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Biography
Zip2 sold for $307 million, and Elon Musk's cut was about $22 million
Elon and Kimbal Musk started the online city-guide Zip2 in 1995 with roughly $28,000.
Grokipedia, Elon Musk (grokipedia.com/page/Elon_Musk)
PayPal began life as a company literally named X.com
Elon Musk founded the online bank X.com in March 1999, which merged with Confinity in 2000 and was renamed PayPal.
Grokipedia, X.com (bank) and PayPal (grokipedia.com/page/X.com_(bank)); reused from explainers/_work/result.json (capital-allocation)
In December 2008, Tesla and SpaceX were both almost out of money at the same time
By that month Elon Musk had nearly exhausted his personal savings, was sleeping at the office or on friends' couches, and borrowing money to pay rent.
Grokipedia, Elon Musk (grokipedia.com/page/Elon_Musk)
SpaceX
SpaceX's first rocket nearly went bankrupt before its fourth flight saved it
Falcon 1 failed three straight times from 2006 to 2008 and almost ended the company.
Reused from explainers/_work/result.json (falcon-1); Grokipedia, Falcon 1 (grokipedia.com/page/Falcon_1)
A $1.6 billion NASA contract landed days after Falcon 1 finally flew
In December 2008, days after the fourth Falcon 1 reached orbit, NASA awarded SpaceX a $1.6 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract for 12 cargo.
Reused from explainers/_work/result.json (falcon-1); Grokipedia, Falcon 1 (grokipedia.com/page/Falcon_1)
SpaceX builds close to 90 percent of a rocket in-house
Most launch companies are assemblers that buy engines and subsystems from suppliers.
Reused from explainers/_work/result.json (vertical-integration); Grokipedia, SpaceX (grokipedia.com/page/SpaceX)
The very first Falcon Heavy launched Elon Musk's personal Tesla Roadster toward Mars
On February 6, 2018, the maiden Falcon Heavy carried a midnight-cherry Tesla Roadster owned by Elon Musk, with a spacesuit-clad mannequin named.
Grokipedia, Falcon Heavy test flight (grokipedia.com/page/Falcon_Heavy_test_flight)
On that same flight, two boosters landed back side by side
Falcon Heavy's two side boosters performed synchronized vertical landings at Cape Canaveral's Landing Zones 1 and 2, the first such recovery for a.
Grokipedia, Falcon Heavy test flight (grokipedia.com/page/Falcon_Heavy_test_flight)
Falcon Heavy fires 27 engines at liftoff, all tested together first
The rocket straps three Falcon 9 cores together so 27 Merlin engines fire at once, generating more than 5 million pounds of thrust.
Grokipedia, Falcon Heavy test flight (grokipedia.com/page/Falcon_Heavy_test_flight); reused from explainers/_work/result.json (falcon-heavy)
Raptor is the first full-flow staged-combustion engine ever to fly
This is the hardest, most efficient engine cycle known, routing all the fuel and all the oxidizer through two preburners so almost no propellant is.
Reused from explainers/_work/result.json (raptor) and glossary.json; Grokipedia, SpaceX Raptor (grokipedia.com/page/SpaceX_Raptor)
Tesla
Elon Musk called sleeping at the Tesla factory 'excruciating'
During Tesla's 2018 Model 3 'production hell,' Elon Musk slept on-site during critical periods and later described that stretch as 'the most.
Grokipedia, Elon Musk (grokipedia.com/page/Elon_Musk)
Tesla's self-driving chip was 21 times faster than the hardware it replaced
At Autonomy Day in 2019, Tesla's in-house FSD computer reported 2,300 frames per second of image processing against 110 on the bought chip it.
Reused from explainers/_work/result.json (vertical-integration); Grokipedia, Tesla FSD chip (grokipedia.com/page/Tesla_FSD_chip)
One giant casting replaced about 70 welded parts in a Tesla
Tesla casts a rear underbody section as a single aluminum part instead of stamping and welding roughly 70 pieces together, cutting that section's.
Reused from explainers/_work/result.json (vertical-integration); Grokipedia, Gigacasting (grokipedia.com/page/Gigacasting)
The Cybertruck's body is the same steel family as a SpaceX rocket
Instead of painted panels on a frame, the Cybertruck wears a load-bearing exoskeleton of ultra-hard 30X cold-rolled stainless steel, the same alloy.
Elon Musk on X (x.com/elonmusk/status/1198344195317985280); reused from explainers/_work/result.json (cybertruck)
'Gigafactory' is a word Elon Musk made up on an earnings call
He coined the term on Tesla's third-quarter 2013 earnings call.
Reused from explainers/_work/result.json (gigafactories) and glossary.json; Grokipedia, Gigafactory (grokipedia.com/page/Gigafactory)
Tesla's Supercharger network started with just six stalls in California
Tesla switched on its first six Superchargers across California in September 2012.
Tesla, official site (tesla.com/support/charging/supercharging); reused from explainers/_work/result.json (supercharger)
Money
One PayPal payday quietly funded three companies at once
Elon Musk steered roughly $100 million from the PayPal sale into SpaceX, then led Tesla's 2004 Series A with $6.35 million and seeded SolarCity with.
Reused from explainers/_work/result.json (capital-allocation); Grokipedia, SpaceX and SolarCity (grokipedia.com/page/SolarCity)
Elon Musk draws no salary as Tesla CEO
His pay is entirely at-risk and performance-based.
Grokipedia, Elon Musk (grokipedia.com/page/Elon_Musk)
The 'idiot index' is a single number Elon Musk uses to hunt waste
Take a finished part's cost and divide it by the cost of the raw material inside it.
Walter Isaacson, Elon Musk (2023); reused from explainers/_work/result.json (the-idiot-index) and glossary.json
A $250,000 valve became the founding lesson of in-housing at SpaceX
When a supplier quoted a valve at $250,000, Elon Musk judged the price absurd against the materials and told the team to make it themselves.
Walter Isaacson, Elon Musk (2023); reused from explainers/_work/result.json (the-idiot-index)
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