Elon Musk Success Story

Early Life

When talent and dedication come together, the result is Elon Musk. Never one to rest on his laurels, Musk has moved from achievement to other all the time, bringing to the world a fresh idea or invention. Born in South Africa, Musk’s father was a mechanical engineer and his mother was a popular model. Musk began his entrepreneurial ventures very young – at age ten, he bought his first computer. He learned computer programming on his own and by the age of twelve, had created a game called Blaster which he sold for US$500. 

Musk felt that it would be easier to immigrate to the United States from Canada than from South Africa. So, in 1989, he took admission to Queen’s University in Canada while seventeen. In 1992, Musk transferred to the University of Pennsylvania. After earning a bachelor’s degree in economics, he pursued a second undergraduate degree in physics. The thirst for knowledge was inborn in Musk, something that is not often seen in people.

Career

Not content with two undergraduate degrees, Musk moved to California to pursue a PhD in energy physics at Stanford University. However, he quit after only 2 days at the program to become a part of the Internet boom. His first company, Zip2 Corporation, was an online city guide that provided information for the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune. Musk became a multimillionaire in his late 20s by selling Zip2 to Compaq Computers for US$ 307 million cash and US$ 34 million as stock options.He moved on to co-establish an online payments company called X.com, which later became as PayPal. Musk owned 11% of the company’s stock. In 2002, eBay acquired PayPal for US$ 1.5 billion in stock.