Bloomberg Risk Takers: Elon Musk Documentary | Hacker News Reader

Bloomberg Risk Takers: Elon Musk Documentary

bloomberg.com

123 pointsjasonjackson20 comments

That was absolutely stunning. I can't even imagine someone pinning their entire hard-earned fortune on a wing and a prayer, but that's exactly what he did. Talk about balls.

Better still his start-ups are actually changing the world for the better. They're not just a bunch of smartphone apps. Today I toast the man who believed in solar power, space exploration and electric cars so much that he put he was willing to put his entire 8 figure fortune of 2 decades on the line! Elon, you're a tribute to the human spirit!

Nine!

WEll said. I (very) briefly met Elon in Detroit about a year ago and only had a chance to make a joke about SpaceX's Falcon 9. He's quite the entrepreneur. I only wish more were like him and tried their hands at hard world-changing problems rather than financial 'innovations' or iPhone Apps.

It boggles the imagination to see one person leading three companies, each of which has to solve enormous problems that no one else has been able to overcome in the past several decades. I find it quite inspirational to see Elon doing this.

Actually, I'd like to see a documentary on the 1000s of people who took risks and failed. It's easy to "ooh and ahh" at success. How about all the ones that didn't make it and still get up each morning and try again. Many people have good ideas and try hard, they just didn't get lucky at the right time.

Same. Not to mention the fact that you aren't even seeing the real story anyway. There are always different versions of events and interpretations of why things happened a certain way.

There was a story a while back about one of the founders and/or creators of Tesla, and how he was pushed out and mistreated by Tesla management. Although we all like to root for Tesla, for me that story casts the company in a different light.

While I would also love to see a documentary about that.

Just because Tesla is still alive today, doesn't mean he was lucky. When you look at all the events that took place in between 2002-2008: + Having to sell cars during the 2008 depression + extreme difficulty finding investment + millions in sunk costs on inventory which they threw out (under the first CEO) + going through a divorce war during the IPO. + hiring a designer which started a competing company These events don't seem very lucky.

Startup.com is a good one. It's about a dot com that failed back in the 2000 internet bubble.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0256408/

Also, "We Live In Public" is a good one too.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0498329/

We Live in Public is a great story of what happens when someone without any real interest in building a company, but with a massive ego, gets access to capital. Great, chilling film.

Thanks for the suggestions - "we live in public" is on netflix instant so will watch it sometime this week:

http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/We_Live_in_Public/70112751

Not only were all those start-ups of his extremely difficult technically wise, and also difficult to succeed in those markets, but he was basically running them in the same time! That's incredible. And he's just 40, and I think there's a lot more we'll see from him. His wife said at the end that he's also thinking about making electric jets, fusion reactors, and colonizing the Moon and Mars. After what he's done so far, I wouldn't bet against him.

These videos are also amazing from Bloomberg. http://www.bloomberg.com/tv/shows/game-changers/

I've been very impressed lately with the quality of Bloomberg's television productions.

Things like this combined with the upcoming TechStars show are just wonderful.

Bloomberg is an incredible company obsessed with quality. The TV channel is great; their terminal is downright mind-numbing.

How would you fix the Bloomberg terminal? I'm simply curious as trying to figure out how to develop the same type of tools for retail customers has been something I've been looking at for quite a while.

Note: I use a Bloomberg terminal at work.

Oh I have no idea. I have had the privilege to see a little behind the scenes there and I'm not aware of any weaknesses, really.

Simply amazing, all of the companies are doing something tangible and real.

I tend to compare myself to others... makes me feel pretty useless...lol

I found this piece both inspiring and a little disappointing. Inspiring because of guy's vision and sheer determination. Disappointing because all three of his recent ventures sought soft bailouts to stay afloat (subsidies of some form or another).

I watched this over the weekend, great story.

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