Elon Musk knows a thing or two about starting a company, but his advice to aspiring entrepreneurs might not necessarily inspire them.
'If you need encouragement to start a company, don't do it,' Tesla and SpaceX CEO warns in space conversation ARK Investment Management CEO Cathie Wood on Thursday. She says, “If you need encouragement, you should quit because the chances of failure are very high.''
Of course, Musk needed little encouragement to turn his company into a behemoth. In 2008, wired When I asked Musk how he stayed optimistic as SpaceX's rocket after rocket failed, the billionaire's response showed a level of determination that probably didn't need much encouragement. It was a hint.
“There is no such thing as optimism or pessimism,” he replied. “We're going to make it happen. God is my bloody witness, so I'm committed to making it a success.”
Of course, the company now dominates the launch market, and those in the space industry worry that it has become too dominant.
In addition to leading SpaceX, Musk is also CEO of electric car maker Tesla, tunnel-boring business Boring Company, social media platform X (formerly Twitter), neurotechnology venture Neuralink, and artificial Owns an intelligence startup company. xAI is competing against his OpenAI with his own AI chatbot Grok.
Of course not everyone can accomplish so much, but Musk somewhat downplayed his accomplishments. “I have a lot of respect for people who work hard and build something,” he said yesterday.
Mask “Can't turn off”
He's not the only prominent founder to warn about the difficulty of starting a company these days. A few months ago, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, 60, also offered candid advice about starting a startup.asked in obtained When asked on the podcast what kind of company he would start if he were 30 years old, Huang answered: “I wouldn't do it.”
“Building NVIDIA turned out to be a million times more difficult than I expected. Than any of us expected,” he added. “If you notice pain or suffering, [involved] And I don't think anyone would start a company given how vulnerable they would feel, the challenges they would endure, the embarrassment and shame, and the list of things that could go wrong. No sane person would do that. ”
A few months ago, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen described Musk as the “perfect example” of an “unstoppable” entrepreneur.
He also pointed out that just having the characteristics of a serial entrepreneur does not make a person a serial entrepreneur. Is this really what I want to do with my life? And do you want to experience stress, pain, trauma, anxiety, and risk of failure? ”
Musk is “a rare person who wouldn't have it any other way,” he said. They just have to. ”
Musk had some practical advice for fellow entrepreneurs just starting out. “Try to be helpful,” he said. “Create products and services that people want and make their lives better. That's it.”
