50+ Interesting Elon Musk Facts

Elon Reeve Musk is an engineer and entrepreneur. He considers himself as a business magnet (as opposed to magnate). The list of companies he has found include Zip2.com in 1995, X.com in 1999 which transformed into Paypal, SpaceX.com in 2002, Tesla in 2003, Open AI in 2015, and both The Boring Company and Neuralink in 2016.

Here are 50 interesting facts that make Elon Musk the most future-thinking leader today.

1. Elon Musk was born in South Africa.
2. He is a Canadian and later became an American citizen in 2002.
3. He comes from an entrepreneurial family. His mother – Maye Musk continues to work as a model for over 50 years, his brother – Kimbal Musk runs companies to deliver and create healthy food, and his sister – Tosca Musk is the founder of Passionflix, a niche romance streaming service targeted for woman.
4. Musk created the Hyperloop concept which would allow travel from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 30 minutes.
5. Musk acquired SolarCity, which later merged into Tesla. This company was founded by his cousins that is now one of the largest solar panel production systems in the United States.
6. Up until May, 2023, Elon had a $0 marketing strategy for Tesla.
7. Elon created OpenAI, a non-profit AI research organization to develop a safe AI that is beneficial and safe for humanity.
8. Known not to rehearse or read off scripts for public presentations.
9. He purchased an F1 McLaren as a reward from his sell-off of Zip2. Zip2 sold to Compaq for $300 Million.
10. He later crashed his F1 McLaren.
11. Elon then created the Tesla Model S that goes faster than the F1 McLaren.
12. Is a father of 6 boys – 1 set of twins, 1 set of triplets, and most recently a new born son on May 4th, 2020.
13. Currently divides his time between SpaceX and Tesla. Monday’s and Tuesday’s at SpaceX, Wednesday’s and Thursday’s at Tesla. Friday’s are split equally between both.
14. Uses Twitter as his go to social media communication platform. Often tweeting at odd hours of the day.
15. Robert Downey Jr. modeled his character, Tony Stark, in Iron Man after Elon Musk. Musk does a cameo in Iron Man 2.
16. He can eat hamburgers in 3 bites.
17. He is friends with Larry Page, CEO of Google (now Alphabet), and has been known to call Larry to stay over in Palo Alto.
18. Elon has an interesting sense of humor. The automated robots at the Tesla manufacturing facility are named after X-men characters. These include Xavier, Iceman, Wolverine, Storm, Colossus, Vulcan, and Havoc. Furthermore, the Tesla Model S’s has insane and ludicrous speed modes, and the Tesla Model X has a bioweapon defense mode. These are all actual mode settings.
19. He selling all of his homes in order to concentrate on getting humanity to mars.
20. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams has been cited as his favorite book.
21. He wants to colonize Mars because he believes that humanity needs to be an interplanetary species as a safeguard to our most probable extinction of our current reliance on our current planet.
22. He is a voracious reader and has been known to cite passages of technical books in debates with his employees.
23. He wants to put a roller coaster in the Tesla Factory.
24. He made a cameo in an episode of The Big Bang Theory.
25. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics.
26. In 1995, at age 24 he was greeted with a case of FOMO (fear of missing out) as the internet boomed. After two days at Stanford pursuing a Ph.D. degree in applied physics, he dropped out to start his first internet company Zip2.
27. Elon Musk purchased James Bond’s Lotus Espirit submarine car for ~$1 million dollars and plans to convert it into an actual functional submarine car.‍
28. He has the tenacity to work 100 hours a week.
29. Elon has a strict “No-Assholes” hiring policy.‍
30. Elon sleeps an average of 6 hours a day and relies on an app to help him keep track.
31. Developed a video game called Blaster at the age of 12.
32. Loves putting easter eggs in software in Tesla’s.
33. Once had a job where he shoveled dirt in a boiler room.
34. Described his childhood as not good.
35. Often bullied in school
36. Is a fan of Burning Man.
37. Has been known to experiment with homemade explosives.
38. Threw elaborate house parties in college and charged for cover to pay for his tuition.
39. Bribed the Russian police after being held at gunpoint for attempting to purchase three $7 Million rockets.
40. Elon really likes Electronic Dance Music. He even recorded one in the studio.
41. Loves first person shooter games such as Bioshock, Fallout, Mass Effect, and Civilization.
42. Drink of choice is whiskey.
43. Not interested in running for political office, but likes the quote, “If you are in hell, keep going” by Winston Churchill.
44. His favorite airplane is the Archangel 12, the precursor to the SR-71.
45. Has been known to consume 8 cans of diet coke as well as several large cups of coffee to stay alert.
46. Admits to having a bad diet. Usually skips breakfast, consumes lunch meals during meetings in 5 minutes, and eats enough for 2 people during business dinners.
47. Works out once or twice per week with some treadmill and weight training.
48. Didn’t like the taste of alcohol in college.
49. Lives by the first principles of physics in making business decisions and conclusions.
50. He likes French food and BBQ.
51. “I think its possible for ordinary people to be extraordinary” – Elon Musk
52. Elon Musk founded The Boring Company, a tunneling company which he believes can alleviate traffic congestion