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He is also audacious. Building out a network of charging stations worldwide to support the EV, launching 1000s of satellites for Starlink, reusable rockets at scale, starting a global ePayment system. Not your typical startups. I don’t know if these were all his ideas and starting with mega-bucks sure helps, but tell me anyone on CP dreams that big let alone acts that big.
And he’s a total dick.
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It's fascinating how many myths about him are just casually taken as reality. He didn't really found PayPal. He first used Daddy's S.A. money to found zip2, which was an online directory, with what some believe was stolen code, and a hacked together early internet company that he quickly sold for millions. Well, the company booted him and gave him money to go away, because he was such a ###### to work with.
He took that money to found X.com, which he wanted to make a bank, but as an illegal immigrant couldn't really make happen without outing himself. Fortunately for him, a real Payment company was already much further along, called Coffinity, run by Peter Thiel and others. He talked his way in with his money, and was given the CEO position of the renamed company, PayPal. We can only guess why. Then he was booted because no one could stand to work with him, but kept his shares which he eventually used to fund his way into Tesla.
There he bullied his way into being given the title of founder, despite the company being well on its way to having the Roadster production ready. All they really needed at the time was his money. He eventually ousted the real founders because his ego couldn't handle them.
The charging network was really a requirement for success, and they got governments to pay them for a lot of it.
Starlink was an idea, really a full fledged plan brought to him to perhaps partner with SpaceX to launch. Musk strung the guy along, basically took all his plans and work, and told him to #### off.
SpaceX is really the only one I can give him much credit for, but even then he would not have succeeded without a lot of patient government support.
Audacious, I'll give you. But he's such an impossible to respect cockwomble when you see the reality of how he got to where he is.