Oh No, I Kinda Want to Work for Elon

When the third SpaceX rocket exploded, Elon Musk was edging toward a meltdown. The company was on the brink of failure, his entire net worth had been poured into money-losing ventures like Tesla and SpaceX, and this explosion could have been the thing that made it all come crumbling down. Everyone knew it. The mood at the launch sight was sober, perhaps even depressed. The company could be done.

After a minute-long pause, Elon looked up, a glint in his eye. “Pain is not bad, it’s good,” he said. “It teaches you things. I understand that.” 

Engineers around him nodded their heads. A manic, industrial energy started to build in the room. As usual, he went back to the purpose of why they were there. The mission. “What the hell do I wanna go off and go to work for? Work for what? Money?” They were going to Mars—who cared about the business?

Elon Musk, the new biography by Walter Issacson, reported on what followed:

“‘I think most of us would have followed him into the gates of hell carrying suntan oil after that,” said Dolly Singh, the human resources director. ‘Within moments, the energy of the building went from despair and defeat to a massive buzz of determination.’”  

The next time, they pulled it off, making SpaceX the first privately built rocket to launch from the ground and reach orbit. They had done it with 500 employees, compared to the 50,000 that Boeing had at a similar division. It was the launch that set the company up for the roughly $150B valuation it enjoys today. 

So, a confession. This story is a bit of a lie. 

The rockets did explode. Elon did make a rousing speech. The engineers did come together and build an incredible company. The only difference is that these quotes are not from Elon Musk—they’re from murderous cult leader Charles Manson. Musk actually said, “There should be absolutely zero question that SpaceX will prevail in reaching orbit. I will never give up, and I mean never.”