In the up and coming generation there hasn’t been an Einstein, a Benjamin Franklin, or a Nikola Tesla that has really stood out. No one comes to mind who is tackling the fundamental challenges facing society and doing it with style, ease, and confidence. There hasn’t been a Rockefeller, a Stanford, or a Mellon who looks at the world’s needs and addresses them…until now.
It’s Elon Musk, and I don’t think I’m the first person to realize that he is this generation’s Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, and John D. Rockefeller all in one. I follow Elon Musk specifically because he’s involved in so many interesting innovative projects. I’ve rewritten this article four times already trying to figure out how to organize it, and I’m probably still too excited about all of this to make any sense. There are almost TOO MANY awesome accomplishments to write about. Where to start?
Tesla and SolarCity
It’s no secret that Musk is revolutionizing the auto and solar industries with the creation of Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY). He’s created a lot of buzz around himself as he’s made the financial moves to quadruple both stocks share prices in the last year, but are these two companies all he’s doing?
SpaceX and Hyperloop
What most people don’t know when they read the headline for Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) on Yahoo! Finance is that Musk is doing so much more with his time. If he devoted all of his time to Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), who knows, electric cars would probably be mainstream by now; but nope, Musk has bigger goals in mind. Ever since college Elon said that he wanted to tackle the factors he though would impact the human race the most in his time. He said that these factors were the Internet, sustainable energy, and multi-planetary life.
When Musk was 31 he sold PayPal to eBay for $1.5 billion, and thus his first goal was complete. He had significantly affected the Internet, and in 2002 he moved on to his next goal: multi-planetary life. When Musk created SpaceX he knew it would be hard, but he had goals in mind that would revolutionize the space industry. There were no private companies at that point that were strictly space exploration companies, and Musk’s only competition was government programs such as NASA.
Having the brightest engineers and physicists is huge and Elon knows this. I’m currently a student at the University of North Carolina and I’ve heard about many engineering and chemistry students becoming interns at SpaceX and Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA). If he’s recruiting at UNC, no doubt he’s recruiting at the most prestigious programs around the country. Musk knows that if he can create a work environment and energy that the best engineers, the best thinkers in the world want to work at, then he can solve any problem put in front of him. With NASA losing funding, Musk lost domestic competition for space industry employees, and now the Department of Defense does all their launches through SpaceX. All of this success, however, goes back to who Musk is as a person.
Musk isn’t greedy, he puts almost all of his money back into his companies, and from Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) makes merely $33,000 off salary. He wants to change the world, and not in a half hazard kind of way. He wants to create sustainable energy that’s affordable for everyone. He wants to create jobs and help the environment. Honestly who wouldn’t want to work for someone who gives off that kind of vibe? It comes down to Elon just being the awesome guy he is.
With the smartest people flocking to Musk in every direction, Musk has the power to change things. SpaceX is looking to cut the cost of going to space by 98% by creating a reusable rocket that can land for a few hours only having to refuel before taking off again. This would be the first rocket of its kind and would completely revolutionize space programs, enabling quick, cheap entry and departure of anything space-bound. But this isn’t all.
SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY) addresses Elon’s concern for sustainable energy. He’s Chairman of the board for SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY) while his cousin Lyndon Rive is the CEO. Many of Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s and SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY)’s goals are intertwined, such as the fact that Tesla supercharging stations are powered by SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY)’s solar panels and SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY) is beta testing battery packs made by Tesla for energy storage. But that’s not all, and Elon is thinking up something new, something that has never been created before.
Just yesterday, July 15, 2013, Musk tweeted that on Augest 12 the Hyperloop alpha design would be released. No one really knows what exactly this is going to look like. Musk describes it as a combination of a railgun and an airhockey table, and even the best physicists are preparing to be blown away. The Hyperloop is supposed to get from LA to San Francisco in half an hour. That’s traveling 381 miles in half an hour, the equivalent of a 762 mph train. Not only is it going to be fast, but it’s going to be efficient. It supposedly will cost less than half of putting in a high-speed bullet train that would go half the speed of the Hyperloop. I won’t delve into the details of the Hyperloop too much because, to be honest, no one really knows what the design is going to look like, but I can tell you to brace yourself. Musk doesn’t design anything short of breathtaking.
If it was anyone else inventing the Hyperloop, they would probably patent the design and make money for years off of their patent. But because it’s Musk, he tweeted that he would leave the design open source, and let anyone use it/modify and improve it. Musk wants to benefit society, and in doing so sees no reason to charge people for an idea. By doing so he’s letting society benefit him as well. He also tweeted that he only sees it fit to file for a patent when it’s vital to the survival of one of his companies. The Hyperloop works directly with the California government and citizens, and if it works out well, could eventually be installed all across the country.
Investing
The reason that Tesla and SolarCity are trading so high is because people aren’t necessarily buying into the earnings multiple, or this year’s projected EPS. People are buying into the fact that Elon Musk has been known to do things that blow people away, that revolutionize industries, and achieve the impossible. If Elon Musk was the average CEO then yes, Tesla and SolarCity would be terrible investments. But Elon isn’t the average CEO, and he’s proving it to the world.
We invest in Musk, and Musk invests in us. Musk is investing in our children’s future. Not necessarily by telling them to study engineering or physics, but by providing an incredible example. When Musk receives the spotlight he deserves in these upcoming years, kids will grow up wanting to work for him. He is investing by inspiring, and that’s the best way to do it.
This article isn’t about Tesla and SolarCity, it’s about what Elon Musk is doing to better society. I’m not here to tell you to invest in Tesla or SolarCity but rather to invest in Elon Musk as the person. To realize that Musk is going to be the man who topples goliath corporations because he is always three steps ahead of them. He’s the one who will put ideas into action before people even know those ideas are possible. He’s going to be the one our children are reading about in ten or twenty years for changing the world. He’s going to be as revered as Einstein if not more so. He’s going to be Musk, Elon Musk.
So I have four words for you regarding any company Musk is involved in: invest while you can.
Joel Wasserman owns shares of Tesla Motors and SolarCity. The Motley Fool recommends Tesla Motors . The Motley Fool owns shares of Tesla Motors. Joel is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network — entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.
The article The 2013 Stock Pick Everyone Will Learn About Too Late originally appeared on Fool.com is written by Joel Wasserman.
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