Hes worth over eleven billion dollars. Hes created game-changing businesses like Pay Pal, Tesla Motors, and SpaceX. Hes the closest thing we have to real-life Iron Man. Hes Elon Musk and here are his 10 rules for success. (Sonic Boom) Interviewer: That third failure in a row... ...did you think: I need to pack this in ? Elon: Never. Interviewer: Why not? Elon: I dont ever give up I have to be that dead or completely incapacitated. Really liking what you do-- What-- Whatever area that you get into... Um... Given that-- even if youre the best the best theres always a chance of failure. so I think its important that you really like whatever youre doing. Uh, if you dont like it... life is too short. If you like what youre doing, you think about it even when youre not working. I mean its-- its-- its-- something that your mind is drawn to. Um, and... and if you dont like it, you just really cant make it work, I think. So many people try to talk me out of starting our own company, it was crazy. One good friend of mine, collected a whole series of videos of rocket blowing up and made me watch those. Hes just didnt want me to lose all my money. Were doing these things that, uh, seem unlikely to succeed. and weve been fortunate, and, at least thus far, they HAVE succeeded. Now is the time to take risk, you dont have kids-- as you get older your obligations increase. So-- You-- Those-- And once you have a family you start taking risk not just, for yourself, but for your family as well: it gets much harder to do things that might not work out. Uhm, so now is the time to do that. Uh, before you before you have those obligations. so I would encourage you to take risks now, do something bold! Uhm, you wont regret it. Reporter: How did you figure you were gonna start a car company and be successful at it. Well, i didnt really think Tesla would be successful, I thought wed most likely fail. But I thought that, uh, we at least could address the false perception that people had, that an electric car had to be ugly and slow and boring, like a golf cart. Reporter: But you say you didnt expect the company be successful? Then why try? Elon: If somethings important enough, you should try even if... ...the probable outcome is failure. We focus on signal over noise. Um, A lot of companies get confused, they spend money on things that dont actually make the product better. For example, at Tesla, weve never spent any money on advertising. Um, we, weve-- put all the money into R&D, and manufacturing and design, to try to make the car as good as possible. Um, and, uh... I think thats... thats the way to go. For any given company just... keep thinking about all these efforts that people are expending, are they resulting in a better product or service? And if theyre not, stop those efforts. When I interview someone, to work at the companies, I ask them to tell me about the problems they worked on and how they solved them, and if someone was REALLY the person that solved it, theyll be able to answer multiple levels, theyll be able to go down to the brass tacks and if they wont theyll get stuck, and then you can say oh, this person was not really the person who solved it because anyone who struggles hard with a problem never forgets it. If youre creating a company --or if youre joining a company-- Uh, the most important thing is to, uh, is to attract great people. So either join a group thats amazing, that you really respect, or if youre building a company-- youve gotta gather great people. I mean all a company is, is a group of people that have gathered together to create a product or service. And so depending upon... how talented and hard-working that group is, and the degree to which theyre focused, uh, cohesively in a good direction, that will determine the success the company. So, do everything you can to gather great people, ah, if youre creating company. You gotta make sure that whatever youre doing is a great product or service, it has to be really great. And i go back to what I was saying earlier, where, uhm, if youre a new company... I mean unless its like some new industry or or new market that-- if its an untapped market, then, then, ah, you have... more ability to-- youve this-- this-- The standard is lower for for your product or service. But if youre entering anything where those an but if youre entering anything where theres existing market place against large, entrenched, competitors then, your product or service needs to be much better than theirs. It cant be a little bit better because then you put yourself in the shoes of the consumer, and they say Why would you buy it? (as a consumer.) Youre always gonna buy the trusted brand, unless theres a big difference. So, a lot of times, uh, you know, an entrepreneur will come up with something which is only slightly better, and its-- its not-- it cant just be slightly better, its got to be a lot better. Depending on how well you wanna do, and particularly if youre starting a company, you need to work super hard. So, what does super hard mean? Um, well, When my brother and I were starting our first company, instead of getting an apartment we just rented a small office, and we slept on the couch. Uh, and we showered at the YMCA. And we were so hard up we had one computer, so, The- , the-, the The website was up during the day, and I was coding at night, seven days a week, all the time. And, and, and, I, uh... ...sort of briefly had a girlfirend in that period and, in order to be with me, she had to sleep in the office, So-- I- were caught like-- I mean, every waking hour, thats-- thats the-- the thing I would say. Particularly if youre starting a company. Um, and I mean, if you do the simple maths, say like, if somebody else is working 50 hours, and youre working 100... youll get twice as much done in the course of a year as the other company. (music plays) thank you guys so much for watching Id love to hear what you think about Elon Musk as an entrepreneur in the comments below. if you want me to make a compilation video of another entrepreneur leave a comment and let me know who you want me to make that video about. And dont forget to subscribe to the channel and the newsletter. Believe. thank you guys so much for watching I ll see you soon.