Start A Business In A Down Market - Elon Musk

Elon Musk
Company: PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla Motors, SolarCity
Net Worth: $328 Million

“I didn’t really expect to make any money,” he says of his first venture. “If I could make enough to cover the rent and buy some food that would be fine. As it turns out, it turned out to be quite valuable in the end.” He might have dropped out of Stanford University after just two days, but Elon Musk was no slouch when it came to learning. He just wanted to do things his own way. Indeed, Musk moved all the way from his hometown in South Africa to pursue his ideas on cutting edge technology in North America. The first company he founded, Zip2, would be sold to Compaq for $307 million in cash. His second company, PayPal, was not only later sold to eBay for $1.5 billion, but it changed the way the world does business online. Now, Musk is turning his attention to the skies, producing space launch vehicles with his new company SpaceX. This is one entrepreneur who puts no limits on his dreams.

Best Advice For Entrepreneurs:

“When thinking about starting a business, I think it’s actually better to start in a trough and come to market in a peak, than the other way around.”

More Elon Musk

• The Wired Entrepreneur: The Early Years of Elon Musk
• Zipping Forward: Musk Starts His First Company
• Lesson #1: Keep Your Operations Lean And Clean

More Advice On Starting A Business In A Down Market:

• A Business Opportunity in a Down Economy, Vertical Market Ad Networks
• HOW TO SELL IN ANY TYPE OF MARKET
  
• The Business Failed But Did You