Bloomberg Risk Takers: Elon Musk Documentary

http://www.bloomberg.com/video/73460184/

by jasonjackson • 15 years ago

123 20 15 years ago

bloomberg.com

howradical• 15 years ago

I watched this over the weekend, great story.

danest• 15 years ago

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

ck22• 15 years ago

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.

larrys• 15 years ago

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.

johnyzee• 15 years ago

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.

jasonjackson• 15 years ago

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.

narrator• 15 years ago

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/

brandnewlow• 15 years ago

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.

ck22• 15 years ago

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

Troll_Whisperer• 15 years ago

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!

erikpukinskis• 15 years ago

Nine!

MikeCapone• 15 years ago

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.

mckoss• 15 years ago

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.

kloncks• 15 years ago

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.

wensing2• 15 years ago

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

BrentRitterbeck• 15 years ago

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.

nextparadigms• 15 years ago

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.

artvandelay• 15 years ago

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

sigil• 15 years ago

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).

Bloomberg Risk Takers: Elon Musk Documentary

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