In 1995, Elon Musk was unable to get a job at internet companies like Netscape. Despite even waiting in their lobbies, he received no offers and was too shy to approach anyone directly. This led him to start his own company out of necessity. Prior to this, Musk had left South Africa at 17, endured tough jobs in Canada, and eventually earned degrees before dropping out of Stanford. Betting everything on the internet, he co-founded Zip2, which he sold for $300 million, and went on to create PayPal, Tesla, and SpaceX. Musk's journey, marked by initial rejections and relentless determination, eventually made him a tech visionary.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Think Elon Musk always planned to build a tech empire?
00:03Not quite.
00:04He just couldn't get a job.
00:06In 1995, Musk applied to internet companies like Netscape and got nothing.
00:11He even loitered in their lobby, too shy to talk to anyone.
00:15His solution?
00:16I guess I'll have to start a company, he said.
00:19Before that, life was tough.
00:21He left South Africa at 17, worked brutal jobs in Canada, shoveling grain, chopping
00:26logs, and crawling into toxic boiler rooms.
00:29One job paid $18 an hour, but could literally cook you alive if you stayed in too long.
00:34Out of 30 people, only three lasted.
00:37Musk was one of them.
00:38Eventually, he earned degrees, got into Stanford, and dropped out.
00:42Why?
00:43He bet everything on the internet.
00:45So he built Zip2, sold it for $300 million, and kept going.
00:48PayPal, Tesla, SpaceX.
00:51The world sees Elon Musk as a visionary.
00:53But it all started with rejection and the decision to keep digging.