HBD to Musk! Guess What Wishes He is Making For This Year?
HBD to Elon Musk! Born on June 28, 1971, Musk majored in physics as an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1995, he started his first business founding a company called Zip2.
Four years later, in 1999, Zip2 was acquired, earning him his first fortune of $22 million. He then launched his second venture and became an early partner at $PayPal(PYPL)$. Three years later, in 2002, PayPal went public and was acquired, bringing Musk a second windfall of $250 million.
Fast forward to July 2017, eight years ago, when the Model 3 officially started mass production.
While others were celebrating, Musk couldn’t even crack a smile. The factory could only produce about 2,000 cars per week.
Musk had calculated that Tesla’s break-even point was 5,000 cars per week. Only by reaching that production rate could Tesla survive.
Wall Street began shorting, predicting Tesla would go bankrupt within six months.
Many analysts doubted Musk could pull it off. At the time, $Tesla Motors(TSLA)$ stock price was also near record highs, prompting short-sellers to pounce.
By 2018, Tesla had become the most shorted stock.
Not only were they shorting the stock, but they were also bribing insiders at the factory to leak daily data. They even used drones to monitor production and calculate Tesla’s weekly output.
With that information, they publicly challenged Musk’s claim that Tesla could reach 5,000 units per week, confidently predicting that the company would go bankrupt in less than six months.
Musk moved into the factory to prove them wrong over the next six months.
He installed large screens showing real-time production numbers. Whenever a red light came on, Musk would rush to the work station to investigate. After multiple adjustments and extreme cost-cutting, by late May, weekly output had risen to 3,500 units.
Musk found an abandoned parking lot and decided to convert it into a new assembly line. His team told him they couldn’t proceed without a construction permit. Musk snapped back: “Then fine me first. We’ll settle the paperwork later.”
On June 28, his birthday, Musk saw that the number on the production screen was getting very, very close to 5,000. June 30 was the final deadline he had promised to Wall Street. The factory was still running at full steam.
At 1:53 a.m. on July 1, Musk finally watched the 5,000th black Model 3 roll off the line. A paper banner hanging on its windshield read: “Car No. 5000.”
The bold promise he made to Wall Street had been fulfilled—after six months of sleepless nights.
Eight years later, Tesla has weathered its toughest days. Musk, by continuing to defy the odds, has become the world’s richest man.
Last week, the Robotaxi successfully launched. And today, on Musk’s birthday, a brand-new car is set to drive itself from the factory to a customer’s home—marking a symbolic leap forward for Robotaxi. Will Robotaxi successfully complete its journey on Musk’s birthday?
Despite all the controversy, Musk remains a remarkable innovator and entrepreneur. Let’s hope we can all, like Musk, reach our goals after overcoming adversity.
Comment below:
Musk is known for making big promises and ultimately delivering.
Can you still believe that Musk, eight years from now, will still be grinding toward new goals?
If you were Musk, would you wish to go back and not support Trump’s campaign? Or would you reconcile with him?
Would you wish to fast-track the building of a Martian settlement?
Or maybe you don’t believe in making wishes at all and would rather wait in the factory for good news from Robotaxi?
Anyway, let’s wish Elon Musk a happy birthday!
REWARDS
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As the US market gets increasingly expensive, I have shifted my focus to the China and HK markets where valuation is still cheap. However, the past few years have taught me that China/HK markets do better to trade than to invest as the volatility is most times unexplained by fundamentals but market’s confidence. So, I swing traded popmart and mixue this year as I feel that trends can’t be fought against and as long as there are many willing stock buyers and consumers, the stocks would do well. As of now, I’ve exited both positions as the china government’s potential crackdown on blind boxes can be hurtful for the popmart stock price even if the market is a global one. Mixue’s upside can be limited as competition intensifies.
馬斯克找到了一個廢棄的停車場，決定將其改造成一條新的裝配線。他的團隊告訴他，沒有建築許可證他們不能繼續。馬斯克厲聲回擊：“那就先罰我吧。我們稍後再解決文書工作。
到2018年，特斯拉已經成爲被做空最多的股票。
他們不僅做空股票，還賄賂工廠內部人士泄露每日數據。他們甚至使用無人機監控生產，計算特斯拉每週的產量。
如果我是马斯克，我或许会对当初支持特朗普有些后悔。不是因为立场问题，而是这种公开政治立场，会分散品牌价值，也模糊了技术人的身份。但我可能不会去“和解”，而是选择更聪明的沉默，聚焦在工程和产品本身。
至于火星定居点，说真的，我当然想快一点。但如果我是马斯克，我会更清楚，搞定地球上的Robotaxi和能源问题，才是推进火星计划的现实路径。没必要盲目提速，稳中带快才是最聪明的推进方式。
许愿？可能真不是马斯克的风格。他信的不是“愿望”，而是原型机、测试数据，还有凌晨工厂里闪着光的焊点。所以，我想他今年生日最想听到的，不是“祝你快乐”，而是“Robotaxi通过最后测试，Ready for launch”。
但不管怎样，还是得说一句——HBD，Elon Musk！这个时代最“不正常”的工程师，愿你一直不正常下去。