The one mindset that helped Elon Musk make $200 billion.
“Everyone told me I was crazy. Banks are huge, and you are just a kid. But I knew physics. Money is just an entry in a database.”
“Everyone told me I was crazy. Banks are huge, and you are just a kid. But I knew physics. Money is just an entry in a database.”
People call me a ‘dictator’. Stubborn and uncompromising.
But ironically, the event that made me the most money ($180 million) in my life was the moment I ‘discarded my ego’.
The day I was kicked out of the company I built, by the people I brought in.
An ordinary person would have sued and fought a dirty war, but I didn’t.
Why? Because that conflict would be ‘Irrational’. Today, we go to the battlefield of PayPal, a drama of betrayal, revenge, and Exit.
📍 Spot 1. Intern Desk at Scotiabank: Deciding to Break Banks
Location: Toronto, Canada (Scotiabank)
During college, I interned at a bank (Scotiabank). I learned a shocking fact there. Bankers treated ‘money’ like gold bars in a vault.
To me, money was just ‘numbers in a database’.
Physically, changing numbers from Account A to Account B takes 0.001 seconds. But banks charge fees and make you wait 3 days.
It was a waste of resources.
“Let’s eliminate this inefficiency with the Internet.”
With that one crazy idea, I poured all $12 million I made from selling Zip2 into founding X.com. Everyone said I was crazy. What about security? What about regulations? But if it was physically possible, someone had to do it.
📍 Spot 2. Narrow Hallway in Palo Alto: Sleeping with the Enemy
Location: Palo Alto, California (The Merger)
There was a competitor named Confinity in a nearby building. It was founded by Peter Thiel and Max Levchin. We fought like we were going to kill each other. Pouring in ad money, poaching each other’s employees.
I ran the numbers. If we keep this up, we both die.
So I reached out first.
“Rather than dying fighting each other, it’s better to merge. Let’s merge 50:50.”
The survival of the company came before my life. Thus PayPal was born. But that wasn’t peace, it was the start of a bigger war. I insisted on Windows servers, while Max Levchin insisted on Linux.
📍 Spot 3. On the Plane to Sydney: Fired on Honeymoon
Location: Sydney, Australia (The Coup)
I was on my way to my honeymoon for the first time after getting married. I was on a plane to see the Sydney Olympics.
As soon as the plane took off, the board and Peter Thiel staged a Coup.
“Elon is removed as CEO. Peter Thiel returns.”
I received the termination notice as soon as I got off the plane.
In my company, while I went on my honeymoon, a knife was stabbed in my back.
I was mad as hell. I could have gone back and fought right away. The company image would have tanked, and the stock price would have plummeted.
But I stopped.
“If I fight here, the company dies. If the company dies, my stock becomes waste paper.”
So I accepted the title of ‘Advisor’ and stepped down quietly. I killed my ego and helped Peter Thiel.
As a result, PayPal survived and was sold to eBay for $1.5 billion. I walked away with $180 million.
If I had let my ego win back then? There would be no Tesla, no SpaceX.
Epilogue: What is Bigger Than Ego
Young Elon Musk had a fiery temper.
But at decisive moments, he always chose ‘Goal’ over ‘Ego’.
He didn’t seek revenge on traitors not because he was nice.
Because it was inefficient.
Revenge looks at the past, but business must look at the future.
Are you ruining important decisions because of emotions right now?
Quitting a job because you hate your boss,
Or holding onto a wrong project because of pride?
Sometimes losing is winning.
If the goal is clear.
Micro-Mission
“Calculating My Emotional Cost”
- Recall a recent event where you lost out or fought because of ‘Pride’.
- Convert the ‘emotional energy’ and ‘time’ you spent on it into money.
- Ask yourself. “Does this help my goal?”
- If not, ‘Cut loss’ right now. That is victory.