Book SummaryElon Musk, by Ashlee Vance

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Elon Musk

In Elon Musk, technology journalist Ashlee Vance describes the life and career of entrepreneur, innovator, and billionaire Elon Musk, the CEO of both SpaceX and Tesla. He describes an entrepreneur who is driven by big goals and personal interests, not trends or get-rich-quick schemes. Despite facing challenges and public doubt, Musk changed three major industries and became a billionaire in the process.

After spending almost 50 hours interviewing Musk, Vance presents unique insight into the life of one of this generation’s most innovative entrepreneurs, as well as the difficult process of building multiple successful companies. Published in 2015, this biography will interest anyone who wants to learn about Musk, his entrepreneurial mindsets, or industries with the potential to change the future.

Vance breaks down Musk’s process of creating Zip2, X.com (later known as PayPal), SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity. First, we’ll discuss Musk’s childhood in South Africa. Then, we’ll describe how he built each of his companies and some of the major milestones each business met. Finally, we’ll explore Vance’s reflections on how Musk’s traits and management style helped him succeed.

Early Life and Challenges

Elon Musk was born in South Africa in 1971. Vance describes two main challenges Musk faced as he grew up:

1) Being bullied: Musk’s bookishness and know-it-all reputation set him apart from his peers, and he was beaten and bullied by a group of boys for several years. Musk noted that this was one of the most difficult experiences of his childhood. The bullying finally stopped when he switched to a different high school with a more peaceful environment.

(Shortform note: Musk is one of many successful people who were the victims of childhood bullying. For example, entrepreneur Steve Jobs, singer Rihanna, and Duchess Kate Middleton are just a few notable people who were bullied as children. The reasons for the bullying varied—race, disposition, personal interests, appearance, intelligence, or physical size—but all stem from being viewed as different. Often the traits they were bullied for are now part of their success, indicating resilience and embracing these different features are key to success and overcoming the long-term negative effects of bullying.)

2) Living with his father: Vance notes that Musk wouldn’t go into great detail about his father, but he acknowledged that Errol was a difficult person to be around, inflicted a level of psychological torture on him, made his life miserable, and dismissed Musk’s dream of moving to America (which Musk eventually did after graduating high school—despite his father’s discouragement).

(Shortform note: While Musk doesn’t explain the specifics of what made Errol a difficult father, his mother, Maye provided more insight in her memoir A Woman Makes a Plan. She explains that Elon’s father, Errol, was manipulative and abusive—physically, financially, and emotionally. In another interview, Elon supported her claim, stating Errol was physically violent with him when he was very young.)

Zip2

In 1995, after leaving South Africa and graduating from college, Musk moved to Silicon Valley with his brother Kimbal to try to start a dot-com company. They founded Zip2, a searchable online directory that linked to a map. Vance explains that Musk thought of the idea during one of his internships after a salesman gave a weak pitch for an online Yellow Pages. Musk saw a business opportunity: selling a way for companies to advertise online.

(Shortform note: Musk and Kimbal’s creation of Zip2 supports Michael Gerber’s idea of what he calls the “Entrepreneurial Myth.” In The E-Myth Revisited, Gerber explains that most businesses aren’t started by entrepreneurs with business knowledge, but are instead started by people who are good at something and believe their technical skills are all they’ll need to succeed. Gerber argues that such technical skills are rarely enough, and that entrepreneurs who succeed are the ones who, like Musk and Kimbal, later make a point of acquiring business knowledge to support their idea.)

Then, in 1996, a venture capital firm heard about the site. After Musk’s sales pitch, the investors were impressed with his energy and his belief in the product. The firm invested $3 million into Zip2. Vance explains that while this was an accomplishment for the company, it brought challenges for Musk. The board brought in new engineers, who made changes to Musk’s code. While the changes improved the software, Musk bristled at his new lack of control and often rewrote some of their new code without their knowledge.

(Shortform note: James Kouzes and Barry Posner discuss the danger of trying to exert too much control in their book The Leadership Challenge. They warn against the tendency to start micromanaging other peoples’ responsibilities—like Musk rewriting his engineers’ code—cautioning that doing so will limit you to the level of a supervisor or manager, and you’ll never rise to the level of a true leader. They argue that a leader is one who can stand back and trust her team, knowing that she’s hired capable people, trained them well, and given them the resources they need to succeed. By allowing other people to make decisions on their own, you’ll build a climate of trust that’s an essential element in a strong organization.)

Then, in February 1999, Zip2 received a $307 million cash offer from Compaq...

Elon Musk Summary Shortform Introduction

In Elon Musk, journalist Ashlee Vance explores the life and career of Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, CEO of Tesla, Inc., and founder of X.com (now part of PayPal). Vance argues that Musk is one of the most influential innovators of this generation because he’s driven by big goals and personal passions, not trends or get-rich-quick schemes.

Vance describes Musk’s life and businesses in three major industries: technology, space, and clean energy. He explains the challenges that Musk faced to build some of today’s most successful and innovative companies. Along the way, he discusses Musk’s traits and management methods that helped his companies succeed, such as having a desire to learn, focusing on the future, and working with exceptional people.

About the Author

Ashlee Vance is a business and technology writer who has reported for The New York Times and The Economist. He has covered a range of topics in technology, such as robots and programming languages. Vance also hosts Bloomberg’s video series Hello World, which explores the newest creations in...

Elon Musk Summary Part 1: Musk’s Early Life and Career

In Elon Musk, journalist Ashlee Vance explores the life and career of Elon Musk, who he believes is one of the most influential innovators of his generation. He describes an entrepreneur who is driven by big goals and personal interests, not trends or get-rich-quick schemes. Despite facing challenges and public doubt, Musk changed three major industries and became a billionaire in the process.

Vance is a writer and journalist who covers topics in technology. After spending almost 50 hours interviewing Musk, Vance presents unique insight into his life. His biography will interest anyone who wants to learn about Musk, his entrepreneurial mindsets, or industries with the potential to change the future.

In Part 1 of this guide, we’ll describe Musk’s early life and companies. In the following three sections, we’ll discuss SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity. In Part 5, we’ll explore Musk’s traits that helped him succeed, including a high risk tolerance and a desire to learn. Finally, in Part 6, we’ll discuss Musk’s management style. In our commentary, we’ll compare Musk and his methods to other successful innovators and entrepreneurs and provide updated context on the success of his...

Elon Musk Summary Part 2: SpaceX

Following the success of PayPal, Musk set his sights on a new industry for his next venture: space exploration, which was an industry he believed had become stagnant. Vance explains that Musk was disappointed that NASA no longer seemed driven to get to Mars or other planets. Vance explains that Musk wanted to reinvigorate America’s interest in space exploration by advancing current technologies and showing the public that space travel was still evolving, particularly since he believes space colonization is imperative to human survival.

(Shortform note: Like Musk, Stephen Hawking believes space exploration is crucial for human survival, presenting two reasons for why we should colonize space: First, our species is quickly running out of space and natural resources on earth. Hawking believes that even if we conserve natural resources, in the long term we’re going to need more room for humanity to expand. Second, colonizing space mitigates the risk of extinction. Hawking warns that there is a significant probability that humans could go extinct on earth in the next...

Elon Musk Summary Part 3: Tesla

Around the time Musk started SpaceX, an engineer named J. B. Straubel tried to improve electric car technology by using lithium ion batteries as a fuel source. He floated this idea around Silicon Valley, looking for investors. Vance explains that no one took much interest—except Musk, who funded Straubel’s work on this new battery technology.

(Shortform note: In 2017, Straubel continued his work with lithium ion batteries and founded Redwood Materials, which recycles the batteries and uses the materials to produce more.)

While Straubel worked on the battery technology, two engineers named Marc Tarpenning and Martin Eberhard worked together on a similar vision: to make electric cars a commercial enterprise, not just a science project. They also decided to build a luxury electric car, rather than a more affordable one that appealed only to environmentalists.

(Shortform note: Tesla succeeded in part because they appealed to a different group of people with a different worldview—namely, wealthy people who...

Elon Musk Summary Part 4: SolarCity and Musk’s Personal Life

Just before Tesla finished its very first prototype in early 2005, Musk and his cousin Lyndon went on a road trip to discuss business ventures. Musk had always believed clean energy is the key to human survival and a sustainable future, so when his cousin asked for business suggestions, Musk suggested he do something with solar power. Vance explains that at this time, the solar industry wasn’t making any effort to decrease the cost of solar panel manufacturing. Further, while consumers could install solar panels for their homes, they had no way of knowing if solar panels would work well for their homes based on location and how much sunlight they received.

(Shortform note: While the solar industry has made improvements in the past 20 years, experts have identified four main obstacles the industry still needs to overcome. First, find lower cost and more efficient materials to make the solar panels out of. Second, improve storage and transmission of solar power over long distances. Next, implement floating solar panels for lakes and oceans, while also preserving aquatic ecosystems....

Elon Musk Summary Part 5: Musk’s Traits

Musk’s unique combination of personal traits helped him build his companies. In this section, we’ll discuss the traits that helped Musk succeed, beginning with his future-oriented mindset.

Future-Oriented Motivations

Vance believes Musk’s goals and actions are all motivated by the future. He puts present-day concerns aside to create a better future for humanity. Musk believes the survival of the human race depends on becoming a multiplanetary species—or living on Mars—and by creating sources of sustainable energy. The missions of Tesla and SpaceX are based on those two goals. Musk’s future-oriented mindset doesn’t prioritize his companies’ financial success over his goal to improve the future—to him, these aspects are inherently tied together.

In 2014, he revealed that Tesla would open-source all of its patents, meaning they’d be available to the public. This might seem like an unwise business decision, since Tesla would be giving competitors the blueprint to making great electric cars. But Musk believed it was the right thing to do. By sharing Tesla’s technology and ideas, it would speed up the process for other car companies to develop their own electric vehicles,...

Shortform Exercise: Determine Your Own Unique Traits

Musk used his unique traits to his advantage as he built his businesses. This exercise will explore your own traits and how you can use them in your own career.

Consider your natural talents or personality traits. What things do you naturally do well? Perhaps you’re an avid reader or a good listener. (Remember that something other people may not view as a talent might secretly be a strength—Musk was bullied in school for his natural desire to read and learn, but this skill proved useful in learning about complex topics like rocket science.)

Elon Musk Summary Part 6: Musk’s Management Style and Methods

Now that we understand Musk’s motivations and traits, we’ll discuss some of the common methods he used that helped his companies succeed. Through a combination of hiring exceptional employees, maintaining control of his companies, organizing cross-functional teams, and setting extreme deadlines, Musk’s businesses have achieved impressive results.

Exceptional Employees

Vance believes much of Musk’s success stems from his ability to find and hire exceptional people. He has an eye for talent, and he appreciates people who are hard workers and critical thinkers. These employees are also efficient, and they can do the work of multiple people. When every employee is doing exceptional work, the combination of their efforts results in something exceptional as well.

Musk handled a majority of the recruiting and hiring for all of his companies, and he found many talented employees.

• Many of the engineers from X.com and PayPal went on to create start-ups like YouTube, Palantir Technologies, and Yelp.
• Musk recruited Gwynne Shotwell for SpaceX. Vance notes that she is as dedicated to going to space as Musk is. She is now the president and chief operating officer of SpaceX. *...

Shortform Exercise: What’s Most Important to You and Your Business?

Musk values employees who work well together and control over his management and production process. Determine what is most important to you and your business so you can focus your energy there—not on things you don’t actually care about.

Consider your most important goals for yourself or your business. What are they? Musk’s goal for Tesla was to make luxury electric cars a viable option for consumers—perhaps your goal might be to produce twice as much online content than your current amount.