4 powerful lessons entrepreneurs can learn from Elon Musk's success

david nganga

November 7, 2017 4:04 PM

Elon Musk is Africa's richest person with an estimated net worth of $20.8 billion.

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk is Africa's richest person, with a net worth of $20.8 billion.

The South African-born innovator is one of Silicon Valley’s most adventurous entrepreneurs, with his two companies skyrocketing in value over the last several years as he aims to transform the transportation industry.

As an entrepreneur, Elon did not achieve the success that easily. He overcame a number of struggles, some to do with his personal lives, in order to become successful.

And there are a number of great lessons that young entrepreneurs can learn from his success story. Here are some of them:

1.Start early and be aggressive.

Elon Musk's interest in internet banking started in the very early days of the Internet. His intention was to open an online bank which would eventually "rule them all."

After having his Zip2 company acquired by Compaq, he used the money to start an online payments transaction company the X.com. He then had to join guys who had good knowledge of finance since he lacked knowledge in financial matters. They all became the co-founders of the X.com which later transformed into PayPal.

2.Trust in your ideas.

Elon Musk’s first startup was about the Web listings. He however had a tough time convincing shopkeepers to list their shops on the web, but they believed in their idea, built it and ultimately sold it to Compaq for $407 Million in cash in coming years.

Elon was so obsessed with his idea that he used to sleep next to the desk in the office and the other engineers used to wake him in the next morning.

3.Constantly question yourself.

While one may think that someone like Elon Musk is satisfied with his efforts, that is not the case. The 46 year old claims he constantly strives to improve hmself.

"It's very important to have a feedback loop, where you're constantly thinking about what you've done and how you could be doing it better. I think that's the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself," he said.

4.Hire fresh talent and put your trust in them.

Musk's logic in hiring is getting talent other than just numbers. He built his team for both SpaceX and Tesla mainly with the fresh talent. Infact, he went a step further and contacted the young and talented engineers himself directly.

While the inexperienced team can do big mistakes because of the lack of experience, they still can produce great results with the energy they have and the dynamic leadership.

david nganga