When most companies' opening remarks during their IPOs were about profit, today it hits something different.
It is hope.
The once-inspiring future that excited us when we were young but that we dropped after growing upโwe have found it again.
Oh yes, I remember that Bond film where the villain decarbonized the auto industry, brought fast internet to everyone on the planet, and helped paralyzed people interact with the world again.
The Falcon 1 is small potatoes now, but reporting on its development is really what got me hooked on @SpaceX. Loved the tales of a bunch of 20 somethings stuck on Kwajalein Atoll trying to make a rocket fly.
The company ended up being one tiny error on the fourth launch from going out of business, but it somehow launched and survived.
Am still so amused by @elonmusk reading rocket books post PayPal and now getting to this point. Seems just about impossible.
Is a shame there has not been a movie made about these times. Hollywood kinda hates Elon and doesn't want to see it made, but it's the ultimate next chapter to The Right Stuff.
Very inspiring words from Elon Musk today:
"I always think about this. There are always problems on earth. Thereโs always things that we wish to be better, that we want to solve on Earth, and we should solve them. But there there also has to be things that get you excited about the future โ that make you glad to wake up in the morning, because you canโt wait to see what happens next.
Thatโs the future @SpaceX wants to bring to you."
Letโs goooooo๐
ANTONIO GRACIAS on @SpaceX: โWe have 20,000 people here. They're some of the best engineers in the world.
โAnd what we're building is the entire stack from, energy to compute, to launch to orbital compute.
โWhat an investor is buying today, we've been buying for really 20 years โ is the ability to help make the future is being part of this extraordinary company.โ
A man working as a welder at SpaceX for $28 an hour has just become a millionaire.
Juan Hernandez, who came from Mexico, welded rockets for SpaceX at $28 an hour.
SpaceX gave him $10,000 in stock when he went full time in 2015, and he bought more with every paycheck for 10 years.
$SPCX is now trading at $167, making his shares worth over $1 million.
Last week, I attended the @ElonMusk and Jamie Dimon @SpaceX discussion at J.P. Morgan. Jamie asked Elon how he had changed over the past 20 years as a leader and a person.
Elon's answer wasn't about success. It was about what's next. He said he has learned a lot...has made mistakes and still has much to learn...
Then he added, โI think maybe the future AI will say โnot bad for a humanโ."
Elon, thank you so much for what you've done for humanity. Congrats to you, @Gwynne_Shotwell, @BretWJ, and the entire team. What is even more remarkable... this feels like day one, that you are just getting started.
PS. When people ask "what is the next SpaceX and who is the next Elon?" Simple answer.
There is NO NEXT!!!
Elon Musk is a mensch!