How did Elon Musk become successful Entrepreneur ?

Since that fateful launch, SpaceX has continued to make history.

When its SpaceX Dragon vehicle docked with the International Space Station in 2012, it was the first commercial company to ever do so.

It once again made headlines in December of 2015, when the company was able to successfully land the first stage of the Falcon rocket back at the launch pad, a first for rocket science and a feat that would be replicated multiple times in the months to follow.

The company has also made money. In 2006, NASA gave SpaceX a contract to develop the Falcon 9 launch vehicle, which it followed up with another $1.6 billion contract in 2008. But beyond headlines and profits, Musk sees SpaceX as filling a vital need. “There's a fundamental difference, if you look into the future, between a humanity that is a space-faring civilization, that's out there exploring the stars.

compared with one where we are forever confined to Earth until some eventual extinction event,” he said.

In September of 2016, Musk outlined a plan to explore and eventually colonize Mars. (For more, see: The Reality Of Investing In Space Exploration.)

Musk brought the same idealism and drive to another major venture, Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA).

That company was first incorporated in 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, a pair of engineers.

The two funded the company’s development until the Series A round of funding in 2004.

At that time, Musk came in as a leading investor, putting $7.5 million into the nascent car company. In addition to bringing his reputation and cash, Musk took an active role in the company, managing the design of the Tesla Roadster and insisting on a carbon fiber body, among other things.

He continued to invest in the following years and took over as CEO of Tesla Motors in 2008. The company’s first car, the Tesla Roadster, sold 2,500 vehicles in 31 countries.

One issue electric cars face is a shortage of charging stations, especially when compared with the nationwide network of gas stations. In 2013, Musk said Tesla was investing in the creation of more charging stations on the East and West coasts.

He also announced that Tesla Motors will allow other automobile manufacturers to use its technology patents to accelerate the development of electric cars worldwide.

For his work with Tesla, Musk earned a yearly salary of just a dollar (as of 2014), with other compensation in the form of stock and performance-related bonuses.

As with SpaceX, though, Musk has insisted that Tesla is about more than just making money.

"Obviously Tesla is about helping solve the consumption of energy in a sustainable manner, but you need the production of energy in a sustainable manner," he said.

"Obviously Tesla is about helping solve the consumption of energy in a sustainable manner, but you need the production of energy in a sustainable manner," he said.

To address the production side of the energy equation, Musk came up with the idea for SolarCity, which his cousins Lyndon and Peter Rive co-founded in 2006.

The company designs, finances and installs solar panels. It also constructs electric-car charging stations in collaboration with Tesla Motors.

As of 2014, SolarCity had more than 6,000 employees. Musk has promised to build a SolarCity factory in Buffalo, New York, that would be three times the size of the largest solar plant in the United States.

The company has grown to become the second-largest provider of solar power systems in the United States, and Musk is still the largest shareholder. In June of 2016, Tesla formally moved to acquire SolarCity.

Musk continues to invest in the future. In 2013, he released a proposal for a hypothetical machine that would carry passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 35 minutes or less.

He calls it the Hyperloop, and he estimates it would cost $6 billion to build. In 2015, he announced plans to build a 5-mile Hyperloop track in 2016 as a pilot program.

The project has continued in the time since then, with Musk sponsoring a design competition for the creation of pods.

He has also confirmed, as of the summer of 2017, that he had received “verbal government approval” to begin construction of a hyperloop between Washington, D.C. and New York City, although this has been called into question by various government officials.