13A: Elon Musk

-

1) You read about an entrepreneur:

· What surprised you the most? I knew that Musk was the owner of Tesla and SpaceX, but I no idea that he began with other, very different ideas, such as Zip2 and PayPal.
·  What about the entrepreneur did you most admire? I really admire that time and money that Musk puts into creating green projects like Tesla, the Hyperloop, and Solarcity. It would be easy for him to make a higher profit on projects that need less of an investment, but he has a vision for the future and the betterment of humanity that I find really fascinating.
·  What about the entrepreneur did you least admire? While not addressed in the book, there are accusations surrounding Musk right now that he supports slave labor in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is very disappointing since in the beginning he said he left South Africa to avoid military service and propping up the apartheid regime, and yet he allows for this injustice when he has all the power as a billionaire.
·  Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it? With his first two companies, Musk lost control and was replaced as CEO. Since then he vowed never to give up this power again. Ironically, Musk later took the CEO position of Tesla from someone else.


2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?
The biggest strength about Musk was his ability to “think big.” This is especially seen with SpaceX which he started by thinking about sending mice to space, but now wants to create a green ecosystem to support life. His strong work ethic and innovation thinking has pushed him over the edge as one of the most successful entrepreneurs.

3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
The beginning was definitely a little confusing as the author tried to seamlessly connect pass and present. While her skills were lacking, I got the point she was trying to make showing his success now and the past that allowed him to rise above.

4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?
  • Why can’t you give fair working wages? Are you too poor?
  • What are the next steps to be able to travel to mars? You’ve had some great testing with your rockets and satellites recently, but how will you now translate this to a colony on another planet?


5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion? Musk certainly has to believe in hard work; he worked endlessly to teach himself coding and work constantly, to the point that he would even sleep at the office only to wake up and continue. But more than that, he could have sold Zip2 and lived comfortably as a millionaire but instead he spent the money made on new projects and did this repeatedly. His fortune of $12 billion was not the result of happy coincidence or one stroke of genius, but natural, diligent intelligence that he turned into reality.

Comments

  1. Maranda CentenoMarch 8, 2020 at 1:46 PM

    Jane,
    Your last sentence strikes me as I feel the same way about Elon Musk. He certainly is a brilliant man who turned his hundreds of thousands into millions and did not stop there. As you notes, I too do not agree with the use of slave labor in the Republic of Congo that it is rumored that he stands for. I would also ask questions regarding fair wages for workers and why that isn't a top priority of his, given his incredible salary and assets that he has attained throughout the years.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jacob Congdon ENT 3003March 9, 2020 at 8:12 AM

    Jane,
    I agree with you that it is very admirable that Elon Musk puts a lot of money and effort to creating real solutions to current problems in the world, and many of them are green solutions, such as Tesla. Also I think you did a good job in describing some of Musk's traits and extreme dedication to succeeding in his business ventures.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Later Gator

-
The title of the article:  UF student dies days after being struck by vehicle The link to the article:  https://www.alligator.org/news/uf-student-dies-days-after-being-struck-by-vehicle/article_069afbb6-42ce-11ea-b438-d76df92018c9.html A description of the story: UF student Denise Griffiths tragically passed away this week after being injured by a car while crossing the street while leaving campus. A description of the problem presented in the story: This is not the first student to be injured by moving vechiles. How can we make the campus commute safer? A description of  who has  the problem: Students of UF as well as visitors and staff. The title of the article:  'Immaturity' costing UF The link to the article:  https://www.alligator.org/sports/basketball/immaturity-costing-uf/article_2ac30f78-40c7-11ea-8d53-6fb89b3f7b81.html A description of the story: UF's basketball team lost to Baylor and the coach had some strong opinions on the matter. He stated ...
Read more

12A

-
1) Pick a segment. In class, we have discussed how you might intuit the existence of segments that might exist in your venture's market. For this exercise, you must pick one segment. Demographic: Individuals at college or in large cities where roommates are needed to pay the rent. Specifically, those with small apartments where other individuals could hear the microwave. 2) Find three people who would fit that segment and arrange to interview them. These interviews, if conducted properly, should take about 10-15 minutes. Any less, and you won't be able to obtain adequate information. I interviewed Hannah Llende, Tyler Grant, and Sydney Shaffer. 3) Begin with need awareness. In earlier exercises, you have identified an unmet need and developed a solution. If the person you are talking to does not have the same unmet, then you need to move on. You may not include this as one of your three interviews. If the person you are talking to does have the problem, then you're ...
Read more