[INFOGRAPHIC] Elon Musk: Profile Of A Prolific Entrepreneur

February 9, 2017

When you think of entrepreneurship today, the name Elon Musk almost certainly comes to mind. His name has become not only synonymous with serial entrepreneurship, but also a drive to make the world a better place through technological advancements.

But Musk’s journey to the top of the tech world has not been a smooth procession- it was rather a classic tale of overcoming hardships. Amidst the dot-com boom, Musk founded his first company Zip2 in 1995, a software company for online newspapers, together with his brother Kimbal. Zip2 was sold 4 years later to Compaq for US$307 million. Musk went on to co-found the company that ultimately became Paypal, which was sold to Ebay for $1.5 billlion in 2002. These early successes enabled Musk to start the ambitious space exploration company SpaceX in 2002, with the mission reducing the cost of space exploration and enabling the colonization of Mars. In 2003, Musk also founded the electric vehicle company Tesla. These companies have both been on the brink of bankruptcy in 2008 and 2013, but a swift turnaround of events enabled them to go on. Tesla’s revenue has grown from $15 million in 2008 to $4 billion in 2015, while SpaceX entered into a long-term transport contract with NASA. Besides running SpaceX and Tesla, Musk has also invested in the solar energy company Solar City and in the Hyperloop project, a high speed train that will allow people to travel from LA to San Francisco.