Elon Musk he was so competitive that he emailed his employees a rude message about an early business rival: “KILL THEM DEAD. DIE. DIE. DIE”.
A new book reveals that the 50-year-old Musk sent a message to the staff of his online financial startup X.com, which was involved in a fierce battle with Confinity.
The hatred was mutual, and in Confinity, co-founder of the hedge fund billionaire and former Trump adviser Peter Thiel, they wrote on an employee’s birthday cake: “Die X.com”
The two companies later merged and renamed themselves PayPal, where hours and competition were so brutal that “it would make George RR Martin blush”, targeting the creator of the bloody TV series. Game of Thrones.
The staff worked 36-hour shifts and slept under their desks, releasing Salt ‘N’ Pepa’s hit ‘Push It’ to stay awake and taking their young children to work on the weekends.
Musk, whose all-consuming work ethic would later lead to the success of Tesla and SpaceX, had to cancel his honeymoon with his first wife in 2000 because he was so busy.
But when she rescheduled him for the Summer Olympics in September, he couldn’t leave work behind – and turned what was supposed to be a romantic getaway into a fundraising trip.
Details are revealed in “Founders: The story of Paypal and the entrepreneurs who shaped Silicon Valley“, By award-winning author Jimmy Sony.
A new book describes the early days of Elon Musk with his startup X.com, where employees worked 36 hours in shifts and slept under their desks. Musk was pictured in 2004
Peter Thiel and Elon Musk were rivals until their two companies later merged and rebranded as PayPal, where hours and competition were brutal.
The book describes how PayPal rose from an idea in the minds of Musk and Teal to a stock market placement in 2002, which valued the company at less than $ 1 billion.
Details of Elon Musk are revealed in “The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley” by Jimmy Sony
He is now worth $ 122 billion and his fortune is reflected in that of Musk, now the richest man in the world with a personal fortune of $ 249 billion.
The Founders took a look at the time long before such a fortune came to Musk’s path, and describes how in his youth he called himself the Nerdmaster 3000.
Musk was born in South Africa and emigrated to Canada in the late 1980s before going to the University of Pennsylvania to study physics.
He was obsessed with computers and at the age of 13 sold a coding project, a video game called Blastar, in which players destroy an alien spaceship.
Desperate to find a job in Silicon Valley, he once hid in the lobby of Netscape, an early Internet browser, but was “too shy to talk to anyone.”
Musk said: “It was quite uncomfortable. I was just standing there trying to see if there was anyone I could talk to, and I was too scared to talk to anyone, so I left.
Musk started his own company with his brother Kimball and rented an office in Palo Alto, California, sleeping in the office and bathing in the nearby YMCA.
They called it Zip2 and focused on increasing the digital assets of media companies and building local city directories.
Incredibly, in 1999, at the height of the dot com boom, they were bought for $ 307 million by Compaq Computers. Musk raised $ 21 million – he was 27 years old.
But instead of living an easy life, Musk dumped much of his money on X.com, which he hoped would turn into an online financial services supermarket, something that was revolutionary at the time.
Musk introduced a ruthless work ethic in which he slept in the office and made his staff do the same.
In Confinity, Teal, now 54, pushed his stick just as hard.
Musk, whose all-consuming work ethic would later lead to the success of Tesla and SpaceX, had to cancel his honeymoon in 2000 with his first wife, Justin, because he was so busy.
The book reveals that Musk sent a message to employees of his online financial company X.com, saying “KILL THEM DEAD. DIE. DIE. DIE ‘, which concerns the competitor Confinity
The Founders says an engineer had so little time out of the office that he continued to drive his car even though he ruined one tire and used the spare for another.
Award-winning author Sony writes that the competition was so brutal that it “would make George R. R. Martin blush”, referring to the creator of the bloody TV series Game of Thrones
He drove for three days before finally fixing it.
X.com and Confinity soon discovered that they saw each other as serious rivals
As Musk described it: “It was a race to see who could run out of money the fastest.”
During a Confinity employee’s birthday party, he received a cake that read: “Die X.com”
Confinity employees raised a banner reading “Memento Mori”, which is Latin for “Remember you must die,” to focus employees’ attention.
From X.com, Musk spoke harshly to his staff in an email to Confinity: “KILL THEM DEAD. DIE. DIE. DIE”.
But the competition did not last long and both sides soon realized that they had to merge or both would die.
After the deal ended, they set about setting up a company they called PayPal.
Earlier, Teal rejected alternatives for the company, including Zapio, MoMo, Cachet and the strange eMoneyBeam.
At one point, the company’s office included an indicator called the World Dominance Index to track consumers during the day.
There was an “industrial” cache with Tylenol to deal with the headache. Officials felt as if they were working on a “missile ship” and said they felt like “veterans of an intensive military campaign,” the book said.
PayPal employee Kim-Elisha Proctor recalled seeing sleeping bags under people’s desks when she arrived for an interview.
When she arrived, she did the same. She said: “I think I had a 36-hour stay – I actually slept in one of the conference rooms.”
Musk worked until 4 in the morning and slept for several hours before the employees, who observed slightly more regular working hours, arrived at 6.30 in the morning.
According to The Founders, the amount of coffee consumed by PayPal employees is “legendary”.
While pressing the coding of something on the site, they would blow up Salt ‘N’ Pepa’s ‘Push It’ to motivate staff.
To have fun, they steamed potatoes with PVC guns. An employee brought his eight-month-old daughter to work on weekends for fear of taking a break.
Fatigue led to a “heated exchange of emails” and “imitation” and an atmosphere that the “Founders” likened to Game of Thrones.
During the early days, Musk worked until 4 a.m. and slept for several hours before employees who observed slightly more regular work hours arrived at 6:30 a.m.
Tesla boss raised $ 21 million after Zip2 was bought by Compaq Computers. He was 27. But instead of living an easy life, Musk dumped much of his money on X.com, which eventually led to the launch of Tesla and Space X
Musk is already dating Australian actress Natasha Bassett, who plays Elvis Presley’s girlfriend Dixie Locke in the new biographical film about the King
Early hires for PayPal were unconventional and included chess champions, puzzle champions, and high school dropouts.
But with the eccentric personality came eccentric habits, and an engineer dragged his bare feet to his desk and removed toenail remnants “full eyes.”
Another problem along the way was when Musk overturned his $ 1 million McLaren F1 silver car while Teale was on board.
Neither of them wore belts, but they escaped unbelievably unscathed.
Musk said the car overturned “like a disk” and people who saw it happen “think we’re going to die.”
The car survived, but Musk faced a huge repair bill because he didn’t bother to insure it.
Musk’s obsession with work meant that his marriage in January 2000 to his longtime girlfriend Justin Wilson began unstable.
He had canceled his honeymoon due to a “corporate drama” and tried to make up for it by taking her to the Sydney Summer Olympics in September.
Instead, Musk – who is now dating Australian actress Natasha Bassett – decided to take the opportunity to meet with wealthy investors and conduct inspections with staff abroad.
Justin Musk said to her husband, “I am your wife, not your servant.” Musk replied, “If you were my employee, I would fire you.”
Musk says in the book, “It was meant to be a late honeymoon and a fundraising trip.” Their marriage will last an incredible eight years and will give birth to five sons before they divorce in 2008.
Wilson later said he would tell Musk, “I’m your wife, not your employee.”
Musk replied, “If you were my employee, I would fire you.”
Musk’s honeymoon gave Teal and others the “perfect opportunity” to get rid of him as CEO because they thought the company was going in the wrong direction.
After receiving the votes from the board, Musk was informed and told staff at the time that he was “so sad that my words failed.”
Two decades later, Musk acknowledged that it was a “well-executed coup” and said it was “a little extra that they would do it when I’m not there.”
He remained on good terms with Thiel, who helped fund the $ 20 million launch of SpaceX from his hedge fund.
Still, the episode helps explain Musk’s aversion to vacations, as they are cursed for him.
Speaking to Danish television in 2015, he said he had only twice tried to take a week off.
The first time his Orbit Sciences rocket exploded was Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic rocket that same week.
The second time, one of Musk’s own missiles exploded.
As Musk put it: “Holidays will kill you.”