7 ms·

As a founder of PayPal, Elon Musk made $250 million. But then he got bored

28 points by ashwinl 18y ago

blurry 18y ago
There is an excellent collection of short videos/talks by Elon Musk at Stanford's Entrepreneurship Corner: http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=385&author=33 http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=385&...
TweedHeads 18y ago
There is a huuuuge potential for a paypal competitor in latin america adapted to the multicurrency nature of the region. I've been cooking the idea for a long time but lack of time and resources are holding me back. I am talking about trillions here.
- gruibal 18y ago
  http://www.mercadopago.com/ http://www.mercadopago.com/ http://dineromail.com/ http://dineromail.com/
  - TweedHeads 18y ago
    Both are good but limited options. Mercadopago is restricted to Mercadolibre and Dineromail is just for sending and receiving money, not for web purchasing. Together they cover less than 0.01% the market I am talking about.
  - ne0h 18y ago
    Hi
- calambrac 18y ago
  Trillions! Yes, you! can control 2/3 (or more!) of the GDP of a region by facilitating multi-currency transactions over the internet there!
10ren 18y ago
This reads like fucking Ender's Game meets Atlas Shrugged. Some bozo makes shitloads in the internet goldrush, and thinks he's some kind of fucking genius, so he appoints himself to solve "solar power, space travel, and electric cars". But... turns out he co-founded SpaceX (first civilian rocket to reach orbit), and is chairman of Tesla Motors. Fuck. This is an excellent article. Those unable to read multi-page presentation would do well to acquire the capability.
- wallflower 18y ago
  Just read it (page by page). Excellent. Wow, Steve Jobs meets Willy Wonka (without the charisma). He's not charismatic; he's a superconducting magnet.
- jmatt 18y ago
  Those unable to read multi-page presentation would do well to acquire the capability. People have the capability. They just choose not to support such a rude presentation. To each their own.
  - Xichekolas 18y ago
    > They just choose not to support such a rude presentation. Ironic considering the GP.
  - wallflower 18y ago
    The only reason multi-page presentation exists (on the web, not in print) is to manufacture more page views.
    - 10ren 18y ago
      I usually dislike multi-page, but I was surprised that I didn't mind in this case. I realized that it's the latency of multi-pages that I don't like. This site loaded instantly (for me). A factor in this was that I adblocked all the ads (when I disabled adblock, loading was significantly slower). I don't like waiting for page-loads. It breaks my train, and maybe also there's the uncertainty of whether I'll be able to finish reading, since pages sometimes don't load - this has happened to me. Hmmm.. if someone cached their multi-page article in the client (including the ads) and switched dynamically pages with javascript, one could achieve the same effect. These are also "webapp" issues, and I think why offline webapps (google gears, AIR, silverlight, javaFX) are so important. I guess it will also finally disrupt Microsoft's Windows platform, without needing a new hardware platform (previously, mainframes, minicomputers and workstations were disrupted by new hardware platforms - I don't see that happening to Microsoft). I think I actually like multi-page in itself - it gives me a natural break, and also enables literal "bookmarking" (yes, like pages in a book) if I don't want to finish it all right now (or if I want to remember part). I actually wrote a little greasemonkey script to add in anchor names to headings on long essays (eg: pg's), so that I can bookmark them (with #).
gravitycop 18y ago
> he continues "[...] in the last sixty years, with atomic weaponry, we’ve created the potential to extinguish ourselves. [...]" Urban legend. http://glasstone.blogspot.com http://glasstone.blogspot.com http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Aglasstone.blogspot.com+buildings http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Aglasstone.blogspot.com...
davidw 18y ago
> “Do not be scared of the darkness!” Elon Musk calls out to them from the wilderness. “There is nothing to fear—it is merely the absence of light!” It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
Hovertruck 18y ago
I haven't read PayPal Wars in a while, but I thought Elon bought into the company after owning X.com and kinda mucked around and then got dismissed by the board.
- Xichekolas 18y ago
  Was thinking the same. As I remember, Elon's X.com merged with PayPal, then Elon proceeded to oust the original PayPal founders and convert all the PayPal infrastructure from linux to windows (which was X.com's platform of choice). All this infighting went terribly, but I don't remember who ended up on top in the end. I'm not saying Elon did nothing for PayPal, because it's still dominant, so he probably helped it grow, but calling him a 'Founder' is a bit of a stretch.
  - Shooter 18y ago
    Peter Thiel and Max Levchin ended up on top in the end. But they have since made up with Elon. (If Elon had 'won', Paypal would be on Windows and would be called X.com now.)
Harkins 18y ago
Does anyone have a GreaseMonkey script to put the 12 100-500 word pages back together into a readable form?
- jyothi 18y ago
  And if possible a semantic summarizer too. Glanced through 2-3 pages, seems like a totally dragged story of his brilliance as a kid, then things he ventured into.
tom_rath 18y ago
Whatever the merits of that article, the ridiculous multi-page presentation makes it unreadable.
llimllib 18y ago
Short version: Elon Musk is Ozymandias. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozymandias_(comics) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozymandias_(comics)

28 points by ashwinl 18y ago

There is an excellent collection of short videos/talks by Elon Musk at Stanford's Entrepreneurship Corner: http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=385&author=33 http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=385&...

TweedHeads 18y ago

There is a huuuuge potential for a paypal competitor in latin america adapted to the multicurrency nature of the region. I've been cooking the idea for a long time but lack of time and resources are holding me back. I am talking about trillions here.

gruibal 18y ago
http://www.mercadopago.com/ http://www.mercadopago.com/ http://dineromail.com/ http://dineromail.com/
- TweedHeads 18y ago
  Both are good but limited options. Mercadopago is restricted to Mercadolibre and Dineromail is just for sending and receiving money, not for web purchasing. Together they cover less than 0.01% the market I am talking about.
- ne0h 18y ago
  Hi
calambrac 18y ago
Trillions! Yes, you! can control 2/3 (or more!) of the GDP of a region by facilitating multi-currency transactions over the internet there!

10ren 18y ago

This reads like fucking Ender's Game meets Atlas Shrugged. Some bozo makes shitloads in the internet goldrush, and thinks he's some kind of fucking genius, so he appoints himself to solve "solar power, space travel, and electric cars". But... turns out he co-founded SpaceX (first civilian rocket to reach orbit), and is chairman of Tesla Motors. Fuck. This is an excellent article. Those unable to read multi-page presentation would do well to acquire the capability.

wallflower 18y ago
Just read it (page by page). Excellent. Wow, Steve Jobs meets Willy Wonka (without the charisma). He's not charismatic; he's a superconducting magnet.
jmatt 18y ago
Those unable to read multi-page presentation would do well to acquire the capability. People have the capability. They just choose not to support such a rude presentation. To each their own.
- Xichekolas 18y ago
  > They just choose not to support such a rude presentation. Ironic considering the GP.
- wallflower 18y ago
  The only reason multi-page presentation exists (on the web, not in print) is to manufacture more page views.
  - 10ren 18y ago
    I usually dislike multi-page, but I was surprised that I didn't mind in this case. I realized that it's the latency of multi-pages that I don't like. This site loaded instantly (for me). A factor in this was that I adblocked all the ads (when I disabled adblock, loading was significantly slower). I don't like waiting for page-loads. It breaks my train, and maybe also there's the uncertainty of whether I'll be able to finish reading, since pages sometimes don't load - this has happened to me. Hmmm.. if someone cached their multi-page article in the client (including the ads) and switched dynamically pages with javascript, one could achieve the same effect. These are also "webapp" issues, and I think why offline webapps (google gears, AIR, silverlight, javaFX) are so important. I guess it will also finally disrupt Microsoft's Windows platform, without needing a new hardware platform (previously, mainframes, minicomputers and workstations were disrupted by new hardware platforms - I don't see that happening to Microsoft). I think I actually like multi-page in itself - it gives me a natural break, and also enables literal "bookmarking" (yes, like pages in a book) if I don't want to finish it all right now (or if I want to remember part). I actually wrote a little greasemonkey script to add in anchor names to headings on long essays (eg: pg's), so that I can bookmark them (with #).

gravitycop 18y ago

> he continues "[...] in the last sixty years, with atomic weaponry, we’ve created the potential to extinguish ourselves. [...]" Urban legend. http://glasstone.blogspot.com http://glasstone.blogspot.com http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Aglasstone.blogspot.com+buildings http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Aglasstone.blogspot.com...

davidw 18y ago

> “Do not be scared of the darkness!” Elon Musk calls out to them from the wilderness. “There is nothing to fear—it is merely the absence of light!” It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.

Hovertruck 18y ago

I haven't read PayPal Wars in a while, but I thought Elon bought into the company after owning X.com and kinda mucked around and then got dismissed by the board.

Xichekolas 18y ago
Was thinking the same. As I remember, Elon's X.com merged with PayPal, then Elon proceeded to oust the original PayPal founders and convert all the PayPal infrastructure from linux to windows (which was X.com's platform of choice). All this infighting went terribly, but I don't remember who ended up on top in the end. I'm not saying Elon did nothing for PayPal, because it's still dominant, so he probably helped it grow, but calling him a 'Founder' is a bit of a stretch.
- Shooter 18y ago
  Peter Thiel and Max Levchin ended up on top in the end. But they have since made up with Elon. (If Elon had 'won', Paypal would be on Windows and would be called X.com now.)

Harkins 18y ago

Does anyone have a GreaseMonkey script to put the 12 100-500 word pages back together into a readable form?

jyothi 18y ago
And if possible a semantic summarizer too. Glanced through 2-3 pages, seems like a totally dragged story of his brilliance as a kid, then things he ventured into.

tom_rath 18y ago

Whatever the merits of that article, the ridiculous multi-page presentation makes it unreadable.

llimllib 18y ago

Short version: Elon Musk is Ozymandias. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozymandias_(comics) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozymandias_(comics)