Portrait of Elon Musk, a symbol of failure (and redemption)

Elon Musk wrote “Bitter Truth” about X. And that is that “today there is no big social network.”

Then the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX added:We may failAs some have predicted, but we will do everything we can to make sure there is at least one.”

Elon Musk, of course, points to his efforts. Since he bought Twitter last October, he has done everything he can to turn it around. According to some, even to destroy it. But X, as the social network is now called, is fighting back despite criticism of “blue checks”, name changes, owner-favoring algorithms and the far-right’s troubling return to the platform.

If X still stands – and indeed, According to its CEO Linda Iaccarino, near the “break-even point” – It is also certain that this is due to Musk’s intransigence and stubbornness, who was willing to risk everything to pursue his ideas. So are his words: “I will keep saying what I think even if it makes me lose money,” the businessman said a while ago, referring to his most irritating and irreverent tweets.

In conclusion Elon Musk has already risked going under permanently in the past. But he escaped the flames unscathed.

This is history.

August 2008. Exactly 15 years ago.

Musk stares at what’s left of the Falcon 9 rocket. This wreckage is a symbol of failure. yet another.

to Three times the rocket designed by SpaceXthe airline that the businessman founded in 2002, Failed to reach orbit.

And Musk seems to see the specter of bankruptcy behind the wreckage.

money out.

Things are not going in the right direction.

“At the time, I had to commit a lot of capital to Tesla and SolarCity, so I ran out of money,” Musk said. “We left three bankruptcies. So it was rather It’s hard to raise money. The recession is also starting to hit. The funding round for Tesla that we tried to raise that summer failed. I got divorced. I didn’t even have a home. my ex-wife [Justine Wilson] He had the house. So it was a bad summer.”

but after that Musk finds an angel investor Willing to bet more money. SpaceX plays the last card. On the fourth launch, in September 2008, the Falcon 9 flew “interstellar” unharmed.the first private spacecraft in history to reach Earth orbit.

If there’s one thing Musk can teach young entrepreneurs—beyond his mood swings, misogyny, rude jokes, and (many) lies about products and technologies that never pan out—it’s that You should never give up.

And it’s not about the money, as some might think. At the time, Musk was not the richest person in the world, quite the opposite.

“At SpaceX we started with a few people who didn’t know how to build rockets at all,” Musk said. The reason I became a chief engineer or chief designer was not because I wanted to, but because I couldn’t hire anyone. No one good enough will be foolish enough to join us“.