, like, oh, they have so much fewer resources. But i think it's, in many ways, precisely because of that resource constraint and having to build this profitable business that they've figured out how to disrupt the industry and accomplished so much. And it's just, like, that's just such a theme, like we see all the time on this show and in start ups, right? Is like, sometimes you think when you're out of the gate, like you see these companies raise tons of money, and like, think they're going to, you know, clear out the industry and have all the success, but it ends u hurting them because, like, they're not forced to, they're not forced to build a real business. Speaker 1 Yes, i hadn't really thought about it in those terms. Speaker 2 And then the last last one, just related to that. You know, man is elon across across space x and tesla is he just like the living embodiment of ito, thesem toav skin in the game. A itoa axiom. ([Time 2:10:13](https://share.snipd.com/snip/4bc72433-6d0d-471d-8158-e9a8bdae74ca)) - The fortitude of Elon Musk Key takeaways: • Elon Musk is a very successful businessman and he has been through a lot of near death experiences. • If Tesla or Space X went bankrupt, he would be able to survive because he has a lot of money. Transcript: Speaker 2 And then the last last one, just related to that. You know, man is elon across across space x and tesla is he just like the living embodiment of ito, thesem toav skin in the game. A itoa axiom. Like this guy, like, absolutely is money where his mouth is. And you can say many things about elon, but a, you know, he's been quoted on on so many occasions saying, like, if either tessela or space x goes bankrupt, i will personally go bankrupt. And that is as it should be. And the number of near death moments they've had and pulled through, like, if that weren't the case, if he were alike, you know, i'll be fine. I'll still have my mc claran if goes bankrupt. Lik, would they have had the fortitude, and he had the fortitude to pull through? Ik, i don't know. ([Time 2:11:16](https://share.snipd.com/snip/a020d788-c549-406c-a85d-bdce48f27aa5))