my workload went up from about I don't know 70 to $80 hours a week to probably 120 um so yeah I go to sleep I wake up I work go to sleep wake up work do that 7 days a week I'll have to do that for a while no [Music] choice uh and you do 16 hour days and you work 7 hours a week and you fly all over the place and you go to these meetings constantly and uh and people constantly criticize you for everything it's amazing to me and when you're changing the world
you're giving yourself why do you do this so my wife says to me why are you still working why are you still working what are you doing here well I think they um what I'm working on has important uh has an important effect on the future you know in the case of Tesla I think it's fair to say that Tesla has significantly significantly accelerated the Advent of sustainable energy you know before Tesla no one was doing electric cars and now as a result of Tesla I think almost every major car company in the world has
is um going is building electric cars and and uh that's I think that's that's a pretty big deal um but there's still a long way to go uh to transition the world to a sustainable energy economy so so we we still have a lot of work ahead of us at Tesla but that's that's our goal there and then for SpaceX um I think it's important for future to be exciting and for Humanity's um existence to be insured over the long term I think we must become a multiplet species and a space bearing civilization we're here
like 4 and2 billion years after Earth Earth Earth got started uh 13.8 billion years into the age of the universe and it's only now recently in the last 5,000 years we even we invented writing I would say date the first civilization by when we there was the first writing which was um in ancient Samaria around five 5 or 6 thousand years ago so we basically just been here for a very brief instant a blink a we're all of human civilization is a blink of an eye if there wasn't I in in in on evolutionary time
scale so so I think it's important we take the actions to ensure that the light of Consciousness continues and because we should really view Consciousness as as a a small candle in a vast darkness and it could easily go out I was working uh doing research in Silicon Valley on a completely different subject and trying to start this company at the same time and when it came time to decide do I want to do Graduate Studies or do I want to stop this company and I decided to start the company I had no money so
we found that um an office was actually cheaper than an apartment in Silicon Valley so we got this dinky little office that had a leaky roof uh it was just the nastiest place you can imagine and you lived in it too and I lived in it too and showered at the YMCA um this this lasted for about 3 or 4 months and the reason we chose this this office in addition to it being really cheap was that there was an internet service provider on the floor on the floor below so we were able to get
really cheap internet access by drooling a hole in the floor and connecting to their server directly depending upon how well you want to do particularly if you're starting a company you need to work super hard so what what does super hard mean um well when my brother and I were starting our first company uh in instead of getting an apartment we just rented a a small office and we slept on the couch we're we're so hot up we had just one computer so the website was up during the day uh and I was coding at
night 7 days a week all the time so briefly had a girlfriend in that period and in order to be with me she have to sleep in the office so I work hard like it I mean every waking hour that's that's the the thing I would I would say if if you particularly if you're starting a company and I mean if you do the simple math say like okay if somebody else is working 50 hours and you're working 100 uh you'll get twice as done as much done in the course of a year as the
as uh the other company at what point in as you were raising him did you think what there might be something different about this little boy um from the age of three really I just he just reasoned with me so well and I didn't know how he could figure out things I mean he was threatened and uh then I sent him to school early because he and they said you can't send him you know as the youngest person in the class and I said he he really needs other stimulation as well and um and the
nice thing is that he took what he could do and actually implemented it many genius kids they they stay in a basement cuz they can't actually you know move ahead I don't think I don't think you'd necessarily want to be me sure what's the worst part about I don't think people would like it that much well most people wouldn't but they can't be you that's like some superhero type you know you wouldn't want to be Spider-Man rather just sleep tight in Gotham City I hope he's out there doing his job it's very hard to turn
it off yeah what's the hardest part might sound great to if it's turned on but what if it doesn't turn off so when everybody leaves it's just Elon sitting at home brushing his teeth just a bunch of ideas bouncing around your head yeah all the time when did you realize that that's not the case with most people I think when I was I don't know 5 or six or something I thought I was insane why did you think you were insane because it was clear that other people did not their mind wasn't exploding with ideas
all the time they weren't expressing it they weren't talking about it all the and you realize by the time you were five or six like oh they're probably not even getting this thing that I'm getting no it was just strange it was like hm I'm strange where I grew up was extremely violent I know I never started a fight uh except with my brother actually one exception I did I did be my brother up I just I don't know that's how it go s when I was growing up was just an inherently very violent place
I punched the face many times m I almost got beaten to death once so many times and I think you have not been punched in the face with a fist you don't know what you no idea what it's like there are people who've been in the rocketry business for decades yeah who say about you that you don't know what you don't know well I suppose that's true of anyone how can anyone know what they don't know but when critics say you can't do this your answer to them is we've done it now is the time
to overrule this administration's pledge to mediocrity you know there are American Heroes who don't like this idea Neil Armstrong Jean cernon have both testified against commercial space flight in the way that you're developing it and I wonder what you think of that I was very sad to see that um because those guys are yeah you know those guys are hero of mind so it's really tough tough you know I I wish they would come and visit and and see the hardware that we doing and and I think that would change their mind they inspired you
to do this didn't they yes and to see them casting stones in your [Music] direction it's difficult did you expect them to cheer you on so they hoping they would what are you trying to prove to them what I'm trying to do is is to make a significant difference in space flight and and and help make space flight accessible to to almost anyone and I I I would uh hope for as much support in that direction as we as we can receive I like to get things done I like to be useful um that is
one of the hardest things to do doing something useful for other people that I like doing you know my goal is like try to do useful things try to maximize the probability the future is good make the future exciting something you look forward to you know you know with Tesla we're like trying to make things that people love how many how many things can you buy that you really love that really give you Joy so rare So Rare I wish there were more things that's what we're trying to do just make things that somebody loves
you've said that this has been the toughest year for you the most sort of taxing year for you like why well I mean Tesla really faced a sever a thre threat of death uh due to the model 3 production Ram essentially the company was bleeding money like crazy and if we didn't solve these problems in a very short period of time uh we would die uh and it was extremely difficult to solve them how close to death did you come we had within single digit weeks 22 hours a day like what how many hours yeah
so 7 days a week sleeping in the factory uh worked every from the I work work in the paintt shop General Assembly Body Shop you ever worry about yourself imploding like it's just too much absolutely no one should put this many hours into work this is not good people should not work this hard I'm not they should not do this this is very painful painful in what sense it hurts my hurts my brain my heart it hurts this is not recommend it for anyone I just did it because if I didn't do it then Tesla
good chance Tesla would die work like hell I mean you just have to put in you know 80 hour 80 to 100 hour weeks every week and then L work that all those things improve the odds of success I mean if if if other people are putting in 40-hour work weeks and you're putting in 100h hour work weeks then even if you're doing the same thing you know that you you will achieve in 4 months what it takes them a year to achieve how did you get the expertise to be the chief technology officer of
a rocket ship company um well I do have a physics background that's helpful as a foundation um and then I read a lot of books and talk to a lot of a lot of smart people you're selftaught yeah well well selftaught yes meaning um I didn't I don't have an aerospace degree so how how did you go about acquiring the knowledge well uh I like said I read a lot of books talk to a lot of people and and have a great team if you're creating a company or if you're joining a company uh the
most important thing is to uh is to attract great people so either be with join a group that's amazing that you really respect or if you're building a company you've got to gather great people I mean all a company is is a group of people that have gathered together to create a product or service and so depending upon how talented and hardworking that group is and the de gree to which they have focused uh cohesively in in a good direction that will determine the success of the company so do everything you can to to gather
great people uh if if you're creating a company in the beginning I wouldn't would even let my friends invest because I don't want to lose their money I thought was like you know I I'll lose my own money and then um we we almost did die at SpaceX actually so we I budgeted for or three flights um I mean technically I did have a plan where I had had this had the money from PayPal I had like about 180 million from PayPal I thought you know I'll allocate half of that to SpaceX and Tesla and
Silver City and um that should be fine I'll have 90 million lik just Lots you know uh but but then what happened is um things cost more and took longer than than I thought so I had a choice of either put the rest of the money in or the companies are going to die like so I put ended up putting all the money in and borrowing money or rent from Friends SpaceX is alive by the skin of its teeth so is Tesla if if things just gone a little bit the other way both companies would
be dead and I and I like one of the most difficult choices I've ever faced uh in life was was in 2008 I think I had uh maybe $30 million left or $ 30 or $40 million left in 2008 I had two choices I could put it all into one company and then the other company would definitely die um or split it between the two companies and but if I split it between the two companies then both might die and you when you put your Blood Sweat and Tears into creating something or building something it's
like a child and so it's like which one am I going to let one starve to death I couldn't bring myself to do it so I put I I split the money between the two fortunately thank goodness uh they both came through when you had that third failure in a row M did you think I need to pack this in never why not I don't ever give up I mean I'd have to be dead or completely incapacitated if that fourth launch hadn't worked that would have been it um we would have not had the resources
to mount a fifth you couldn't have gone out at that point we we it yes death would have been I think inevitable because we did not have the resources to to mount pth launch I'm probably not the guy that most people would bet on um wins it's it's it's like a a little kid fighting a bunch of sumo wrestlers usually the sumo wrestlers win we we're a little scrappy company every now and again little scr company wins and I I I I think this will be one of those times like what are the set of
things that can be done to make the future better like you know like so I think that a future where we are a space fairing civilization and out there Among the Stars this is very exciting this makes me look forward to the future this makes me want that future you know there things there need to be things that make you look forward to waking up in the morning you wake up in the morning you look forward to the day forward to the future in a future where we are a space bearing civilization and out there
Among the Stars I think that's very exciting that is a thing we want whereas if if you knew we would not be a space Fring civilization but forever confined to Earth this would not be a good future that would be very sad I think there there are two Futures and one future is we're out there among the stars and the things we read about and see in science fiction movies the good ones are true we have these starships and we're going to see what other planets are like and or multi penet species and the scope
and scale of Consciousness has expanded across many civilizations and many planets and many Star systems this is a great future this is a wonderful thing to me and that's what we should strive for
