21) Reading Reflection No.2

(I now realize that I've been messing up on these Reading Reflections, and that I was supposed to read a bio, then a business book, but I did it backwards. Chris Pryor, if you're reading this, I apologize for my stupidity).

For my second Reading Reflection, I read "Elon Musk." Gotta say, it's about exactly how I expected it to be.

1) Generally, the book was about Elon Musk's struggles with his startups, and how he used his experiences from his early days to drive himself through rough times at SpaceX and Tesla. Within that, also, is a little inside look at how "eccentric" this man is (I put quotation marks because his eccentricity to me seems more similar to prickish). He's a stubborn, driven man, I'll give him that, and we could all be a little more like him and be better off. And I love what SpaceX are doing for America and mankind's presence in space. But the guy just seems like a prick to me.

 2) ENT throughout is basically teaching me that the best way to get a business started is just that; get it started and run with it. Expect to fail, put in as much capital and work as you're willing, and LEARN. And that seems to be Elon's strength (except the failing part). The man has no fear of taking an idea and running with it, and he is damn determined to see it through, even being willing to sell of his personal assets to keep his businesses afloat. Though there is a much easier way to keep them afloat, and that's not buying the million dollar McLaren in the first place.

3) If I had to design an exercise for this class, based on reading about Elon Musk's life, I can't decide between a mock Press Release, or a "Dealing with Imminent Bankruptcy" exercise.

    The man, to me, seems like a PR disaster. His odd relationships and habits, his inability to control himself, and his tendency to be (pardon my language) a dick all lend themselves to me cringing every time I read about an interaction he had. I would suggest, sort of like the Elevator Pitches, where people have to record themselves responding to questions about their company. "What sets your company apart? What are your plans for your company? What is your company's stance on...?" Answering those kind of questions.

    Or I would suggest an assignment where students are close to bankruptcy, and they must figure out how to redirect money within the company, ask for loans, and invest personally. I'm less certain how this assignment would work, but it seems like something a lot of startups would run into and people should be prepared for.

4) I don't think I really got an "aha" moment while reading this book. I won't say I'm the biggest fan of SpaceX (just jealous that they got in the private space industry before I could), and I think it's fairly obvious that I'm not the biggest fan of Elon Musk, but I have done a little research into the company and the man's history before reading this, and I'd gotten a pretty good idea of them. I'd say what interested me the most was his start at X.com, later to become Paypal, and how he got screwed over a lot. Between losing a ton of his employees that ran to start their own company, and having his CEO position taken from him, I'd say he had a rough time that, although I don't like the man, he didn't really deserve. Still, he came out pretty on top, and I believe it was this insult that caused him to be more decisive and iron fisted at his later startups. He may have started out harsh and brash, which I can fault him for, but this experience made him even more so, which I cannot fault him for. I would have probably done the same.