Interviews with Elon Musk Inspire Word Art Series

Interviews with Elon Musk Inspire Word Art Series

Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

When was the last time you saw a piece of art inspired by an interview? I stumbled across a series of six word clouds inspired by the following Elon Musk interviews.

They were created by Tyra Robertson who leads Elon Enthusiast.

 

1. KQED’s Computer History Museum Visionaries Series

2. PBS Show Think Tank

3. (Digg’s) Kevin Rose Interview Series

4.The Oxford Martin School at Oxford University

5.The Mars Society

6. The Royal Aeronautical Society.

I was very honored to be included in such an illustrious collection. If you missed my interview at the Computer History Museum in January 2013, here’s the video.

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And here’s some feedback from across the web:

“I am impressed with your ease and confidence and the way you were able to lead Musk with charm and fluency and keep the flow of the interview crisp and vital — in a word alive!  Good work & warm congratulations.” Michael Krasny, Host KQED’s Forum

“Having seen every single video of Elon Musk, what I really apppreciated was that the interviewer prefaced her questions with content from Elon’s more practiced answers, so we saved a lot of time and just jumped into a ton of new information never mentioned in other interviews. Very good interviewer. 10/10!” Maximus Victorius on YouTube

“Loved the program.  Alison conveyed a mastery of the subject, and the vocal counterpart was delicious.   Perhaps the best interview I have heard.” Steve Jurvetson, Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist

“Alison really captured his charm and warmth and aspirations in a lovely way.  He seemed more at ease  and willing to be honest with Alison than in any interview I have seen him in. Her questions were excellent, and she was so articulate and poised on stage.”   Laurie Yoler, a Tesla investor who was part of the 500-strong live audience.
“This is an example of my favorite kind of interview, the journalist asks well thought questions and then sits back and lets the subject tell the story.” Tyra Robertson, Elon Enthusiast

“I love how knowledgeable the interviewer is. It really opens up different answers from Elon that I haven’t heard a million times.” AlphacentauriAB on Reddit

Sheryl Sandberg Leans In with Eric Schmidt In Silicon Valley

Sheryl Sandberg Leans In with Eric Schmidt In Silicon Valley

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

If you think you’ve read everything about Sheryl Sandberg and her book “Lean In” think again. Last night, Sandberg joined her ex-boss, Google’s Eric Schmidt in conversation at Silicon Valley’s Computer History Museum.  As the guy who recruited Sandberg to Google back in 2001, Schmidt used his intimate knowledge to give us something new: an insider’s view of this remarkable woman. He describes her as “One of the great leaders of our industry who has built two multimillion dollar businesses already and has a lot ahead of her.”

Sitting with “Lean In” on his lap, Schmidt casually thumbed through her book, quoting excerpts, asking astute questions and making pithy remarks about topics such as gender bias, finding “the perfect” partner and even shared some of his business philosophy. To close, he asked her to read a short passage and the audience appeared to hold its collective breath. Check out the video.

Here are some highlights:

On leaning in while Parenting 

“Wake up Silicon Valley. Put more girls into computer camp!” Sheryl Sandberg

Sandberg was appalled to discover that only 5 of the 35 kids enrolled in a Stanford computer science camp last year were girls.

On Gender Bias

“I’ve written the book on it and it’s still happening to me!” Sheryl Sandberg

On Pay Negotiations

“Women still pay a penalty for negotiating for themselves.” Sheryl Sandberg

She was delighted to hear from women who’re now saying to their bosses: “Sheryl Sandberg wants me to ask you for a raise.”

John Hollar makes humorous introductions  at the Sandberg/Schmidt event. Photo: Fresh Dialogues

John Hollar makes humorous introductions at the Sandberg/Schmidt event. Photo: Fresh Dialogues

Best Advice from Eric Schmidt

“Don’t be an idiot. Google is a rocket ship and when you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat.” Sheryl Sandberg

On Choosing a Partner

“Marry someone who wants equality…(including) night feedings, and changing 50% of diapers.” Sheryl Sandberg

On Motherhood

“Work efficiency grows when you become a mother.” Sheryl Sandberg

On Stay At Home Mothers (SAHMs) and the Mommy wars

“I can feel guilty or grateful….(choose) to be more generous with each other. ” Sheryl Sandberg

On Re-entering the workforce (after time off being a SAHM)

“Ask where are my skills needed. Experience is less relevant. Be flexible, adapt.” Sheryl Sandberg

On Mandating Quotas for Company Boards

“I’m not arguing for it…it hasn’t moved other numbers in places like Norway (like the number of female VPs, other leadership roles).” Sheryl Sandberg

On Stupidest Criticism of her book

“I’m blaming women…I’m not!” Sheryl Sandberg

On Best Criticism

“I’m embracing stereotypes…I don’t want to, but that is what’s required till we get many more women leaders.” Sheryl Sandberg

On what happens next

“We’ve set up a community at LeanIn.org and people are starting circles, even fathers and daughters are starting circles. We’re unleashing a movement.” Sheryl Sandberg

Sheryl Sandberg urges all women to Lean In. Photo: Fresh Dialogues

Sheryl Sandberg urges all women to Lean In. Photo: Fresh Dialogues

On political aspirations

“I’m rooting for Hillary in 2016. I’m happy at Facebook and helping women get into office.” Sheryl Sandberg

Eric Schmidt also had some memorable remarks

On Finding the Right Partner

“Dave (Sandberg’s husband Dave Goldberg) is indeed perfect.” Eric Schmidt

On the work-life juggle, guilt trips

“Redefine your situation as success.” Eric Schmidt

On Feminism

Feminism 2.0 means understanding stereotypes and becoming empowered.” Eric Schmidt

On Succeeding in Business 

“Revenue solves all known problems. Concentrate on cashflow.” Eric Schmidt

 

Transcript of Elon Musk Interview: Iron Man, Growing up in South Africa

Transcript of Elon Musk Interview: Iron Man, Growing up in South Africa

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

On January 22, 2013, Elon Musk joined me in conversation at the Computer History Museum to share his life story and key turning points that led to the creation of PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla Motors and SolarCity. John Hollar, President and CEO of the Computer History Museum introduced the program. Here is a transcript of the in-depth interview. Note: this is a partial transcript of Musk’s early days in South Africa. Check back soon for more excerpts.

John Hollar: Here’s a thought exercise. If you compiled a list of the 75 most influential people of the 20th Century, who would be on your list? Or if you compiled a list perhaps of the 100 people who most affected the world in the 20th Century, who would be on that list? Now, think of the same list that you might start compiling for the 21st Century so far. And if all of that proves to be a little too much, I can offer some help. Elon Musk has been on every single one of those lists that has been compiled for the 20th Century to date, no matter who seems to be drawing the lists up.
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Few scientists, entrepreneurs or industrialists of the last century can stake a claim to a career as boldly ambitious as the one Elon Musk is fashioning now. Transforming a large measure of the world’s commerce and payments systems as cofounder and chairman of PayPal in 1999, might be enough for anyone for one life time, but Elon Musk has gone on from there to pursue his passion for solving business, environmental and scientific problems on a global scale. He may be best known for his work at Tesla, where he serves as CEO and head of product design. The path breaking Tesla Roadster, and now the Model S have changed almost all the assumptions that the automotive world has made about what the styling, performance and future of a new generation of electric cars might be. Simultaneously, he serves as chairman and principal shareholder of SolarCity, the nation’s leading provider of solar power systems. But perhaps his most ambitious and intriguing work is taking place at SpaceX, where he is CEO and chief designer. SpaceX is erasing the boundaries between space flight and private enterprise. It has a multi-billion dollar, multi-year agreement with NASA to be a workhorse for cargo flights to and from the International Space Station, and in 2015, that is the companies stated goal: it will begin manned space flight.  What is the source of Elon Musk’s revolutionary thinking? How has he been able to do what he’s done with the investors he’s attracted and the teams that he’s built?

Exploring these questions and more tonight with Elon is Alison van Diggelen, who is a very notable and noteworthy journalist here in Silicon Valley, a contributor to KQED and the Huffington Post; and one of the best interviewers in the field through her series, Fresh Dialogues. We’re delighted to have Alison here tonight. This is her first time on stage. She’s going to be terrific, as will Elon. Please join me in welcoming Elon Musk and Alison van Diggelen.

Alison van Diggelen: Good evening. Tonight I’d like to explore what makes a revolutionary. Elon, I’d like you to take us on a journey from South Africa to Silicon Valley and beyond.

So I’d like to start…you grew up in South Africa. I heard a wonderful story about when you were six years old and you started breaking the rules even then. You were six years old and you were invited by your cousin to a birthday party. But there were two problems with that: one you were grounded, and two it was on the other side of town. Can you tell us how you got there?

Elon Musk: All right. Well, this was when I was six, so the memory is a little fuzzy at this point. But as I recall, I was grounded for some reason. I don’t know why but I felt it was unjust (laughter)…and I really wanted to go to this party, my cousin’s party, who was five…a kids’ party. So at first, I was going to take my bike and I told my mom this, which was a mistake and she told me some story about how you needed a license for a bike and the police would stop me. So I wasn’t 100% sure if that was true or not, but I thought I’d better walk just in case. I sort of thought I knew the way, but it was clear across town…10 or 12 miles really quite far, further than I realized actually…So I just started walking to my cousin’s house. It took me about four hours and just as my mom was leaving the party with my brother and sister, she saw me walking down the road and freaked out. I saw she saw me, so I then sprinted to my cousin’s house – I was just about two blocks away – and climbed a tree and refused to come down…(laughter).

Elon Musk interview with Alison van DiggelenAlison van Diggelen: The first of many rule-breaking adventures for Elon Musk. So, by the time you were 12, you were already an entrepreneur and making a profit…

Elon Musk: Well…A small one…

Alison van Diggelen: You earned $500 equivalent in (South African) Rand for creating a video game. Can you tell us about that and what the inspiration was?

Elon Musk: Yes sure. So when I was about 10, I walked into a computer store in South Africa and saw an actual computer. I previously had some earlier precursors to the Atari system then I got the Atari system which I’m sure a lot of people here have played. Then I sort of actually started having a computer where you could make your own games and it was a Commodore VIC-20 . So that was the first computer I bought and then I got some books on how to teach yourself programming and this was like the coolest thing I’d ever seen so this was super-awesome and I started programming games in order to buy more games so that really put a circular thing…so more games, better computers. That kind of thing.

Alison van Diggelen: Right. So the money wasn’t the end goal for you, it was more a means to an end?

Elon Musk: Yeah. Basically I’d spend money on better computers and Dungeons & Dragons modules. Things like that. (laughs) Master 3000 basically.

Alison van Diggelen: I understand at that time you were heavily into comics…I’m curious to know, did you love Iron Man? The comic Iron Man, was that…? Robert Downey Jr, Ironman

Elon Musk: I did like Iron Man, yes.

Alison van Diggelen: You did? And did you ever imagine you’d be the inspiration for the (Iron Man) movie version?

Elon Musk: I did not. That was pretty much, I would say zero percent chance.

Alison van Diggelen: What kind of kid were you? Can you look back and see yourself? Were you a loner kid? A bookish kid?

Elon Musk: I wasn’t all that much of a loner…at least not willingly (laughter). I certainly was very very bookish. I was reading all the time. So I was either reading, working on my computer, reading comics, playing Dungeons & Dragons…that kind of thing.

Alison van Diggelen: I understand Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, that wonderful book by Douglas Adams, that was a key book for you. What was it about that book that fired your imagination?

Elon Musk interview with Alison van DiggelenElon Musk: I guess when I was around 12 or 15…I had an existential crisis, and I was reading various books on trying to figure out the meaning of life and what does it all mean? It all seemed quite meaningless and then we happened to have some books by Nietzsche and Schopenhauer in the house, which you should not read at age 14 (laughter). It is bad, it’s really negative. So then I read Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy which is quite positive I think and it highlighted an important point which is that a lot of times the question is harder than the answer. And if you can properly phrase the question, then the answer is the easy part.   So, to the degree that we can better understand the universe, then we can better know what questions to ask. Then whatever the question is that most approximates: what’s the meaning of life? That’s the question we can ultimately get closer to understanding. And so I thought to the degree that we can expand the scope and scale of consciousness and knowledge, then that would be a good thing.”

Alison van Diggelen:  So you were having these deep thoughts at what age? 10…14?

Elon Musk: Yeah. In the…puberty, I guess….13 through 15. Probably the most traumatic years.

Alison van Diggelen: So by the time you were 17, you were…had actually left (South Africa)…I assume you’d hatched the plan earlier when you were 14, 15?

Elon Musk: I did hatch the plan earlier. Actually I tried to hatch several plans, which they did not hatch (laughter).

Elon Musk, Iron Man, Fresh Dialogues TranscriptAlison van Diggelen: But by 17, you were on a plane from South Africa. You’d had enough of South Africa, you were ready to seek new pastures. Now why was it the United States was your destination? Why not Europe or somewhere else?

Elon Musk: Well, whenever I would read about cool technology, it would tend to be in the United States…or more broadly North America, including Canada. So, I wanted to be where the cutting edge technology was and of course, within the United States, Silicon Valley is where the heart of things is. Although at the time, I didn’t know where Silicon Valley was…it sounded like some mythical place (laughter)…I tried to convince my mother or father, who were divorced, if either one of them would move to the United States, then I could get there. At one point I convinced my father but then he reneged, unfortunately.

Alison van Diggelen: You had him convinced? And then he changed his mind?

Elon Musk: He did say yes, and then he changed his mind.

Alison van Diggelen: Why?

Elon Musk: I don’t know. I guess he was fairly established in engineering, established in South Africa and didn’t want to have to go through that again in another country.

Alison van Diggelen: So you got on that plane all by yourself at 17?

Elon Musk: Yes, so…my mother was born in Canada. Her father was American. But unfortunately she didn’t get her American citizenship, so then that broke the link and I couldn’t get my American citizenship. But she was born in Canada, so I actually filled out the forms for her and got her a Canadian passport, and me too. Within three weeks of getting my Canadian passport, I was in Canada.

…To be continued.

Check back soon for the next chapter of Elon Musk’s journey: University of Pennsylvania, two days at Stanford, his first startup…and the inspiration for PayPal.

Transcript Excerpt: On How Elon Musk became Tesla’s Reluctant CEO

How to Build and Motivate Startup Teams: the Elon Musk Way

How to Build and Motivate Startup Teams: the Elon Musk Way

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

During my January interview with Elon Musk, we got a glimpse inside the mind of this revolutionary entrepreneur. We explored his inspiration for disruptive startups like SpaceX, Tesla Motors and SolarCity; and he gave some advice on how to build, motivate and retain excellent teams; as well as some warnings about the hazards of over-committing and sleep deprivation.

He told me, “I really didn’t want to be CEO of two startups at the same time. It was not appealing. And shouldn’t be appealing by the way, if anyone is thinking that’s a good idea. It’s a terrible idea.”

On how to build, motivate and retain an excellent team (@1.05.00 on video)

“A company is a group of people that are organized to create a product or service. That’s what a company is. So in order to create such a thing, you have to convince others to join you in your effort and so they have to be convinced that it’s a sensible thing, that basically there’s a some reasonable chance of success and if there is success, the reward will be commensurate with the effort involved. And so I think that’s it…getting people to believe in what you’re doing – and in you – is important.”

“In the beginning there will be few people who believe in you or in what you’re doing but then over time, as you make progress, the evidence will build and more and more people will believe in what you’re doing. So, I think it’s a good idea when creating a company to create…to have a demonstration or if it’s a product to have a good mark up or even if it’s software to have good demoware, or to be able to sketch something so people can really envision what’s it’s about. Try to get to that point as soon as possible. And then iterate to make it as real as possible, as fast as possible.  I think that makes sense.”

On time management and sleep

“Sleep is really great. I find if I don’t get enough sleep then I’m quite grumpy. Obviously, I think most people are that way. And also I try to figure out what’s the right amount of sleep, because I find I can drop below a certain threshold in sleep and although I’d be awake more hours and I could sustain it, I would get less done…my mental acuity would be affected. So I found generally, the right number for me is around six to six and a half hours on average per night.”

“Having a smart phone is incredibly helpful because that means you can do email during interstitial periods, like if you’re in a car (he has a driver), you’re walking, in the bathroom, everywhere. You can do email practically when you’re awake and so that’s really helpful: to have email for SpaceX, and Tesla integrated on my phone. And then you have to apply a lot of hours to actual working.”

On where his inspiration strikes (hint: not just Burning Man)

“It’s kind of a cliche, but it happens a lot in the shower…I don’t know what it is about showers (laughter)…I kind of stand there in the (long) shower and…not to mention the burning man epiphanies. Those are huge…There are some times. like late at night if I think about something and I can’t sleep and I’ll be up for several hours, sort of pacing around the house, thinking about things and occasionally I’ll sketch something or send myself an email or something like that.”

On keeping it in the family (Musk has five sons, all under 9)

“I do drag them along on a lot of things…they’re remarkably unimpressed. I wish they were more interested…maybe they’ll get more interested later. If they’re really interested in working at Tesla or SpaceX then I’d help them do that. I’m not sure I’d necessarily want to insert them into the CEO role at some point. If the rest of the team and the board felt that they were the right person then that would be fine but I wouldn’t want people to feel that I’d installed my kid there. I don’t think that would be good for the company or the kid really.”

“I was of the school of thought that it’s best to give away 99% or more of one’s assets, the Buffet School of thought. I’m mostly inclined in that direction, but after seeing what happened with Ford, GM and Chrysler, where GM and Chrysler went bankrupt and Ford did not, and Ford seemed to make better long term choices…in part because of the influence of the Ford family, I thought, well OK, there may be some merit in having some longer term family ownership. At least a portion of it. It acts as a positive influence…in the long term interest of the company…so the company does proper long term things. Look at what happened also in Silicon Valley with Hewlett Packard. It’s quite sad. That to some degree is because there was much diminished influence by the Hewlett and Packard families. I think they should have prevailed…when they were opposed to the merger that took place at one point. I think they were right, actually.”

On the likelihood of a SpaceX IPO this year

“No, there’s no IPO planned. I must say, running a public company does have its drawbacks. In the case of Tesla and Solarcity …we had to raise capital and we had a kind of complex equity structure that needed to be resolved by going public. So I thought we kind of needed to do that in those two cases. We don’t have to do that at SpaceX. I think there’s a good chance we will at some point in the future, but SpaceX’s objectives are super longterm and the market is not. So I’m a bit worried that if we did go public, certainly if we went public too soon, that the market pressure would force us to do short term things and abandon longterm projects…(like) going to Mars is very longterm.”

On the Hyperloop

“I did promise that I’d do some paper on the Hyperloop idea and things got a little hectic toward the end of last year because I’d committed to make these milestones at Tesla to the public market and I had to stay true to that obligation, which required an insane level of work and attention.” Check back soon at Fresh Dialogues for updates on the Hyperloop.

On how the SolarCity IPO got done, “by the skin of its teeth”

Elon Musk: “(It) was a very difficult IPO to get done. That IPO occurred just by the skin of its teeth. It was such a tough one…If it wasn’t in December, it would mean pushing it out quite a bit and the problem is, we’d already pushed it out quite a bit. So if we didn’t go public, we’d have to do a private round and then…the whole thing wouldn’t feel right. It’s like you’re sitting at the altar, and you don’t do the wedding. It’s a bit awkward. So we really needed to do it and I think if we hadn’t done it, people would have looked at it as a failure. It wouldn’t have been good. There have just been too many failures…not enough success, let’s say, in the solar arena. We need to chalk up success…”

Alison van Diggelen: “It was a rare piece of sunshine for the solar industry last year…”

Elon Musk: “Right. Exactly. Ironically for the solar industry doesn’t have a lot of that.”

On why Musk wants to go to Mars before he’s ‘too old’

“I guess I’d like to be able to go to Mars while I’m still able to manage the journey reasonably well. I don’t want to be like 75 and go to Mars…It could be mildly arduous…I’d like to get there ideally in my 50’s. That would be kind of cool. I aspire to make that happen, and I can see the potential for that happening. I’m not saying it will happen, but I think it can happen…I’ll try to make it happen.”

Elon Musk: His Remarkable Story in His Own Words (Video)

Elon Musk: His Remarkable Story in His Own Words (Video)

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

For the first time, entrepreneur Elon Musk shared his whole life story in front of a live audience in Silicon Valley. He joined me in conversation at the Computer History Museum on January 22 and we explored: What makes a Revolutionary?

Musk takes us on a journey from the suburban streets of South Africa to the tech mecca of Silicon Valley…and beyond. He tells me about his teenage “existential crisis” and his bookish quest for the meaning of life; how the retirement of NASA’s space shuttle inspired his space transport startup SpaceX; and why he became the reluctant CEO of electric car company Tesla Motors.

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Interview highlights and key turning points in his career:

The Rebellious Child:  Musk grew up in South Africa. At age 6, he desperately wanted to attend his cousin’s birthday party, but was grounded for some long-forgotten transgression. How did he get there? (This was probably the first of his many rule-breaking adventures.)

“It was clear across town, 10 or 12 miles away, further than I realized actually, but I just started walking…I think it took me about four hours…My mother freaked out.”

The Iron Man Inspiration: He was a huge fan of comics and read Iron Man comics. Did he ever imagine he’d be the inspiration for Robert Downey Jr’s movie character, Tony Stark?

“I did not. I would have said zero percent chance…I wasn’t all that much of a loner…at least not willingly. I was very very bookish.”

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy: How did the novel fire his imagination?

“I was around 12 or 15…I had an existential crisis, and I was reading various books on trying to figure out the meaning of life and what does it all mean? …I read Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and it highlighted an important point which is that a lot of times the question is harder than the answer. And if you can properly phrase the question, then the answer is the easy part.   To the degree that we can better understand the universe, then we can better know what questions to ask. Then whatever the question is that most approximates: what’s the meaning of life? That’s the question we can ultimately get closer to understanding. And so I thought to the degree that we can expand the scope and scale of consciousness and knowledge, then that would be a good thing.”

Why was Silicon Valley his mecca at age 17? 

“Whenever I read about cool technology, it would tend to be in the United States…I wanted to be where the cutting edge technology was and of course, Silicon Valley is where the heart of things is…it sounded like some mythical place.”

Why did his startup X.com (the precursor to PayPal) come close to dying in 2000?

“The growth in the company was pretty crazy…by the end of the first four or five weeks we had a hundred thousand customers and it wasn’t all good…we had some bugs in the software…Various financial regulatory agencies were trying to shut us down, Visa and Mastercard were trying to shut us down, eBay…the FTC…there were a lot of battles there. (But) we had a really talented group of people at PayPal…It worked out better than we expected.”

After making over $150M from PayPal, why not just buy an island and relax?

“The idea of lying on a beach as my main thing sounds horrible to me…I would go bonkers. I’d have to be on serious drugs…I’d be super duper bored…I like high intensity.”

SpaceX's Falcon 9 launcher that carried Dragon to orbit, 2012. Fresh Dialogues interview

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launcher that carried Dragon to orbit, 2012. Fresh Dialogues interview

On the seeds of SpaceX

“I always thought that we’d make much more progress in space…and it just didn’t happen…it was really disappointing, so I was really quite bothered by it. So when we went to the moon, we were supposed to have a base on the moon, we were supposed to send people to Mars and that stuff just didn’t happen. We went backwards. I thought, well maybe it’s a question of there not being enough intention or ‘will’ to do this. This was a wrong assumption. That’s the reason for the greenhouse idea…if there could be a small philanthropic mission to Mars…a small greenhouse with seeds and dehydrated nutrients, you’d have this great shot of a little greenhouse with little green plants on a red background. I thought that would get people excited…you have to imagine the money shot. I thought this would result in a bigger budget for NASA and then we could resume the journey…”

On negotiations with the Russian military to buy two ICBMs

“They just thought I was crazy…I had three quite interesting trips to Russia to try to negotiate purchase of two Russian ICBMs…minus the nukes…I slightly got the feeling that was on the table, which was very alarming. Those were very weird meetings with the Russian military…’remarkably capitalist’ was my impression (of the Russians).”

Why he chose to create his own rocket company, SpaceX

“I came to the conclusion that my initial premise was wrong that in fact that there’s a great deal of will, there’s not such a shortage. But people don’t think there’s a way. And if people thought there was a way or something that wouldn’t break the federal budget, then people would support it. The United States is a distillation of the human spirit of exploration. People came here from other places…people need to believe that it’s possible, so I thought it’s a question of showing people that there’s a way…There wasn’t really a good reason for rockets to be so expensive. If one could make them reusable, like airplanes then the cost of rocketry (and space travel) would drop dramatically.”

Tesla Roadster, Fresh DialoguesHow did the vigils for the death of the EV 1 help inspire Tesla Motors?

“It’s crazy. When was the last time you heard about any company, customers holding a candlelight vigil for the demise of that product? Particularly a GM product? I mean, what bigger wake-up call do you need? Like hello, the customers are really upset about this…that kind of blew my mind.”

On being the reluctant CEO of Tesla Motors

“I tried really hard not to be the CEO of two startups at the same time…It’s not appealing and shouldn’t be appealing if anyone thinks that’s a good idea. It’s a terrible idea.”

On the idea for SolarCity

“Solar is the obvious primary means of sustainable energy generation…in fact, the earth is almost entirely solar powered today. The only reason we’re not a frozen ice-ball at 3 degrees Kelvin is because of the sun…”

Check back soon for more from Musk on:

where his inspiration strikes (hint: not just Burning Man)

how to build, motivate and retain an excellent team

time management advice

keeping it in the family

the likelihood of a SpaceX IPO this year

how the SolarCity IPO got done, “by the skin of its teeth”

why Musk wants to go to Mars before he’s ‘too old’

Here are transcripts of our conversation

Elon Musk: On South African Childhood, Iron Man and The Meaning of Life

Elon Musk: The Reluctant CEO of Tesla Motors

Elon Musk: On Obama, Climate Change and Government Regulations

Elon Musk: On Critics, Steve Jobs & Innovation

Elon Musk: On Team Building, Warren Buffett and Dying on Mars

Click here for more stories on Elon Musk and electric vehicles

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