1 00:00:14,643 --> 00:00:21,403 My first impressions were that he was very sweet. He seemed quite shy. 2 00:00:22,523 --> 00:00:23,843 A minute, 30 seconds. 3 00:00:26,243 --> 00:00:30,043 He said "may I put my hand on your knee?" 4 00:00:30,203 --> 00:00:33,723 I said "OK, go on then" so it was quite sweet that he asked. 5 00:00:33,883 --> 00:00:38,723 T minus 17, 16, 15... 6 00:00:38,883 --> 00:00:43,203 He said "I don't usually do this, but I'd love to see you tomorrow. 7 00:00:43,363 --> 00:00:45,483 Can we meet for breakfast?" 8 00:00:45,643 --> 00:00:48,243 We had breakfast and then at the end of breakfast 9 00:00:48,403 --> 00:00:50,923 he said, "will you come and have lunch with me?" 10 00:00:51,083 --> 00:00:52,443 So, we went for lunch. 11 00:00:52,603 --> 00:00:55,563 T minus, 10, 9, 8... 12 00:00:55,723 --> 00:00:58,123 And then he said, "will you come to dinner?" 13 00:00:58,283 --> 00:01:01,083 and then I remember one evening he said, 14 00:01:01,243 --> 00:01:04,283 "would you like to come back to my hotel room 15 00:01:04,443 --> 00:01:06,963 so we can look at rocket videos?" 16 00:01:09,643 --> 00:01:13,723 I thought hmm, "okay, I'll come back", 17 00:01:13,883 --> 00:01:18,723 We did get into his hotel room, and he did just show me rocket videos. 18 00:01:38,563 --> 00:01:42,723 Elon Musk is the richest man who has ever lived 19 00:01:42,883 --> 00:01:44,923 but says he doesn't own a house. 20 00:01:45,083 --> 00:01:47,443 He's a little different than a lot of people. 21 00:01:47,603 --> 00:01:51,163 He truly embodies big thinking and risk taking. 22 00:01:53,563 --> 00:01:58,523 With a few taps from his fingers, global markets can crash and soar. 23 00:01:58,683 --> 00:02:01,683 CEO Elon Musk creating chaos with a single tweet. 24 00:02:01,843 --> 00:02:03,763 Bizarre, shook confidence. 25 00:02:03,923 --> 00:02:08,083 He is creating a chip that can be put into our brains. 26 00:02:15,723 --> 00:02:20,843 Right now, he's building rockets that could take a 100 people to Mars. 27 00:02:22,563 --> 00:02:29,163 His power and wealth continue to grow. 28 00:02:29,323 --> 00:02:32,843 No one on Earth is doing more to change the world. 29 00:02:33,003 --> 00:02:37,043 -Come on over man. -Why would you want to talk to me? 30 00:02:37,203 --> 00:02:40,763 Because you are the dude, my friend. You are the dude. 31 00:02:40,923 --> 00:02:43,483 This is Elon Musk's story 32 00:02:47,043 --> 00:02:49,883 He's done things that no other country can do. 33 00:02:50,043 --> 00:02:52,123 -It's quite magnificent. -You're his mum 34 00:02:52,283 --> 00:02:54,683 -and his greatest champion? -Yes. 35 00:02:54,843 --> 00:02:58,643 Ex-wives, family, friends, enemies 36 00:02:58,803 --> 00:03:03,363 He's so dangerous. Completely, totally irresponsible. 37 00:03:03,523 --> 00:03:08,603 It's not as much fun being me as you think. I'm not sure I want to be me. 38 00:03:10,323 --> 00:03:12,243 Should we celebrate his achievements? 39 00:03:12,403 --> 00:03:16,163 It seems a bit strange to be handing it all over to private enterprise, 40 00:03:16,323 --> 00:03:18,563 but I guess I'm kind of stuck in the past. 41 00:03:21,243 --> 00:03:23,243 Or be frightened by his power? 42 00:03:24,643 --> 00:03:27,883 -Unstable, reckless. -I'm just being me. 43 00:03:46,283 --> 00:03:48,643 -All good? -Yes, thank you. 44 00:03:50,283 --> 00:03:54,963 I was the science nerd at high school. I didn't get many dates. 45 00:03:55,123 --> 00:03:59,003 I don't know if men, boys, rather, were scared of me or whatever, 46 00:03:59,163 --> 00:04:02,683 but I didn't have many dates so I wouldn't date anybody who wasn't. 47 00:04:02,843 --> 00:04:06,043 If he wasn't as good at math and science as I was, 48 00:04:06,203 --> 00:04:10,203 and no one was. Although my ex-husband was, 49 00:04:10,363 --> 00:04:13,963 he was better than me at math and science, and I hate to admit that, 50 00:04:14,123 --> 00:04:17,203 but that probably did help towards Elon being a genius. 51 00:04:30,363 --> 00:04:33,683 One of my co-workers was a contract consultant 52 00:04:33,843 --> 00:04:36,563 for Elon's first Start-Up called Zip 2. 53 00:04:36,723 --> 00:04:41,003 Elon was upset that this engineer working on the deal, 54 00:04:41,163 --> 00:04:44,563 didn't know the technology well, and he fired him. 55 00:04:44,723 --> 00:04:46,643 I went in there the next morning, 56 00:04:46,803 --> 00:04:50,123 he kind of grilled me on like, do you know the subject matter? 57 00:04:50,283 --> 00:04:54,323 And I was like, Yeah, this is how it works. And he was like, you're hired. 58 00:04:55,403 --> 00:04:57,963 He works in mysterious ways, that guy. 59 00:05:02,123 --> 00:05:06,723 This is KRX you're waking up to another beautiful day in San Jose. 60 00:05:08,203 --> 00:05:11,363 When the Internet was being created. 61 00:05:12,803 --> 00:05:16,243 Zip2 was a cool company. Elon and I sat across from each other. 62 00:05:16,403 --> 00:05:19,803 They were still inventing the product as they were running it. 63 00:05:19,963 --> 00:05:24,723 Zip 2. A California company that provides online access 64 00:05:24,883 --> 00:05:27,443 to information about cities around the country, 65 00:05:27,603 --> 00:05:31,203 from where to eat to how to get around. 66 00:05:31,363 --> 00:05:34,483 The company's founder is Elon Musk. 67 00:05:34,643 --> 00:05:37,363 How old were you when you started this company? 68 00:05:37,523 --> 00:05:38,883 23. 69 00:05:40,883 --> 00:05:42,883 I remember meeting him the first time. 70 00:05:43,043 --> 00:05:45,043 He gave me a demo of what he had done, 71 00:05:45,203 --> 00:05:48,163 which was online Yellow Pages with maps and directions. 72 00:05:48,323 --> 00:05:51,683 And he turns to me, It's cool, huh? I go, Yeah, really cool. 73 00:05:51,843 --> 00:05:54,123 I'm staring at him. He's staring at me. 74 00:05:54,283 --> 00:05:56,643 And I'm thinking, is this a trick interview 75 00:05:56,803 --> 00:05:58,603 if I can come up with something? 76 00:05:58,763 --> 00:06:03,003 He assesses people and I've noticed he tends to stare at them, 77 00:06:03,163 --> 00:06:05,643 and it can be very intimidating. 78 00:06:08,243 --> 00:06:10,283 And then I met Kimbal, his brother. 79 00:06:13,683 --> 00:06:15,883 Kimbal was much more personable. 80 00:06:16,963 --> 00:06:23,123 1995, brothers Elon and Kimbal are want-to-be entrepreneurs 81 00:06:23,283 --> 00:06:25,963 attempting to build just one of the thousands 82 00:06:26,123 --> 00:06:29,163 of start-ups in the tech gold rush of Silicon Valley. 83 00:06:32,203 --> 00:06:36,843 Living in the office and ladened with over $100,000 of student debt, 84 00:06:37,003 --> 00:06:38,843 they start searching for people 85 00:06:39,003 --> 00:06:42,363 who believe in them enough to finance their venture. 86 00:06:44,283 --> 00:06:46,283 How much money have you invested in... 87 00:06:46,443 --> 00:06:48,683 The Elon family of companies? I don't know. 88 00:06:48,843 --> 00:06:51,643 It's probably in the order of $100 million ballpark. 89 00:06:51,803 --> 00:06:54,683 In the order of $100 million, roughly. Yeah. 90 00:07:01,163 --> 00:07:03,883 The first time I met Elon, he was pitching Zip2. 91 00:07:04,043 --> 00:07:07,403 I remember, he and Kimbal were relatively new to Silicon Valley. 92 00:07:07,563 --> 00:07:09,123 Been there only a few months. 93 00:07:09,283 --> 00:07:13,003 I just remember thinking they're bright, properly self-confident, 94 00:07:13,163 --> 00:07:17,683 that perfect entrepreneurial mix of having enough self-confidence 95 00:07:17,843 --> 00:07:22,363 to be humble, enough intelligence to respond to questions 96 00:07:22,523 --> 00:07:24,683 in a very nimble manner. 97 00:07:27,083 --> 00:07:30,003 My first week I come in, 98 00:07:30,163 --> 00:07:33,683 and I see two people passed out on a couch. 99 00:07:33,843 --> 00:07:36,763 One was Elon and one was the summer intern we had. 100 00:07:36,923 --> 00:07:39,203 They both pulled an all nighter. 101 00:07:39,363 --> 00:07:42,883 It turned out that was a pretty common occurrence with Elon. 102 00:07:43,043 --> 00:07:45,643 And we'd stay at the office until late hours 103 00:07:45,803 --> 00:07:49,123 and then eventually he'd fall asleep under his Cube 104 00:07:49,283 --> 00:07:51,843 and physics book as a pillow. 105 00:07:52,003 --> 00:07:55,123 Elon is an unusual fellow. 106 00:07:55,283 --> 00:07:59,163 He knows just about everything. About everything. 107 00:08:02,123 --> 00:08:06,123 I would say from the age of three, I thought he was a genius. 108 00:08:06,283 --> 00:08:11,443 He would reason with me, and his reasoning was sensible. 109 00:08:11,603 --> 00:08:15,923 How do you even do that when you don't really have much experience? 110 00:08:18,003 --> 00:08:20,363 I wanted him to go to nursery school. 111 00:08:20,523 --> 00:08:22,843 They said, well, he makes it by two days, 112 00:08:23,003 --> 00:08:24,923 but you should keep him back a year 113 00:08:25,083 --> 00:08:28,043 because otherwise he'll be a little socially challenged. 114 00:08:28,203 --> 00:08:31,043 And I said, you don't understand. I have a genius son. 115 00:08:31,203 --> 00:08:33,403 He needs to talk to someone besides me. 116 00:08:33,563 --> 00:08:36,403 And they roll their eyes because every mother thinks 117 00:08:36,563 --> 00:08:38,403 that a child is a genius. 118 00:08:40,243 --> 00:08:41,843 We worked closely together. 119 00:08:42,003 --> 00:08:46,203 When he was in a good mood, he was an incredible fun guy to be with. 120 00:08:46,363 --> 00:08:49,443 I remember Elon one time it was at about 9:00 at night. 121 00:08:49,603 --> 00:08:51,363 Elon was going around the office 122 00:08:51,523 --> 00:08:53,963 looking to see who was sitting in their cubes. 123 00:08:54,123 --> 00:08:56,323 There weren't many people in their cubes. 124 00:08:56,483 --> 00:09:00,803 It was 9 p.m. and his face turned red, and he was really angry 125 00:09:00,963 --> 00:09:05,083 that the entire company wasn't there in the office at 9:00 at night. 126 00:09:06,763 --> 00:09:09,363 You worked seven days a week, crazy hours. 127 00:09:09,523 --> 00:09:14,123 And in that time, he managed to still hold a relationship with his fiancé. 128 00:09:15,523 --> 00:09:18,523 Elon met his fiancée Justine at university. 129 00:09:19,883 --> 00:09:22,843 They were in the same abnormal psychology class. 130 00:09:24,043 --> 00:09:25,963 Highly competitive with each other, 131 00:09:26,123 --> 00:09:32,323 Justine scored 97% in the exam. Elon scored 98, 132 00:09:32,483 --> 00:09:35,763 and they have now been dating for six years. 133 00:09:35,923 --> 00:09:40,083 A roller coaster ride in terms of watching Elon 134 00:09:40,243 --> 00:09:42,803 go through the trials and tribulations of working 135 00:09:42,963 --> 00:09:46,123 and the toll that it takes on a relationship. 136 00:09:47,323 --> 00:09:50,843 And you accept that when you're spending time with him, 137 00:09:51,003 --> 00:09:53,043 you're getting a very small part of him 138 00:09:53,203 --> 00:09:55,403 because 95% of his mental energy 139 00:09:55,563 --> 00:09:59,043 is still being consumed by these problems. 140 00:09:59,203 --> 00:10:01,723 He doesn't get any breaks from it. 141 00:10:02,763 --> 00:10:06,003 You have to spend a tremendous amount of your time at work. 142 00:10:06,163 --> 00:10:09,163 There's no such thing as the eight-hour day 143 00:10:09,323 --> 00:10:11,283 in Silicon Valley in any field. 144 00:10:13,963 --> 00:10:15,563 Hi, Elon Musk speaking. 145 00:10:15,723 --> 00:10:17,403 It's 7 o'clock in the morning 146 00:10:17,563 --> 00:10:20,363 and Elon Musk anxiously waits for his prize 147 00:10:20,523 --> 00:10:22,763 for paying his dues to the valley. 148 00:10:24,683 --> 00:10:27,403 He was always talking about the McLaren F1 149 00:10:27,563 --> 00:10:30,443 cost $1,000,000 fastest production car in the world. 150 00:10:30,603 --> 00:10:32,203 Only 64 were made. 151 00:10:32,363 --> 00:10:35,483 I said, "why don't you just go out and buy a McLaren F1 152 00:10:35,643 --> 00:10:37,643 and then a week later he did. 153 00:10:37,803 --> 00:10:41,043 I can't believe it's actually here. It's pretty wild, man. 154 00:10:41,203 --> 00:10:44,203 But just three years ago I was showering and at the YMCA 155 00:10:44,363 --> 00:10:46,283 and sleeping on the office floor. 156 00:10:46,443 --> 00:10:49,363 And now obviously I've got a million dollar car 157 00:10:49,523 --> 00:10:51,563 and quite a few creature comforts. 158 00:10:52,803 --> 00:10:54,763 The fastest car in the world. 159 00:10:54,923 --> 00:10:57,643 I could go and buy one of the islands in the Bahamas 160 00:10:57,803 --> 00:10:59,723 and turn it into my personal fiefdom. 161 00:10:59,883 --> 00:11:03,643 I'm much more interested in trying to build and create a new company. 162 00:11:06,963 --> 00:11:08,443 When we were acquired, 163 00:11:08,603 --> 00:11:12,203 a number of us were talking about where we want to be in the future, 164 00:11:12,363 --> 00:11:14,803 and we said either he'll be the richest guy, 165 00:11:14,963 --> 00:11:18,963 or he'll be totally dead broke. But there would be nothing in between. 166 00:11:22,283 --> 00:11:26,803 Elon invests almost all of his money into his next venture. 167 00:11:26,963 --> 00:11:28,283 This is an ATM. 168 00:11:28,443 --> 00:11:32,203 What we're going to do is transform the traditional banking industry. 169 00:11:32,363 --> 00:11:34,643 He becomes a CEO of a banking company 170 00:11:34,803 --> 00:11:37,443 that will soon be worth billions of dollars. 171 00:11:43,403 --> 00:11:47,843 But whilst away on honeymoon Elon is ousted as CEO. 172 00:11:50,723 --> 00:11:52,843 He retains his shares 173 00:11:53,003 --> 00:11:56,963 but no longer has any significant role at the company. 174 00:12:00,043 --> 00:12:02,403 It leaves a mark. You feel betrayed. 175 00:12:06,363 --> 00:12:09,763 As a teenager Elon didn't have many friends 176 00:12:09,923 --> 00:12:13,923 but he read all the time through the night. 177 00:12:14,083 --> 00:12:16,363 I couldn't get him up in the morning. 178 00:12:17,363 --> 00:12:20,803 He read a lot of science fiction. He would read through the night 179 00:12:20,963 --> 00:12:24,203 until he saw me getting up and then he would go to sleep. 180 00:12:24,363 --> 00:12:28,363 Then I had to dress him while he was half asleep and get him to school. 181 00:12:30,763 --> 00:12:32,363 What are some of the problems 182 00:12:32,523 --> 00:12:36,083 that are likely to most affect the future of humanity? 183 00:12:36,243 --> 00:12:40,483 The biggest terrestrial problem we've got is sustainable energy. 184 00:12:41,523 --> 00:12:45,163 The other one being the extension of life beyond Earth. 185 00:12:45,323 --> 00:12:47,443 To make life multiplanetary. 186 00:12:51,763 --> 00:12:56,323 Humans need an adventure. Getting to new territory. 187 00:12:57,523 --> 00:13:00,723 The best reason is so that we get wiped out. 188 00:13:00,883 --> 00:13:07,083 Something like an asteroid strike, like plagues or nuclear war. 189 00:13:11,523 --> 00:13:13,483 If that was to happen, 190 00:13:13,643 --> 00:13:18,483 human civilization on multiple planets is a great insurance policy. 191 00:13:26,163 --> 00:13:31,683 Back in the early 2000s, I was going to Mars Society meetings regularly. 192 00:13:31,843 --> 00:13:36,563 Their topic that would come up was this desire to have a fundraiser. 193 00:13:36,723 --> 00:13:39,923 Filmmaker Jim Cameron was a Mars nut himself 194 00:13:40,083 --> 00:13:42,723 and had been contemplating a Mars movie. 195 00:13:42,883 --> 00:13:47,003 Somebody had the idea of getting Jim Cameron as the featured draw. 196 00:13:49,483 --> 00:13:54,843 Sent out all the invitations. And I have to admit, they didn't do well. 197 00:13:57,043 --> 00:14:00,723 One notable response from a guy named Elon Musk. 198 00:14:00,883 --> 00:14:03,083 Nobody had ever heard of. 199 00:14:03,243 --> 00:14:07,963 He actually paid $5,000 for the plate and be seated with Jim Cameron. 200 00:14:09,243 --> 00:14:14,883 He pulled me aside and he said, I have a project I need some help with. 201 00:14:15,043 --> 00:14:18,963 Take a little miniature greenhouse down to the surface of Mars 202 00:14:19,123 --> 00:14:20,723 to watch the plants grow. 203 00:14:23,723 --> 00:14:30,203 Honestly, I thought it was like crazy ambitious but well thought out. 204 00:14:30,363 --> 00:14:34,123 He was trying to do something to wake people up. 205 00:14:37,243 --> 00:14:41,923 His philosophy was just like great things don't happen automatically. 206 00:14:44,643 --> 00:14:48,083 After winning the space race, NASA's plans slowed. 207 00:14:58,723 --> 00:15:02,683 Meanwhile, other nations developed their own rocket technology, 208 00:15:02,843 --> 00:15:08,123 launched satellites and supplied the international space station. 209 00:15:08,283 --> 00:15:11,083 In planning a trip to Mars, Musk believes 210 00:15:11,243 --> 00:15:14,043 he can also capitalize on the business opportunities 211 00:15:14,203 --> 00:15:18,203 that are opening up in space, putting America back in the game. 212 00:15:18,363 --> 00:15:20,963 If you want to put a satellite in orbit, 213 00:15:21,123 --> 00:15:25,603 you can fly on a Russian rocket, you can fly on a Chinese rocket, 214 00:15:25,763 --> 00:15:30,043 a European rocket, you could fly on an Indian rocket. 215 00:15:30,203 --> 00:15:33,243 None of the American companies flew on an American rocket. 216 00:15:33,403 --> 00:15:34,963 So we're going to go overseas 217 00:15:35,123 --> 00:15:38,803 because there's nothing in America that's cost competitive. 218 00:15:43,083 --> 00:15:45,443 If Elon is going to get into space, 219 00:15:45,603 --> 00:15:50,283 he'll need to convince some ex NASA engineers to help him. 220 00:15:50,443 --> 00:15:54,363 When Elon first started talking to me about the ultimate goal 221 00:15:54,523 --> 00:15:57,803 of making humanity of multi-planetary species... 222 00:15:59,843 --> 00:16:02,523 You probably won't use this but... 223 00:16:02,683 --> 00:16:07,003 This is what I thought. First of all. Okay. 224 00:16:07,163 --> 00:16:09,923 So, I'll give you something you can put on camera. 225 00:16:10,083 --> 00:16:13,483 I didn't quite get his name Ian Musk, is what I thought he said, 226 00:16:13,643 --> 00:16:15,683 and I had no clue what PayPal was. 227 00:16:15,843 --> 00:16:18,763 He mentioned that, it seemed like a funny name to me, 228 00:16:18,923 --> 00:16:22,803 and that he was looking for a Russian rocket to do an experiment to Mars. 229 00:16:22,963 --> 00:16:26,803 And I was the guy he was told could help him do that. 230 00:16:30,763 --> 00:16:33,883 Elon, Jim and another engineer, Mike Griffin, 231 00:16:34,043 --> 00:16:38,043 fly to Russia to buy cheaper Russian rockets off the shelf. 232 00:16:39,043 --> 00:16:42,843 The Standard Delta rocket. It was about 80 to $100 million. 233 00:16:43,003 --> 00:16:46,843 You could go to Russia and buy a similar sized rocket for 2 million. 234 00:16:51,883 --> 00:16:55,163 We got into a classic military complex. 235 00:16:55,323 --> 00:16:58,643 Razor wire on the top and security and guns. 236 00:16:58,803 --> 00:17:02,243 And finally, we got down to where everybody was gathered, 237 00:17:02,403 --> 00:17:04,123 including the chief designer. 238 00:17:05,323 --> 00:17:09,083 In classic European style, we didn't just jump into business. 239 00:17:09,243 --> 00:17:12,403 We started to drink and drink a little vodka, 240 00:17:12,563 --> 00:17:16,883 and then we'd have a toast, toast to the Russians, toast to the Americans, 241 00:17:17,043 --> 00:17:19,163 toast you Elon, toast to the Internet. 242 00:17:19,323 --> 00:17:23,243 And Elon starts to tell the chief designer, 243 00:17:23,403 --> 00:17:26,563 all about this idea of multi-planetary species. 244 00:17:26,723 --> 00:17:31,083 And there's Elon in his late twenties. And they don't know him. 245 00:17:31,243 --> 00:17:34,523 He looks he looks like he just walked in off the street, 246 00:17:34,683 --> 00:17:37,083 and they took that as a sign of disrespect. 247 00:17:40,083 --> 00:17:43,883 Chief designer was very angry, he chopped Elon off mid-sentence, 248 00:17:44,043 --> 00:17:47,603 started staccato Russian. This is machine of war. 249 00:17:47,763 --> 00:17:51,323 This is not a toy for some young kid from Silicon Valley. 250 00:17:51,483 --> 00:17:54,643 This is not Internet bullshit. We're talking life or death. 251 00:17:54,803 --> 00:17:57,723 Then he spit on Elon's shoes and he spit on my shoes. 252 00:17:57,883 --> 00:18:01,323 Elon turned to me and he said, I think he spit on our shoes 253 00:18:01,483 --> 00:18:02,803 and I said yeah. 254 00:18:05,443 --> 00:18:09,363 We got through all that we got on the Delta flight back to New York. 255 00:18:09,523 --> 00:18:13,163 Mike and I sat back, ordered some whisky, and we're having a drink. 256 00:18:13,323 --> 00:18:16,603 We were watching Elon sitting two or three rows up from us. 257 00:18:16,763 --> 00:18:21,163 He's on his computer and he's working really, really diligently. 258 00:18:21,323 --> 00:18:23,603 Mike elbows me and he said 259 00:18:23,763 --> 00:18:27,483 "so what the fuck do you think that idiot savant is up to up there?" 260 00:18:27,643 --> 00:18:31,443 And Elon turns around and he looked at us 261 00:18:31,603 --> 00:18:35,123 and this is one of the few times he looked you directly in the eye 262 00:18:35,283 --> 00:18:36,843 and he says, "Fuck you both". 263 00:18:37,003 --> 00:18:39,923 He says, "I think we can build this rocket ourselves." 264 00:18:42,163 --> 00:18:44,443 And he said, "I've got a spreadsheet." 265 00:18:44,603 --> 00:18:47,163 We started looking at it. It was remarkable. 266 00:18:47,323 --> 00:18:50,123 He says "we're going to build this when we get home." 267 00:18:50,283 --> 00:18:52,923 Mike and I just said, "okay". 268 00:18:56,483 --> 00:18:58,523 He probably tried to drink it. 269 00:19:00,763 --> 00:19:02,643 Me and another guy, John Garvey, 270 00:19:02,803 --> 00:19:05,563 We wanted to build the biggest amateur rocket. 271 00:19:11,883 --> 00:19:15,163 We called it the big freaking rocket or BFR. 272 00:19:17,963 --> 00:19:20,443 John said, "There's this Internet millionaire 273 00:19:20,603 --> 00:19:23,683 that wants to come by and see our BFR project. 274 00:19:23,843 --> 00:19:26,083 Is it okay if he comes by this Sunday?" 275 00:19:26,243 --> 00:19:28,043 and I'm like, "Sure, it's okay". 276 00:19:35,203 --> 00:19:36,523 He was very interesting, 277 00:19:36,683 --> 00:19:39,803 he immediately started asking very pointed questions, 278 00:19:39,963 --> 00:19:44,363 like what "what do you have there?" 13,000 pound thrust engine. 279 00:19:44,523 --> 00:19:48,043 He goes 'Is that a big engine?" I go "the biggest amateur engine" 280 00:19:48,203 --> 00:19:50,603 He goes, "Have you worked on anything bigger?" 281 00:19:50,763 --> 00:19:54,203 I said, "Yeah, I worked on a 650,000 pound thrust engine at TRW". 282 00:19:54,363 --> 00:19:56,403 He said, "Could you build that engine?" 283 00:19:56,563 --> 00:19:58,603 He said to me and a couple other guys, 284 00:19:58,763 --> 00:20:01,083 "If you guys are in, we'll start a company". 285 00:20:01,243 --> 00:20:03,763 I said, I'm in. So that's the first one to sign. 286 00:20:03,923 --> 00:20:07,403 That's how I end up becoming employee, number one at SpaceX. 287 00:20:10,483 --> 00:20:14,163 I remember emailing Elon again and saying, Hey, so what's next? 288 00:20:14,323 --> 00:20:17,363 And a rocket company? Yeah, sign me up. 289 00:20:17,523 --> 00:20:20,003 Say your name. Spell it. Tell me what you do. 290 00:20:20,163 --> 00:20:22,803 Elon Musk. E-L-O-N M-U-S-K, 291 00:20:22,963 --> 00:20:27,563 chief executive officer of Space Exploration Technologies or Space X. 292 00:20:27,723 --> 00:20:31,763 Couldn't hire anybody out of industry because all my friends there thought, 293 00:20:31,923 --> 00:20:34,483 no way will I come here. You are going to fail. 294 00:20:34,643 --> 00:20:38,083 There's only so much we can learn by looking through a telescope, 295 00:20:38,243 --> 00:20:41,683 and eventually we need to go out there for it to find the answer. 296 00:20:41,843 --> 00:20:45,763 The first time I met him was at a amateur rocket weekend, 297 00:20:45,923 --> 00:20:48,963 and then later on he came to my house. 298 00:20:49,123 --> 00:20:54,083 And so I sent the whole family to the movies to go watch a movie. 299 00:20:54,243 --> 00:20:57,723 We talked for a long time. We talk more than 2 hours 300 00:20:57,883 --> 00:21:00,483 and when they came back, he was still there. 301 00:21:00,643 --> 00:21:03,523 I think it's pretty smart to do this, to go to somebody 302 00:21:03,683 --> 00:21:05,563 and check out the house. 303 00:21:05,723 --> 00:21:08,723 And the overall impression is so much more complete 304 00:21:08,883 --> 00:21:10,563 if you look at how they live. 305 00:21:10,723 --> 00:21:14,283 eBay is shelling out one and a half billion bucks for PayPal 306 00:21:14,443 --> 00:21:18,403 popular system used by Web surfers to pay their bills. 307 00:21:18,563 --> 00:21:20,883 A month after Space X is formed, 308 00:21:21,043 --> 00:21:26,083 a buyout of Paypal nets Elon Musk 250 million dollars. 309 00:21:27,363 --> 00:21:30,603 Elon immediately tells his new group of engineers 310 00:21:30,763 --> 00:21:34,563 they have just over a year to become the first privately owned company 311 00:21:34,723 --> 00:21:37,683 to build a rocket that makes orbit. 312 00:21:41,683 --> 00:21:47,683 Space X relocates to Kwajalein, a small island in the Pacific Ocean. 313 00:21:48,883 --> 00:21:51,763 There was no power. There was no water, plumbing. 314 00:21:51,923 --> 00:21:54,923 We had to literally bring everything out there. 315 00:21:57,083 --> 00:21:58,763 The logistics were terrible. 316 00:21:58,923 --> 00:22:03,243 Trying to get liquid oxygen there in the tropics was quite a feat. 317 00:22:04,603 --> 00:22:08,843 It was humid. My body wasn't really made for that. 318 00:22:09,003 --> 00:22:14,043 You must work and then work and maybe work. 319 00:22:14,203 --> 00:22:17,043 Everything was driven by a schedule. 320 00:22:19,843 --> 00:22:21,683 It was brutal. 321 00:22:21,843 --> 00:22:24,483 Kwajalein was the only game for us at the time, 322 00:22:24,643 --> 00:22:28,763 but it ended up being not the ultimate place to be. 323 00:22:31,003 --> 00:22:32,843 The day that Falcon was launched, 324 00:22:33,003 --> 00:22:37,843 Elon was stressed at how much money he was spending. 325 00:22:48,523 --> 00:22:51,203 You are kind of moving towards that launch, 326 00:22:51,363 --> 00:22:54,283 and then you realize one day you're in the control room 327 00:22:54,443 --> 00:22:56,163 and you are doing this. 328 00:22:57,403 --> 00:23:01,163 Elon, he was nervous as hell. Just like all of us. 329 00:23:03,563 --> 00:23:06,123 That final count in the seconds is up to you. 330 00:23:06,283 --> 00:23:10,403 Just like so tense. Just get it lit and please lift off. 331 00:24:22,003 --> 00:24:26,643 It only worked for 28 seconds or so. And then the engine went out. 332 00:24:36,323 --> 00:24:39,083 Elon was pretty disappointed. 333 00:24:39,243 --> 00:24:41,883 Moments ago, the Falcon one rocketed towards space 334 00:24:42,043 --> 00:24:45,563 off a small island in the Pacific. But just moments after take-off, 335 00:24:45,723 --> 00:24:47,123 the rocket failed. 336 00:24:49,723 --> 00:24:54,003 Angry at the failure, Elon blames Jeremy Holman, 337 00:24:54,163 --> 00:24:56,363 one of the young rocket engineers. 338 00:24:56,523 --> 00:24:58,603 Elon, reporting to the press, said 339 00:24:58,763 --> 00:25:01,003 the engineer and the technician screwed up. 340 00:25:01,163 --> 00:25:03,443 Well, ends up it wasn't really their fault. 341 00:25:03,603 --> 00:25:07,643 It was if anybody is my fault for choosing aluminum B nuts. 342 00:25:07,803 --> 00:25:09,523 A quick post-mortem reveals 343 00:25:09,683 --> 00:25:13,843 that salt sea spray caused corrosion on the aluminum components. 344 00:25:14,003 --> 00:25:16,643 But Elon refuses to back down. 345 00:25:18,723 --> 00:25:20,923 Elon wouldn't retract it in the press. 346 00:25:21,083 --> 00:25:23,243 And that didn't sit well with Jeremy. 347 00:25:23,403 --> 00:25:26,203 I went and talked with Elon about that. 348 00:25:26,363 --> 00:25:32,763 And Elon said, there's no going back, we're just moving forward. 349 00:25:32,923 --> 00:25:34,923 So, he ended up leaving the company. 350 00:25:44,563 --> 00:25:48,843 So there was intense meetings where let's not fail again. 351 00:25:49,003 --> 00:25:51,563 He started working with us to optimize the rocket 352 00:25:51,723 --> 00:25:54,003 to get as much out of it as possible. 353 00:25:55,923 --> 00:25:57,603 He was technically very strong, 354 00:25:57,763 --> 00:26:00,243 even though he was just learning about rockets. 355 00:26:00,403 --> 00:26:03,123 And the one thing I notice, if people were negative, 356 00:26:03,283 --> 00:26:05,203 they were not in the next meeting. 357 00:26:06,563 --> 00:26:09,603 He said "a company is a bunch of vectors. 358 00:26:09,763 --> 00:26:13,203 Each person is a vector and they need to point in the direction 359 00:26:13,363 --> 00:26:17,723 that you want to go bureaucracy and office politics and low morale. 360 00:26:17,883 --> 00:26:22,163 It's almost random vectors." He was always about making all the vectors, 361 00:26:22,323 --> 00:26:26,643 which all the employees pointing in the right direction forward. 362 00:26:28,763 --> 00:26:33,403 Elon's ambition for Space X can be found within his family history. 363 00:26:33,563 --> 00:26:37,363 Most notably his grandfather, Joshua Haldeman. 364 00:26:37,523 --> 00:26:39,523 My dad was very adventurous. 365 00:26:40,523 --> 00:26:44,003 He actually was driving along the road in Saskatchewan 366 00:26:44,163 --> 00:26:46,563 and saw a plane in the field for sale. 367 00:26:46,723 --> 00:26:48,603 And he thought, this looks good. 368 00:26:48,763 --> 00:26:51,923 He swapped his car for the plane. 369 00:26:52,923 --> 00:26:54,243 He became this pilot. 370 00:26:54,403 --> 00:26:58,083 He flew all over Canada and then flew all over America. 371 00:26:59,283 --> 00:27:03,083 Elon's grandfather lost all his money in the great depression. 372 00:27:03,243 --> 00:27:06,563 It resulted in a radical change in his thinking, 373 00:27:06,723 --> 00:27:11,363 and he became a leading figure in a movement called the technocracy. 374 00:27:14,803 --> 00:27:19,523 The whole planet Earth is in danger of total destruction. 375 00:27:20,603 --> 00:27:24,043 Technocracy is a scientific approach to human affairs. 376 00:27:24,203 --> 00:27:28,043 Technocrats believed in removing all politicians. 377 00:27:28,203 --> 00:27:32,443 Instead, scientists and engineers would run the world. 378 00:27:33,643 --> 00:27:37,123 They wore grey uniforms, held mass recruitment rallies, 379 00:27:37,283 --> 00:27:42,363 and even changed their names to numbers, such as 1X1809. 380 00:27:43,723 --> 00:27:46,803 Above all, technocrats vowed to use science 381 00:27:46,963 --> 00:27:49,963 to solve the greatest problems facing mankind. 382 00:27:51,603 --> 00:27:54,603 Keeping America competitive requires affordable energy. 383 00:27:54,763 --> 00:27:59,283 And here we have a serious problem. America is addicted to oil. 384 00:28:04,443 --> 00:28:07,243 By definition, we must move to renewable energy. 385 00:28:08,843 --> 00:28:13,683 We will eventually run out of energy and die. Civilization will collapse. 386 00:28:13,843 --> 00:28:18,203 In 2004, Elon Musk invests a $6 million dollar stake 387 00:28:18,363 --> 00:28:22,043 in a small electric car company called Tesla, 388 00:28:22,203 --> 00:28:23,883 becoming chairman of the board. 389 00:28:24,043 --> 00:28:27,003 What matters is are we making a difference in the world? 390 00:28:27,163 --> 00:28:30,123 And to make that, we have to build a lot of cause 391 00:28:30,283 --> 00:28:33,723 for what we see every car on the road being electric. 392 00:28:33,883 --> 00:28:35,363 We will not stop. 393 00:28:35,523 --> 00:28:39,723 So, this is really just the beginning of the beginning. All right. 394 00:28:45,003 --> 00:28:48,763 The day I started, we had a big empty floor. 395 00:28:48,923 --> 00:28:50,843 They had a one craftsman toolbox 396 00:28:51,003 --> 00:28:53,483 and we had to go to IKEA to buy the desks. 397 00:28:53,643 --> 00:28:56,323 We had to go out to the Dell and buy our computers. 398 00:28:56,483 --> 00:28:58,243 We crimped our own Ethernet wires 399 00:28:58,403 --> 00:29:00,483 and we painted the space on the weekend. 400 00:29:00,643 --> 00:29:04,403 They had a Lotus Elise and a pallet full of lithium ion batteries 401 00:29:04,563 --> 00:29:06,403 just come in from Korea. They said, 402 00:29:06,563 --> 00:29:08,603 "we'll take these lithium-ion batteries 403 00:29:08,763 --> 00:29:12,323 and we'll put them into that, Elise. We'll make a car company." 404 00:29:17,203 --> 00:29:22,203 Every car Start-Up in America since Ford has gone bankrupt. 405 00:29:22,363 --> 00:29:25,603 There was Rosen Motors, there was DeLorean, there was Fisker. 406 00:29:25,763 --> 00:29:30,123 Car Company after Car Company and large amounts of money and time 407 00:29:30,283 --> 00:29:33,843 would often be invested. Before, it was a complete wipe out. 408 00:29:34,003 --> 00:29:36,723 That's the sound of a crushed automobile. 409 00:29:37,963 --> 00:29:40,683 Elon Musk now has two companies 410 00:29:40,843 --> 00:29:44,883 with unproven and highly experimental products. 411 00:29:45,043 --> 00:29:50,523 Look at this car called The Tesla. And here we are with Elon Musk. 412 00:29:50,683 --> 00:29:54,403 I'll get the door. There is a touch pad which you can touch and enter. 413 00:29:54,563 --> 00:29:56,083 Too complicated for me. 414 00:29:56,243 --> 00:30:01,643 July 2006 and Tesla now has its first battery powered vehicle, 415 00:30:01,803 --> 00:30:03,123 the Roadster. 416 00:30:03,283 --> 00:30:06,323 It's the only production electric car for sale in the U.S. 417 00:30:06,483 --> 00:30:09,083 My original role was the office manager, 418 00:30:09,243 --> 00:30:11,763 so I was responsible for basically everything 419 00:30:11,923 --> 00:30:14,603 at the company that wasn't engineering. 420 00:30:14,763 --> 00:30:17,083 We were a start-up we were very scrappy, 421 00:30:17,243 --> 00:30:20,363 we hardly spent any money on anything. 422 00:30:20,523 --> 00:30:24,883 But we want to launch the Roadster in 6 weeks and go. 423 00:30:29,483 --> 00:30:32,563 I went down to the Santa Monica unveiling event, 424 00:30:32,723 --> 00:30:35,003 which they did in an aero plane hangar. 425 00:30:36,643 --> 00:30:39,683 A cocktail party with cars driving indoors. 426 00:30:44,123 --> 00:30:46,883 In a circle around all the participants. 427 00:30:47,043 --> 00:30:49,963 Silent, no emissions. 428 00:30:50,123 --> 00:30:53,003 It's the crackle of excitement in the air. 429 00:30:53,163 --> 00:30:55,843 At one point, I was in a small group conversation 430 00:30:56,003 --> 00:30:59,323 with Arnold Schwarzenegger. It doesn't happen on a daily basis. 431 00:31:08,563 --> 00:31:12,803 A newcomer with no experience and building cars has entered the race. 432 00:31:12,963 --> 00:31:16,203 As a zero-emission sports car that can go head-to-head 433 00:31:16,363 --> 00:31:18,763 with a Ferrari and a Porsche and win. 434 00:31:18,923 --> 00:31:20,803 Very nice. 435 00:31:20,963 --> 00:31:25,123 Everybody was very, very bullish. People were buying cars. 436 00:31:25,283 --> 00:31:27,843 I was surprised. I didn't know that many people 437 00:31:28,003 --> 00:31:31,403 who just buy a car that wasn't ready for $109,000. That point. 438 00:31:31,563 --> 00:31:34,723 I was smitten. In fact, on the spot bought a Roadster. 439 00:31:34,883 --> 00:31:38,003 I think I was customer number 17 of all their customers. 440 00:31:38,163 --> 00:31:39,483 Behind the scene. 441 00:31:39,643 --> 00:31:43,203 There wasn't enough ability to keep batteries thermally regulated 442 00:31:43,363 --> 00:31:44,803 and they'd get too hot. 443 00:31:44,963 --> 00:31:48,643 And the next thing it's starting to smell, and you know the smell. 444 00:31:48,803 --> 00:31:52,323 So, we would cool the battery pack with ice packs 445 00:31:52,483 --> 00:31:57,403 but felt like we had to build the enthusiasm with a promise 446 00:31:57,563 --> 00:32:00,163 that was maybe a stretch. 447 00:32:00,323 --> 00:32:04,203 But Elon had a way of dancing through that. 448 00:32:04,363 --> 00:32:05,963 -$109,000? -It's a deal. 449 00:32:06,123 --> 00:32:09,923 And our cars twice the efficiency of a Prius. 450 00:32:10,083 --> 00:32:13,043 Prius is a gas guzzling hog by comparison with our cars. 451 00:32:13,203 --> 00:32:16,043 It's like plugging in a hairdryer. Super simple. 452 00:32:16,203 --> 00:32:19,923 To persuade folks like me that eventually all cars will be electric. 453 00:32:20,083 --> 00:32:24,163 That this is the future. So much so that I'm believing in my gut 454 00:32:24,323 --> 00:32:26,923 as the inevitable future is a rare skill. 455 00:32:29,723 --> 00:32:33,163 Tesla has taken hundreds of orders for the Roadster. 456 00:32:33,323 --> 00:32:35,563 I had a taster of this one. It's hot. 457 00:32:35,723 --> 00:32:39,603 And Elon has taken millions of dollars from customers. 458 00:32:39,763 --> 00:32:43,043 But production issues mean that several months on, 459 00:32:43,203 --> 00:32:45,403 they're not delivering the cars. 460 00:32:45,563 --> 00:32:48,843 And now the company is hemorrhaging money. 461 00:32:50,683 --> 00:32:53,483 If the Roadster can sustain the company by March, 462 00:32:53,643 --> 00:32:55,763 then that's it. And that scares me. 463 00:32:55,923 --> 00:32:59,403 We need to get the company to cash flow positive in 6 to 9 months, 464 00:32:59,563 --> 00:33:01,443 or we're screwed. 465 00:33:01,603 --> 00:33:06,323 Each month that passes it literally costs us tens of millions of dollars. 466 00:33:06,483 --> 00:33:08,043 We need to appreciate that. 467 00:33:16,283 --> 00:33:18,563 Just headed to the Menlow store. 468 00:33:18,723 --> 00:33:20,563 So, I want to do a car by car, 469 00:33:20,723 --> 00:33:23,683 walk through basically a rundown of each car. 470 00:33:23,843 --> 00:33:26,963 What's its status and what are the issues? 471 00:33:27,123 --> 00:33:31,523 This was save the company. He was embedded. 472 00:33:31,683 --> 00:33:35,643 He dug deep into every aspect of what was going on. 473 00:33:35,803 --> 00:33:37,443 Holy mackerel. 474 00:33:40,443 --> 00:33:43,403 Most of these Roadsters have major faults. 475 00:33:43,563 --> 00:33:46,443 We have like an army of cars here. Jesus. 476 00:33:46,603 --> 00:33:50,283 I'm looking like we'll be able to deliver four cars to the sales team. 477 00:33:50,443 --> 00:33:52,923 This is frightening. 478 00:33:53,083 --> 00:33:57,803 Now we're facing an issue, a crisis of confidence among our customers, 479 00:33:57,963 --> 00:34:00,883 where you can only tell them delay so many times 480 00:34:01,043 --> 00:34:04,923 and then they start to think, is this company ever going to get me a car? 481 00:34:05,083 --> 00:34:09,243 He was talking to subcontractors, tier two, tier three suppliers. 482 00:34:09,403 --> 00:34:11,683 Sometimes he called me at 2 in the morning. 483 00:34:11,843 --> 00:34:16,003 I'm available 24/7. Call me at 3 a.m. on a Sunday morning. 484 00:34:16,163 --> 00:34:19,483 My family life was not the highlight of my years of Tesla. 485 00:34:19,643 --> 00:34:21,603 These were long, long days. 486 00:34:23,803 --> 00:34:27,683 it wasn't until Zach and Doreen found the faults that we then realized 487 00:34:27,843 --> 00:34:32,403 we had sub-standard parts on those cars, which frankly pissed me off. 488 00:34:32,563 --> 00:34:34,603 I want names named. 489 00:34:34,763 --> 00:34:37,643 At the time there was incredible pressure on Elon 490 00:34:37,803 --> 00:34:42,443 how are you going to tell the hardest working man that I can't get it done. 491 00:34:42,603 --> 00:34:45,163 If someone is always on the hot seat 492 00:34:45,323 --> 00:34:47,523 and is always the root cause for problems, 493 00:34:47,683 --> 00:34:50,163 They will not be pause, organization long term. 494 00:34:50,323 --> 00:34:53,363 It's not okay to be unhappy and part of this company 495 00:34:53,523 --> 00:34:56,603 and so if somebody can't get happy, get divorced. 496 00:35:00,843 --> 00:35:03,483 Exactly, speaking from personal experience. 497 00:35:06,523 --> 00:35:10,283 In 2002, college sweethearts Elon and Justine 498 00:35:10,443 --> 00:35:14,683 lost their first child, Nevada, aged just 10 weeks. 499 00:35:16,563 --> 00:35:21,883 Using IVF, the couple then had twins, followed by triplets. 500 00:35:22,043 --> 00:35:26,443 Suddenly, the CEO of SpaceX and the chairman of Tesla 501 00:35:26,603 --> 00:35:28,123 is a father of five. 502 00:35:29,843 --> 00:35:32,003 Now that you're a father, 503 00:35:32,163 --> 00:35:35,843 does it spur you on even more in both of these companies? 504 00:35:37,323 --> 00:35:41,243 Not really. At least I don't think there's any fundamental change 505 00:35:41,403 --> 00:35:46,403 in my motivation for either company. Actually, I have less time to work 506 00:35:46,563 --> 00:35:50,923 because I think I have to and want to spend time with my kids. 507 00:35:51,083 --> 00:35:56,283 So, it actually I'm actually impairs my ability to execute there really. 508 00:35:56,443 --> 00:35:58,243 But that's fine. I don't mind. 509 00:36:00,843 --> 00:36:03,483 He compartmentalizes his brain. 510 00:36:04,563 --> 00:36:06,683 People are coming in and talking to him 511 00:36:06,843 --> 00:36:09,243 and every hour they tell him what's happening. 512 00:36:09,403 --> 00:36:14,323 And when you date or marry Elon, you don't see him much. 513 00:36:14,483 --> 00:36:19,483 So, it is hard to have a relationship in his case. 514 00:36:20,723 --> 00:36:22,883 We were seeing a marital therapist, 515 00:36:23,043 --> 00:36:26,723 and I think he just got tired of the stress and the uncertainty of it. 516 00:36:26,883 --> 00:36:31,243 And the next day I went into my therapist's office. 517 00:36:31,403 --> 00:36:35,163 And he had left a message for her to tell me 518 00:36:35,323 --> 00:36:37,083 that he was filing for divorce. 519 00:36:37,243 --> 00:36:41,003 So that was that was how I found out. 520 00:36:41,163 --> 00:36:45,483 One of the more memorable moments of my life. Yeah. 521 00:37:03,563 --> 00:37:06,003 I was very young when I met Elon, I was 22, 522 00:37:06,163 --> 00:37:10,803 so I hadn't really... yeah, that was it, school and a bit of acting. 523 00:37:13,483 --> 00:37:18,683 Weeks after filing for divorce, Elon travels to London on a business trip 524 00:37:18,843 --> 00:37:23,443 where he meets an up-and-coming actress, in a west end nightclub. 525 00:37:25,043 --> 00:37:27,963 I remember thinking, Wow, what an incredible man. 526 00:37:28,123 --> 00:37:29,643 I never met anyone like him. 527 00:37:29,803 --> 00:37:33,683 And I was just thinking about him and so I emailed him and said 528 00:37:33,843 --> 00:37:36,203 okay, I've got some time after this shoot 529 00:37:36,363 --> 00:37:39,923 so I'm going to book a flight to LA and I've never been to LA, 530 00:37:40,083 --> 00:37:42,123 and it would be lovely to see you. 531 00:37:42,283 --> 00:37:46,563 And he wanted to sort of fly me over and sort it all out 532 00:37:46,723 --> 00:37:49,443 and I was like, No it's fine I'll take care of it. 533 00:37:50,523 --> 00:37:55,203 And then he said, I don't want you to go home, and I want to marry you. 534 00:37:55,363 --> 00:37:58,643 And he apologized he said, 'I'm sorry I don't have the ring, 535 00:37:58,803 --> 00:38:02,723 but this is what I'd like to do.' 536 00:38:03,843 --> 00:38:09,203 And so we shook hands on it and I said yes, I will do. 537 00:38:09,363 --> 00:38:12,643 My father told my mother at the end of their first date 538 00:38:12,803 --> 00:38:14,723 that he was going to marry her. 539 00:38:14,883 --> 00:38:20,643 And so, I think I was primed to think that after ten days, 540 00:38:20,803 --> 00:38:24,403 I thought, yep, that's that's how it happens. That's what love is. 541 00:38:24,563 --> 00:38:26,363 Do that thing Dad... 542 00:38:26,523 --> 00:38:30,123 You know, obviously move straight into the house with the children. 543 00:38:30,283 --> 00:38:32,763 And it became a very real thing immediately. 544 00:38:32,923 --> 00:38:37,003 -What's this game? -Did you take that from your brother? 545 00:38:37,163 --> 00:38:40,283 Damn it, see this is what I was talking about. 546 00:38:41,563 --> 00:38:44,363 Somebody took somebody's toy, 547 00:38:44,523 --> 00:38:46,803 statistically speaking one out of the 5 548 00:38:46,963 --> 00:38:49,523 has a good chance of being unhappy at any point. 549 00:38:49,683 --> 00:38:53,483 I think because of my youth, I was relatively gun ho about it. 550 00:38:53,643 --> 00:38:56,083 But essentially, our home life was work. 551 00:38:56,243 --> 00:39:00,523 We were focused on the companies and the children and that was it. 552 00:39:00,683 --> 00:39:06,763 In 2010, the space shuttle, after nearly 30 years of duty, 553 00:39:06,923 --> 00:39:09,563 will be retired from service. 554 00:39:13,723 --> 00:39:17,163 A contract worth billions of dollars could be handed to SpaceX, 555 00:39:17,323 --> 00:39:21,443 if they can take on the duties of the retiring space shuttle. 556 00:39:24,443 --> 00:39:27,603 SpaceX engineers have been on the remote pacific island 557 00:39:27,763 --> 00:39:33,083 for almost two years with only one failed launch to show for it. 558 00:39:35,243 --> 00:39:36,563 SpaceX launch control. 559 00:39:36,723 --> 00:39:40,403 The vehicles have been recycled and turned around for another attempt. 560 00:39:40,563 --> 00:39:43,243 Count launch has started. 90 seconds. 561 00:39:44,403 --> 00:39:48,403 The first one was miserable for me because it was my engine on fire. 562 00:39:48,563 --> 00:39:51,243 T-minus 60 seconds vehicles and Start-Up. 563 00:39:51,403 --> 00:39:55,603 So the second flight, I was kind of in the doghouse with Elon 564 00:39:55,763 --> 00:39:59,003 because the last one had failed. I can't do that again. 565 00:39:59,163 --> 00:40:01,203 T minus 30 seconds. 566 00:40:01,363 --> 00:40:05,043 When people get afraid of him. That's certainly not the right answer. 567 00:40:05,203 --> 00:40:08,123 But at the same time, he is intimidating. 568 00:40:08,283 --> 00:40:12,883 I can see that. It helps if you have a little bit of a thicker skin. 569 00:40:16,603 --> 00:40:22,523 -6, 5 4, 3, 2, 1. -1st team sequencing is. 570 00:40:34,363 --> 00:40:36,323 Falcon has cleared the tower. 571 00:40:45,803 --> 00:40:47,803 The Merlin even worked beautifully. 572 00:40:47,963 --> 00:40:49,283 Thank fucking God. 573 00:40:49,443 --> 00:40:52,163 And I'm like, Yes, it did it. And I remember Elon, 574 00:40:52,323 --> 00:40:55,403 I always sat next to Elon and we stood up and hugged. 575 00:40:55,563 --> 00:40:59,083 The pressure was off from that first failure and like, we got it. 576 00:41:00,843 --> 00:41:02,843 Coming up on stage separation. 577 00:41:06,043 --> 00:41:07,963 Separation stages are separated. 578 00:41:10,483 --> 00:41:13,843 The first stage flew beautifully and then the stage separated 579 00:41:14,003 --> 00:41:18,203 and the second stage came and then the second stage started this motion. 580 00:41:21,363 --> 00:41:24,843 It starts wiggling around and the engine kicking back and forth. 581 00:41:25,003 --> 00:41:28,563 It's like you're carrying a glass of wine and every step you take, 582 00:41:28,723 --> 00:41:30,283 the wine sloshes around well. 583 00:41:30,443 --> 00:41:32,723 They ended up sloshing so high in the tanks 584 00:41:32,883 --> 00:41:36,683 that we burned the tank down that it flamed the engine out. 585 00:41:36,843 --> 00:41:39,643 The bottom line was we spun out of control. 586 00:41:39,803 --> 00:41:44,643 It went a couple thousand miles and then crashed in the ocean again. 587 00:41:51,843 --> 00:41:54,403 That failure wasn't on me, but it didn't matter. 588 00:41:54,563 --> 00:41:57,283 It was terrible for the company to have another fail 589 00:41:57,443 --> 00:41:58,963 when we were so close. 590 00:42:03,083 --> 00:42:05,723 Elon had enough money to build three rockets. 591 00:42:05,883 --> 00:42:08,123 You just told him. Just calm down. 592 00:42:08,283 --> 00:42:10,803 You figure something out, we're going to fix it. 593 00:42:10,963 --> 00:42:14,923 We made a mistake, and we mop it up and do it again. 594 00:42:17,323 --> 00:42:21,643 So, we came back a year later. Again, with the new engine. 595 00:42:29,643 --> 00:42:31,643 A much better engine. 596 00:42:34,043 --> 00:42:37,443 Everything else tightened down that we learnt from the launches. 597 00:42:38,643 --> 00:42:43,523 Elon said that he's it for three times and everybody could count. 598 00:42:58,763 --> 00:43:01,483 It was always three strikes and you're out. 599 00:43:01,643 --> 00:43:04,043 You work so hard for so long. 600 00:43:06,363 --> 00:43:11,643 It's agony. It really is. It's just everything was in it 601 00:43:11,803 --> 00:43:15,003 and then it failed. And to have it fail three times in a row. 602 00:43:15,163 --> 00:43:16,963 It was pretty disheartening. 603 00:43:21,443 --> 00:43:25,203 So, let's move on now to brown rice, eco cars. 604 00:43:27,043 --> 00:43:31,843 Tesla say it is pretty nippy, which is the fastest in a drag race. 605 00:43:36,843 --> 00:43:38,403 Christ almighty! 606 00:43:42,443 --> 00:43:43,883 Yes, come on! 607 00:43:44,043 --> 00:43:45,403 Bye! 608 00:43:47,003 --> 00:43:50,643 It does 0 to 60 in 3.9 seconds. 609 00:43:58,163 --> 00:44:00,923 Two years after its star-studded launch, 610 00:44:01,083 --> 00:44:03,723 the Roadster has moved from dream prototype 611 00:44:03,883 --> 00:44:05,923 to a saleable production car. 612 00:44:07,683 --> 00:44:11,683 Tesla budgeted 25 million dollars to develop the Roadster, 613 00:44:11,843 --> 00:44:15,643 the bill now stands at 140 million. 614 00:44:18,163 --> 00:44:19,723 This miscalculation means 615 00:44:19,883 --> 00:44:24,803 that the company can't afford to make the cars for the price they promised. 616 00:44:24,963 --> 00:44:28,843 400 expectant customers have already paid full deposits 617 00:44:29,003 --> 00:44:32,723 are now being asked to pay at least $6,000 more. 618 00:44:32,883 --> 00:44:35,043 I cannot understate the degree of grief 619 00:44:35,203 --> 00:44:37,923 that I've personally gone through to make this work. 620 00:44:38,083 --> 00:44:42,123 Glass sandwich every day. I wish we didn't have to raise prices. 621 00:44:42,283 --> 00:44:45,763 It sucks, but I can't carry Tesla entirely by myself. 622 00:44:45,923 --> 00:44:47,883 I don't have the resources to do it. 623 00:44:48,043 --> 00:44:51,003 We took faith in you, and now you're just turning around 624 00:44:51,163 --> 00:44:54,683 and changing the price at us, not telling us. And then we find out. 625 00:44:54,843 --> 00:44:59,643 And now we're kind of hurt because we weren't told. 626 00:44:59,803 --> 00:45:06,003 We can't sell cars for less than they cost us to produce. 627 00:45:06,163 --> 00:45:10,043 There seemed to be a little bit of anger from some people in the room. 628 00:45:11,803 --> 00:45:13,283 It was very tough. 629 00:45:16,083 --> 00:45:18,243 Once you've snapped, you don't realize it 630 00:45:18,403 --> 00:45:22,083 because you've gone insane. Your ability to look in the mirror 631 00:45:22,243 --> 00:45:25,283 psychologically is substantially impaired. 632 00:45:25,443 --> 00:45:28,563 Probably most insane people don't think they're insane. 633 00:45:28,723 --> 00:45:30,163 Tough times have hit Tesla 634 00:45:30,323 --> 00:45:34,083 with some buyers canceling orders of the battery powered sports car. 635 00:45:35,803 --> 00:45:38,923 In 2008 we had launched the car. 636 00:45:39,083 --> 00:45:43,363 The team of people had done a spectacular job 637 00:45:43,523 --> 00:45:46,803 of coming up to speed from nothing. 638 00:45:47,843 --> 00:45:50,363 And then Elon, he made a public announcement 639 00:45:50,523 --> 00:45:54,523 that we're going to bring in the real guys from the auto industry now. 640 00:45:54,683 --> 00:45:57,443 We're not going to be playing around anymore. 641 00:45:57,603 --> 00:46:02,683 I was being seen more as the problem than as the solution. 642 00:46:04,883 --> 00:46:07,243 I took that as a personal affront. 643 00:46:07,403 --> 00:46:10,843 Didn't really feel like I should be chopped liver. 644 00:46:11,003 --> 00:46:12,763 And I took a move away. 645 00:46:15,803 --> 00:46:18,443 Elon decided that I am his guy. 646 00:46:19,523 --> 00:46:24,443 I told him in Elon when he was interviewing. Look at my name. 647 00:46:24,603 --> 00:46:28,363 It is spelled Z, e, e, v. 648 00:46:29,803 --> 00:46:36,443 Zero, emission, electric, vehicle. I felt this is our destiny. 649 00:46:38,043 --> 00:46:40,683 The company was bleeding a lot of money. 650 00:46:40,843 --> 00:46:46,283 If they don't get the car into the market, there would be no company. 651 00:46:46,443 --> 00:46:49,483 So, I came essentially as an agent of change. 652 00:46:50,483 --> 00:46:53,323 I got all the executives 653 00:46:53,483 --> 00:46:57,723 that I decided that should not be with us and terminated them. 654 00:46:58,843 --> 00:47:04,123 Faced with financial ruin. Like his grandfather before him, 655 00:47:04,283 --> 00:47:08,963 Elon adopts same clinical approach to increasing workforce efficiency. 656 00:47:11,283 --> 00:47:14,523 To work at Tesla, you have to be a little crazy. 657 00:47:15,803 --> 00:47:21,323 You really need to be more dedicated to the mission 658 00:47:21,483 --> 00:47:24,283 than you are to your own personal growth. 659 00:47:25,723 --> 00:47:29,203 Between Elon and I, there was an understanding 660 00:47:29,363 --> 00:47:33,203 that I was in it for the mission as he was in it for the mission. 661 00:47:34,563 --> 00:47:36,683 All a company is, is a group of people 662 00:47:36,843 --> 00:47:39,643 gathered together to create a product or service. 663 00:47:39,803 --> 00:47:42,163 Are these efforts that people are expanding 664 00:47:42,323 --> 00:47:44,603 resulting in a better product or service? 665 00:47:44,763 --> 00:47:47,723 And if they're not, stop those efforts. 666 00:47:47,883 --> 00:47:49,523 Elon can be very overbearing. 667 00:47:49,683 --> 00:47:52,923 I've seen Elon fire dozens and dozens and dozens of people. 668 00:47:53,923 --> 00:47:58,083 He wouldn't ask anything of you or ask you to work harder than him. 669 00:47:58,243 --> 00:48:02,003 And so I just kept trying to nail it every single time. 670 00:48:02,163 --> 00:48:05,923 I was drinking out of a fire hose every single day for years and years. 671 00:48:06,083 --> 00:48:09,603 So, it just felt like how we did things. 672 00:48:12,123 --> 00:48:16,003 I feel bad that I lost those prime years with my daughter. 673 00:48:17,443 --> 00:48:21,283 I didn't have as much contact from my family as I otherwise would have. 674 00:48:21,443 --> 00:48:25,083 I don't know how he does it. He just keeps going and going and going. 675 00:48:25,243 --> 00:48:29,083 He's amazing. The amount of energy that that man has, 676 00:48:29,243 --> 00:48:33,923 I think he can just take the pain of dealing with it constantly. 677 00:48:34,083 --> 00:48:35,403 And most of us can't. 678 00:48:37,203 --> 00:48:43,523 I had decided that I had no work life balance and I needed to take a break. 679 00:48:43,683 --> 00:48:46,563 But I remember sitting in a room with him. 680 00:48:50,763 --> 00:48:55,963 And telling him that my three-year-old son was calling me dad 681 00:48:57,283 --> 00:48:59,563 and that I needed to take a break. 682 00:49:00,923 --> 00:49:02,843 Work hard every waking hour. 683 00:49:03,003 --> 00:49:06,163 If somebody else is working 50 hours and you're working 100, 684 00:49:06,323 --> 00:49:09,523 you'll get twice as much done in the course of a year. 685 00:49:11,243 --> 00:49:13,203 He was trying to avoid bankruptcy. 686 00:49:13,363 --> 00:49:16,523 Every day Elon would come home and say, tomorrow, that's it. 687 00:49:16,683 --> 00:49:19,883 Being ridiculed in the press, horrible things being said. 688 00:49:20,043 --> 00:49:22,603 There was something called the Tesla Death watch, 689 00:49:22,763 --> 00:49:25,123 an Internet site counting down the days 690 00:49:25,283 --> 00:49:27,643 till when Tesla was going to disappear. 691 00:49:27,803 --> 00:49:32,923 Electric carmaker Tesla laying off 20% of the workforce, 24%. 692 00:49:33,083 --> 00:49:36,843 He'd have night terrors in the middle of the night. I'd be fast asleep. 693 00:49:37,003 --> 00:49:39,803 And then suddenly he would be screaming in his sleep 694 00:49:39,963 --> 00:49:43,883 and trying to climb up, like in his sleep, trying to escape something. 695 00:49:44,043 --> 00:49:48,723 All available resource had to be ploughed into the projects, 696 00:49:48,883 --> 00:49:51,523 into the companies. He gave me an out. 697 00:49:51,683 --> 00:49:57,083 He said, this will be the hard path and you don't have to stay for it. 698 00:50:01,283 --> 00:50:05,163 This simultaneous failure across all of the companies he's talking about, 699 00:50:05,323 --> 00:50:08,763 chewing glass and staring into the abyss. Rockets are blowing up. 700 00:50:11,963 --> 00:50:14,483 And it just kept piling on. 701 00:50:16,603 --> 00:50:20,323 The American people are concerned about the situation 702 00:50:20,483 --> 00:50:25,123 in our financial markets and our economy, and I share their concerns. 703 00:50:25,283 --> 00:50:27,283 Is the financial crisis? 704 00:50:27,443 --> 00:50:30,363 Is your job safe? Can our next president do anything... 705 00:50:30,523 --> 00:50:34,083 The recession is going to be deeper and longer than we thought. 706 00:50:34,243 --> 00:50:36,403 Everything falling apart in the economy. 707 00:50:36,563 --> 00:50:39,283 Major auto companies in America are going bankrupt. 708 00:50:39,443 --> 00:50:44,083 Not a great time to fund automotive company that's not yet profitable. 709 00:50:44,243 --> 00:50:45,923 When you have new technology, 710 00:50:46,083 --> 00:50:49,163 it takes time to optimise that technology, everything. 711 00:50:49,323 --> 00:50:54,163 Elon and I, we were in the midst for raising $100 million dollars. 712 00:50:54,323 --> 00:50:57,483 You feel that you just come from where 713 00:50:57,643 --> 00:51:00,843 some of these come and bang you on the head. 714 00:51:03,243 --> 00:51:05,963 And then it gets much worse. This negativity. 715 00:51:06,123 --> 00:51:09,923 Something bad is happening. Fear, uncertainty and doubt. 716 00:51:10,083 --> 00:51:12,323 Sometimes when a company 717 00:51:12,483 --> 00:51:16,083 is teetering between economic certainty and it's just a dream. 718 00:51:16,243 --> 00:51:19,483 Sentiment shifts can make a difference, can turn against you. 719 00:51:21,323 --> 00:51:24,283 The largest investor in the company has turned hostile. 720 00:51:24,443 --> 00:51:26,763 Things like not signing legal paperwork. 721 00:51:26,923 --> 00:51:29,483 And then it gets a little trickier still. 722 00:51:29,643 --> 00:51:31,523 The company is running out of money. 723 00:51:31,683 --> 00:51:34,483 It didn't have cash to even last to the end of 2008. 724 00:51:34,643 --> 00:51:38,723 The biggest investor says we won't put another penny in the company. 725 00:51:40,323 --> 00:51:44,723 Then Elon did something that I've never seen any entrepreneur do. 726 00:51:44,883 --> 00:51:47,603 Going net into debt. He borrowed money from friends, 727 00:51:47,763 --> 00:51:50,043 spent every penny he had, plus more. 728 00:51:50,203 --> 00:51:53,163 He told all the folks at Tesla, I'll do the whole thing. 729 00:51:53,323 --> 00:51:55,083 I'll invest $40 million dollars. 730 00:51:55,243 --> 00:51:59,043 He had no house to his name. He had nothing. He was all in. 731 00:52:01,443 --> 00:52:05,483 And what happened was people's fear switched to greed. 732 00:52:09,363 --> 00:52:12,283 All of the other inside investors, ourselves included, 733 00:52:12,443 --> 00:52:15,363 invested as much as we could. That wasn't our bravery. 734 00:52:15,523 --> 00:52:17,843 It was Elon's bravery that we attached to. 735 00:52:21,443 --> 00:52:26,803 Part of it, I think, comes from a self-affirming nature 736 00:52:26,963 --> 00:52:32,883 that his brother Kimbal described as being somewhat immune to risk. 737 00:52:33,043 --> 00:52:37,603 A more accurate description is that he so truly sees 738 00:52:37,763 --> 00:52:39,483 the vision of what's unfolding, 739 00:52:39,643 --> 00:52:42,763 that it doesn't seem fathomable that it would not happen. 740 00:52:45,563 --> 00:52:49,003 Elon called a big meeting. And then Elon said, 741 00:52:49,163 --> 00:52:53,243 okay, get your shit together. We have one more rocket. 742 00:52:53,403 --> 00:52:56,523 Bring it down there and we launch again in six weeks. 743 00:52:57,923 --> 00:53:00,843 After the Flight three, we thought we were out. 744 00:53:01,003 --> 00:53:04,043 But just by luck you get a forth chance at it. 745 00:53:04,203 --> 00:53:07,123 Space X has just enough existing components 746 00:53:07,283 --> 00:53:10,643 to attempt a fourth and final flight to orbit. 747 00:53:10,803 --> 00:53:12,963 -I was exhausted. -20 seconds. 748 00:53:14,123 --> 00:53:15,683 But he rallied all of us 749 00:53:15,843 --> 00:53:18,603 for not giving up and continuing this at this time 750 00:53:18,763 --> 00:53:21,163 and putting everything on the last rocket. 751 00:54:00,363 --> 00:54:02,443 We didn't change a lot on the rocket. 752 00:54:02,603 --> 00:54:05,403 This time we changed primarily a piece of software. 753 00:54:12,483 --> 00:54:15,923 And that was all it took. The rocket went to orbit. 754 00:54:18,083 --> 00:54:22,603 And that means Falcon1, the first privately developed launch vehicle, 755 00:54:22,763 --> 00:54:25,083 to reach Earth orbit from the ground. 756 00:54:31,643 --> 00:54:33,043 It's pretty amazing. 757 00:54:47,563 --> 00:54:49,523 What we're hearing in the background 758 00:54:49,683 --> 00:54:52,563 is Elon Musk addressing the employees of Space X. 759 00:54:54,323 --> 00:54:58,123 One of the best days of my life and a lot of people here at Space X. 760 00:54:58,283 --> 00:55:01,963 It's the a culmination of a dream. Kind of mind blowing, actually. 761 00:55:07,643 --> 00:55:12,163 NASA told us that we'd won a one and a half billion-dollar contract 762 00:55:12,323 --> 00:55:14,043 and I couldn't hold the phone. 763 00:55:14,203 --> 00:55:17,443 I just blurted out, I love you guys. 764 00:55:17,603 --> 00:55:20,083 -They saved you. -Yeah, they did. 765 00:55:21,083 --> 00:55:23,803 Financially and maybe even emotionally. 766 00:55:23,963 --> 00:55:27,403 I tell you what, that was definitely helpful. Yeah. 767 00:55:32,043 --> 00:55:35,683 There was a wrap party. And. And I don't remember the end of it. 768 00:55:52,283 --> 00:55:54,483 It was the first thing that went right. 769 00:55:57,043 --> 00:56:03,403 Elon was just the most joyous, incredible, wonderful thing. 770 00:56:06,643 --> 00:56:10,123 It was lovely to watch him achieve. 771 00:56:10,283 --> 00:56:16,603 Elon went from being ridiculed to suddenly his word was gospel. 772 00:56:24,723 --> 00:56:28,243 Fame is not something that agrees with him. 773 00:56:33,003 --> 00:56:35,843 The eagle has landed. 774 00:56:36,963 --> 00:56:39,563 -They inspired you to do this? -Yes. 775 00:56:41,563 --> 00:56:45,083 And to see them casting stones in your direction? 776 00:56:48,043 --> 00:56:49,883 It's difficult. 777 00:56:50,043 --> 00:56:54,003 Neil, Jim Lovell and I have come to a unanimous conclusion 778 00:56:54,163 --> 00:56:59,283 that this is in fact a blueprint for a mission to nowhere. 779 00:57:08,363 --> 00:57:10,443 Can we just break for a sec?