Elon Musk

Entrepreneur Elon Musk is the co-founder of PayPal. He is currently chairman of Solar City and CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX. Elon founded SpaceX, a developer and manufacturer of space launch vehicles, in 2002. On September 28, 2008, the Falcon 1 rocket became the first privately financed liquid powered vehicle to achieve earth orbit.c

In 1995, Elon left a graduate program in physics at Stanford University to start the online content publishing software provider Zip2. The company was bought by Compaq's AltaVista division for $307 million in cash and $34 million in stock options in 1999. In March 1999, Elon co-founded X.com, an online financial services and email payments company which later became PayPal. PayPal was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in stock in October 2002.c

In the video below, Elon Musk answers questions from Reddit users as part of a series where you can ask various industry professionals anything and everything:

Check out the questions Reddit users asked below to more easily navigate through the first "Ask Elon Musk Anything" session:

• How did you break into the business world?
  
• How were you involved in co-founding PayPal?
  
• What are your thoughts on PayPal being criticized for stealing account numbers, hidden fees and not being a reliable money-transfer system?
  
• How did SpaceX come to be and what are its long-term goals?
  
• How did Tesla come to fruition?
  
• Will Tesla cars ever become affordable to the middle class?
  
• What's your role at SolarCity and what are you working on there at present?
  
• If you could clone yourself and take on one or two more big issues aside from renewable energy, environmental cleanliness and space exploration, what would they be?
  
• To what do you attribute your drive to take on such large issues?
  
• What future propulsion techniques will drive space-exploration in the future?
  
• Has your definition of "a good idea for a start-up" or for innovation changed in the past five to seven years?
  
• With the downturn of the economy, are VCs less likely to invest in start-ups?
  
• What's the best advice you have for aspiring entrepreneurs?
  
• How do you stay focused, motivated and maintain enthusiasm when things don't go the way you had hoped?
  
• How do you find balance in your life being involved in so many companies?
  
• What are a couple of inventions you expect to change the world in coming years?
  
• How did it feel to have Iron Man based on you?
  
• What happened to the Top Gear debacle over the Tesla Roadster?
  
• Do you ever feel obligated to provide philanthropic support back to South Africa?
  
• What is the greatest factor that has enabled you to reach the point you have in your career?
  
• Who are some figures that you look up to in the business world?
  
• What advice do you have for college graduates interested in getting involved in the spheres you've tapped into?
  

The son of a South African engineer and a Canadian mother, Elon Musk was born and raised in South Africa. His father bought him his first computer at age 10 and he taught himself how to program. By the age of 12 he had sold his first commercial software, a space game called Blaster. 

At the age of 17, Elon left South Africa in part because of compulsory service in the South African military and enrolled at Queen's University in Ontario, Canada. He transferred to the University of Pennsylvania after receiving a scholarship to the Wharton School of Business. There he received a bachelors degree in Economics and stayed an extra year to finish a degree in Physics.