It's amazing that something I submitted to hackernews went on to become the cover story of Hacker Monthly. All I wanted was to understand what made Elon Musk tick.

The only drawback is that the stanford lectures were done in 2003, incredibly outdated. Elon was just starting out back then with SpaceX and Tesla, and haven’t dealt with the 2008 economic crash that forced him to invest all of his capital in order to keep his companies alive, and this happened during a difficult divorce. Elon had to borrow money from a few friends, a majority of which was used to pay the legal fees. Elon said that he almost had a mental breakdown and he probably burned out a few of his mental circuits.

Nowadays Elon repeatedly quotes his friend, “Starting a company is like eating glass and staring into the abyss of death.“

If you truly want to delve into Elon's entrepreneurial spirit, I would suggest reading or watching these links below.

On the verge of nervous breakdown:[34:42] - http://www.bloomberg.com/video/73460184-elon-musk-profiled-b...

Riskmaster: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNnauxvhJUw

Elon Musk’s Risky Business: http://archive.mensjournal.com/elon-musk%E2%80%99s-risky-bus...

Elon rejected eBay's 400 million offer in 2001. Then $800 million, with $100 million at risk. When eBay offered $1.5 billion, Elon still argued against the deal. Elon has obviously learned from the previous Zip2 mistake of selling out to Compaq for $307 million. Elon said it could've been 10 times greater with Zip2, and have a more meaningful impact on the internet. But with Paypal there was a long term risk that eBay could one day prevail with their own payment system. So Elon gave in.

This incredibly high risk tolerance characteristic is displayed at a much larger magnitude with SpaceX & Tesla. To manage two such companies and be successful, is unprecedented.

Accurate self analysis, critical thinking & risk tolerance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nMQ0-1jqFs&feature=relat... Note: Elon once lived under $1 a day as an experiment, he knows what it’s like to be truly hungry. Back in Canada, Elon has worked jobs such as cleaning out boilers at a lumber mill; log cutting with a chainsaw; and working on a wheat farm cleaning out grain bins, shooting gophers, etc.

Really high intrinsic drive: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hedxehSr-I&feature=relmf...

Elon Musk talks about his drive and where it comes from, and the meaning of life
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRZrnxOQaDU&feature=relmf...

Work twice as hard as others: http://vator.tv/news/2010-12-23-elon-musk-work-twice-as-hard...

Getting the job done: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOPgM7Sc2VQ

Influence of his father Errol Musk, mechanical & electrical engineer in South Africa:
http://www.oninnovation.com/videos/detail.aspx?video=1259...

Near-Death experience as the ultimate motivator: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/152394000857448448

"He also revealed that he almost died of cerebral malaria on a holiday to a South African game reserve in about 2000 and that the “near-miss” had given him renewed focus and energy.

“Man, that experience was no fun at all, but it does tend to sharpen your goal-setting,” he said. Source: http://mg.co.za/article/2012-05-04-space-oddity-elon-musk-an...

"Elon Musk's leadership, his ability to inspire and motivate the people who work for him, derives completely, and only, from his knowledge." Source: http://www.gq.com/news-politics/newsmakers/200901/elon-musk-...

I could go on and on.. but that's not really relevant towards entrepreneurship. There's so much more out there, like his charity efforts. http://i.imgur.com/Mnk7U.jpg Dr.Evil reference. http://i.imgur.com/MgdDr.jpg I'll stop there. :)