Elon Musk, the South African billionaire entrepreneur, is everywhere in the news and Tesla usually follows his name very closely. However, the real work he does is with SpaceX, the space company Musk took from nothing, to where it stands now as a NASA partner. Why should Musk be proud of SpaceX over Tesla? CNBC names Space X the number one top 50 most disruptive company for 2014.
Elon Musk is not just about Tesla
Last year, I ventured how Elon Musk would have to step back from Tesla Motors once things calmed down a little. I estimated that time would be after the Tesla Gen-III car is released, or what the company said it wouldn’t be called, the Model E. To add to that delay, the news that the infamous Chinese so-called “businessman” Zhang Baosheng is once again suing Tesla for using its own name in the country could keep Musk on-board for a while longer. See the last article I wrote on Teslarati.
Elon Musk has been a serial entrepreneur, and a few experts on Seeking Alpha believe he will sell off Tesla Motors to focus on SpaceX in the near future. They presume, he will then move on again. After all the did sell PayPal for a hefty sum. But that is a little myopic, since people do get older and eventually, people want to finish projects completely, not just selling them off and moving to the next great thing. The reason for this is that Musk already has enough money to not worry about his future. The one last thing he needs to do is to make sure his legacy and contribution to society are set in stone. This falls more under the SpaceX program, than Tesla Motors. Something to consider is that as you get older, the thought of conquering new frontiers diminishes and is replaced with that of a desire to complete your achievements. Am I speaking from experience? You bet!
Entrepreneur’s caveats
Entrepreneurs, such as Musk face the same problems in their youth. They should focus on conquering, building, then moving on. Instead, some face the biggest pitfall an entrepreneur can, the tendency to hold on too long and micromanage what they started. Entrepreneurs are not gifted for day-to-day tasks. They see the bigger vision and can easily start from scratch. But then, there are entrepreneurs like Elon Musk who falls in between. Musk is not your typical entrepreneur, he’s also a geek and a highly intelligent person who is slightly on the reserved side, despite his colorful public straight talk.
Space X, the quiet bomb shell
One thing many people fail to see is the strategic importance SpaceX has in Elon Musk’s building of his empire. The company proved that you can be successful in re-using part of space rockets, to the great sorrow of many lobbies. The fact that CNBC names SpaceX as the number one disruptive company for 2014 out of 50 other companies should give you a clearer insight as to where Elon Musk is going, UP. Note that Tesla Motors wasn’t mentioned once in the article. ChargePoint comes in at 12th spot, only followed by EcoMotors at 22. Can you put the dots together?
