The interviewee, a successful entrepreneur, provides advice to college graduates, emphasizing the importance of applying for jobs at companies like Solar City, Tesla, or SpaceX. If these opportunities are not available, they suggest starting a company. However, they note that starting a company in the space business is challenging due to its capital-intensive nature. They also discuss the importance of acquiring expertise and knowledge beyond formal education, such as reading books and talking to smart people.
The interviewee shares their personal journey, including their decision to start an internet company when they couldn't secure a job at existing companies. Despite acknowledging fear, they emphasize that if what you're doing is important enough, you can overcome it.
They express their belief in the power of education and the potential of young people to make significant contributions. They argue that education should be made more engaging and less of a chore.
The interviewee talks about their motivation, expressing a desire to think about the future and feel good about it. They attribute this drive to their vision for Tesla and SpaceX: accelerating the transition to sustainable energy and making life multi-planetary.
Finally, they reflect on their expectations of failure at the beginning of Tesla and SpaceX, but their determination to support these companies. They highlight the importance of evidence of exceptional ability in making investment decisions.
1. The speaker advises college graduates to apply for jobs at companies like Solar City, Tesla, or SpaceX.
2. If these jobs are not available, the speaker suggests applying to other companies in the same field or starting a company.
3. The speaker believes that studying engineering and designing new things can make starting a company easier.
4. The speaker mentions that starting a company in the space business is challenging due to its high capital requirements.
5. Instead, the speaker suggests focusing on solar power or car components.
6. The speaker states that Elon Musk has degrees in business and physics but SpaceX was his first venture in aerospace.
7. The speaker emphasizes the importance of a physics background and learning from many smart people to become a CTO of a rocket ship company.
8. The speaker endorses the use of the physics approach of first principles, reasoning from fundamental truths, as a good way to understand if something makes sense or if it's just what everybody else is doing.
9. The speaker reveals that he started an internet company in 1995 because he couldn't get a job at any existing internet companies.
10. Despite feeling fear, the speaker believes that if what he's doing is important enough, he can override his fear.
11. The speaker argues that people often overestimate the risks associated with personal decisions, especially for young people just out of college.
12. The speaker believes that education should be gamified to make the learning process more enjoyable.
13. The speaker expresses a desire to advance the knowledge of the world and become more enlightened.
14. The speaker identifies his drive as wanting to imagine and work towards a better future.
15. The speaker believes that the underlying principles behind Tesla and SpaceX are to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy and to make life multi-planetary.
16. The speaker sees America as a nation of explorers and believes that making life multi-planetary appeals to this spirit.
17. The speaker admits that he thought both Tesla and SpaceX would fail at the beginning but decided to invest all his money in them anyway.
18. The speaker believes that if there's a track record of exceptional achievement, it's likely that that will continue into the future.
19. The speaker suggests that if the stakes are high, one should overcome fear and just do it anyway.