Elon Musk went from $180 million to broke in 2008. Then NASA called with a $1.5 billion contract.
After PayPal, Elon’s share was $180 million. He bet all of it on two companies everyone said would fail: Tesla and SpaceX.
By 2008 he was 37, and everything was going wrong at once.
SpaceX had launched three rockets. All three failed to reach orbit.
Tesla’s first car, the original Roadster, had quality problems. The factory was full of cars that couldn’t be delivered. Every month cost tens of millions.
The economy collapsed into the worst recession since the Great Depression.
And, as he put it, he was getting divorced, by the way, to add to that. That was definitely the worst year of my life.
His fortune was gone. When Tesla called investors for money, some cursed at them and hung up. Asked if he was broke, he said: more than broke.
On the Sunday before Christmas he woke up and thought he was closer to a nervous breakdown than he had ever been.
SpaceX had money for one more launch. A fourth failure would have been game over.
Flight four worked.
The week of Christmas, NASA called with a $1.5 billion contract. Elon blurted out: I love you guys.
Two days later, on Christmas Eve, Tesla’s investors agreed to put in more money.
Both companies were saved within three days.
In the middle of all this he met Talulah Riley. They were engaged after about two weeks. She was 22 and walked into a house with his five young sons.
This week Tesla unveiled a new Roadster. The car that almost ended him in 2008 now flips in midair.
Would you have bet everything twice?
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Kiharu Masomo Bora - 2026 Edition.
Grateful to have launched the program today.
1.The Programme covers over 12,000 learners in all 65 Day Secondary Schools in Kiharu.
https://t.co/Tkz9PxCKbG Fees for all Day Secondary School learners will be Ksh 500 per term starting this 1st term of 2026. (Senior Secondary Schools).
3.All learners to be served lunch at School on all days, including Saturdays. Githeri 3 days and rice 3 days. Uji for “tea” break.
4.Chapati to be served for lunch every last Friday of the Month.
5.Additional Ksh 10 M for revision materials to be provided by Kiharu NG – CDF this Financial Year. Ksh 20M has been provided in the previous years.
6.More than Ksh 50M to be provided for additional infrastructure, with a bias on laboratories. More has been provided since the programme started.
7.All students joining grade 10 in the 20 identified schools with low enrolment and the new schools (those starting this year) to be provided with uniforms for free.
8.All the 65 Day Schools will be provided with an extra Ksh 50,000 to supplement the activity kitty since capitation is not enough. For music festivals, games, and co-curricular activities.
9.Ksh 900,000 is provided for prize-giving celebrations. Ksh 450,000 for each of the two Sub Counties (Murang’a East and Kahuro). This is to reward the best performers without having parents pay for it.
10.The best improved teacher per subject in each of the sub-counties to get a paid-up trip to Mombasa. This will include the previous year, since some were participating in the marking of KCSE when they could have travelled. (From the MP – since public resources don’t have this provision).
11.Principals from the best and best-improved schools per ward to have a fully paid-up trip to Dubai. Of the 6 wards, twelve Principals will travel. Those who have travelled to Dubai before may choose to travel to Malaysia.
12.Schools with remedial arrangements capped at Ksh 1,000 per Term.
https://t.co/CZWUiCATSD other payment or registration fees of any nature in all the institutions.
14.Premiums and general service of buses owned by Day Secondary Schools to be paid for by the programme. Since they are common utilities accessible to and by any public institution.
15.The programme covers all learners, including Kenyans from other parts of the Country as long as they are in any of our Day Secondary Schools.
We are African and Africa is our Business..
There’s a big part of me that honestly believes we deserve everything we get from these politicians. Because how do we keep watching the same people mess this country over and over again and still act surprised?
We have a generation that’s too comfortable letting Gen Zs fight for the country while they sit and comment from a distance. How are you in your late 30s, 40s, 50s okay watching your children or younger siblings fight battles for problems you helped create? You voted for thieves, defended them, campaigned for them, and when they get back in office you act like victims.
Look at what’s happening right now. Our lecturers are on strike. Students are stranded. Campuses are falling apart. But a whole CS is in another country praising their universities and lecturers as if ours don’t exist. How disconnected can you be?
Our healthcare system is collapsing. Hospitals have no medicine, doctors and nurses are exhausted and underpaid. When these politicians fall sick or want to give birth, they fly out for treatment instead of fixing the same hospitals they destroyed. They go to countries whose hospitals were built by LEADERS who cared about their people.
We have MPs passing harmful laws that directly affect the same people who voted for them. They show up, collect allowances, and disappear until the next campaign season. And still, we say “tutawafundisha lesson next election.” How many lessons have we taught so far?
Then there’s the Kenyan middle class. The most delusional ones, the ones who think national issues don’t concern them. As long as they have Wi-Fi, their kids are in private schools, and they can drive to work, everything else is “noise.” They don’t realize that the same system they ignore will come for them too :when taxes rise, when school fees double, when the economy finally collapses and insecurity rises due to lack of jobs for the “common” mwananchi…
We can’t keep outsourcing courage from Gen Z. Every generation that stays silent makes it worse for the next one. This habit of saying “minding my own business” is why nothing changes. Because those who created the mess never stay to clean it up.
And before we complain again, here’s the truth we actually have power, we just don’t use it.
We can recall MPs who betray the people, but we never do!! That’s why they’re comfortable saying they want to copy this and this from China coz they know you guys aint shit.. We can demand accountability, but we don’t..We can organize locally, but we wait for someone else to start
If we were serious, we’d start showing up for public meetings, asking questions, and refusing to clap for politicians who don’t deliver. We’d rebuild civic awareness and stop acting like politics ends at voting. We’d stand with those who are fighting instead of mocking them. And we’d vote with memory , not tribe, not token, not empty promises.
Because if nothing changes, one day your child will ask you what you did when this country was falling apart and silence won’t be a good enough answer.
For me, I will continue using my platforms no matter what 🚶🏾♀️🚶🏾♀️
You'll think your way of using AI is the only way. Till you find out other people use it to find directions or schedules like when a place opens or closes, etc. Anyway, there's this "Help ChatGPT discover your products" form @Nyandia_G was recommending https://t.co/ctM0ELduJT
The greatness of any Nation (Ugali) lies in its fidelity to the Constitution and adherence to the rule of Law (ratio of mixing and patience of turning)