Entrepreneurs
53 Inspiring Elon Musk Quotes For Entrepreneurs
Elon Musk is a South African-American businessman, investor, engineer and inventor.
He is best known for being the co-founder and CEO of Tesla Inc but is also the founder and CEO of Space X, founder and CEO of Neuralink, co-chairman of OpenAPI and the founder of the Boring Company. He is also the co-founder of SolarCity, co-founder of Zip2 and founder of X.com, which later merged with Confinity to become Paypal.
When people talk about Elon Musk they often refer to the billionaire as one of the brightest minds of our time, a genius, a visionary and even the real-life Iron Man.
Needless to say, Elon Musk is a man that is having a profound impact on the world we live in today and the future.
Whilst Elon Musk is no doubt extremely intelligent what’s even more inspiring is his persistence and self-belief. It’s that combination that has really made him so successful in my opinion.
I’ve put together 53 insightful Elon Musk quotes that will inspire any entrepreneur. I hope it gives you a boost for the day.
53 Elon Musk Quotes For Entrepreneurs
1. “When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.” – Elon Musk
2. “If you get up in the morning and think the future is going to be better, it is a bright day. Otherwise, it’s not.” – Elon Musk
3. “Life is too short for long-term grudges.” – Elon Musk
4. “Brand is just a perception, and perception will match reality over time. Sometimes it will be ahead, other times it will be behind. But brand is simply a collective impression some have about a product.” – Elon Musk
5. “Some people don’t like change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is disaster.” – Elon Musk
6. “People should pursue what they’re passionate about. That will make them happier than pretty much anything else.” – Elon Musk
7. “People work better when they know what the goal is and why. It is important that people look forward to coming to work in the morning and enjoy working.” – Elon Musk
8. “Any product that needs a manual to work is broken.” – Elon Musk
9. “I think life on Earth must be about more than just solving problems… It’s got to be something inspiring, even if it is vicarious.” – Elon Musk
10. “I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better.” – Elon Musk
11. “I don’t create companies for the sake of creating companies, but to get things done.” – Elon Musk
12. “I always invest my own money in the companies that I create. I don’t believe in the whole thing of just using other people’s money. I don’t think that’s right. I’m not going to ask other people to invest in something if I’m not prepared to do so myself.” – Elon Musk
13. “I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better. I think that’s the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself.” – Elon Musk
14. “If you’re trying to create a company, it’s like baking a cake. You have to have all the ingredients in the right proportion.” – Elon Musk
15. “If something’s important enough, you should try. Even if you know the probable outcome is failure.” – Elon Musk
16. “I’m interested in things that change the world or that affect the future and wondrous, new technology where you see it, and you’re like, ‘Wow, how did that even happen? How is that possible?'” – Elon Musk
17. “The path to the CEO’s office should not be through the CFO’s office, and it should not be through the marketing department. It needs to be through engineering and design.” – Elon Musk
18. “There’s a silly notion that failure’s not an option at NASA. Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.” – Elon Musk
19. “It’s OK to have your eggs in one basket as long as you control what happens to that basket.” – Elon Musk
20. “When Henry Ford made cheap, reliable cars people said, ‘Nah, what’s wrong with a horse?’ That was a huge bet he made, and it worked.” – Elon Musk
21. “There have to be reasons that you get up in the morning and you want to live. Why do you want to live? What’s the point? What inspires you? What do you love about the future? If the future does not include being out there among the stars and being a multi-planet species, I find that incredibly depressing.” – Elon Musk
22. “The problem is that at a lot of big companies, process becomes a substitute for thinking. You’re encouraged to behave like a little gear in a complex machine. Frankly, it allows you to keep people who aren’t that smart, who aren’t that creative.” – Elon Musk
23. “I don’t spend my time pontificating about high-concept things; I spend my time solving engineering and manufacturing problems.” – Elon Musk
24. “I wouldn’t say I have a lack of fear. In fact, I’d like my fear emotion to be less because it’s very distracting and fries my nervous system.” – Elon Musk
25. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to plan to sell a company.” – Elon Musk
26. “Optimism, pessimism, f*** that; we’re going to make it happen. As God as my bloody witness, I’m hell-bent on making it work.” – Elon Musk
27. “The first step is to establish that something is possible; then probability will occur.” – Elon Musk
28. “Persistence is very important. You should not give up unless you are forced to give up.” – Elon Musk
29. “I think it is possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary.” – Elon Musk
30. “I could either watch it happen or be a part of it.” – Elon Musk
31. “There’s a tremendous bias against taking risks. Everyone is trying to optimize their ass-covering.” – Elon Musk
32. “If you’re co-founder or CEO, you have to do all kinds of tasks you might not want to do… If you don’t do your chores, the company won’t succeed… No task is too menial.” – Elon Musk
33. “My biggest mistake is probably weighing too much on someone’s talent and not someone’s personality. I think it matters whether someone has a good heart.” – Elon Musk
34. “Starting and growing a business is as much about the innovation, drive, and determination of the people behind it as the product they sell.” – Elon Musk
35. “Talent is extremely important. It’s like a sports team, the team that has the best individual player will often win, but then there’s a multiplier from how those players work together and the strategy they employ.” – Elon Musk
36. “Work like hell. I mean you just have to put in 80 to 100 hour weeks every week. [This] improves the odds of success. If other people are putting in 40 hour workweeks and you’re putting in 100 hour workweeks, then even if you’re doing the same thing, you know that you will achieve in four months what it takes them a year to achieve.” – Elon Musk
37. “Really pay attention to negative feedback and solicit it, particularly from friends. … Hardly anyone does that, and it’s incredibly helpful.” – Elon Musk
38. “What makes innovative thinking happen?… I think it’s really a mindset. You have to decide.” – Elon Musk
39. “Being an entrepreneur is like eating glass and staring into the abyss of death.” – Elon Musk
40. “You shouldn’t do things differently just because they’re different. They need to be… better. “- Elon Musk
41. “It’s very important to like the people you work with, otherwise life [and] your job is gonna be quite miserable.” – Elon Musk
42. “I think the best way to attract venture capital is to try and come up with a demonstration of whatever product or service it is and ideally take that as far as you can. Just see if you can sell that to real customers and start generating some momentum. The further along you can get with that, the more likely you are to get funding.” – Elon Musk
43. “Don’t delude yourself into thinking something’s working when it’s not, or you’re gonna get fixated on a bad solution.” – Elon Musk
44. “I always have optimism, but I’m realistic. It was not with the expectation of great success that I started Tesla or SpaceX… It’s just that I thought they were important enough to do anyway.” – Elon Musk
45. “The things that’s worth doing is trying to improve our understanding of the world and gain a better appreciation of the universe and not to worry too much about there being no meaning. And, you know, try and enjoy yourself. Because actually, life’s pretty good. It really is.” – Elon Musk
46. “If you want to grow a giant redwood, you need to make sure the seeds are OK, nurture the sapling and work out what might potentially stop it from growing all the way along. Anything that breaks it at any point stops that growth.” – Elon Musk
47. “My mentality is that of a samurai. I would rather commit seppuku than fail.” – Elon Musk
48. “I don’t believe in process. In fact, when I interview a potential employee and he or she says that ‘it’s all about the process,’ I see that as a bad sign. The problem is that at a lot of big companies, process becomes a substitute for thinking. You’re encouraged to behave like a little gear in a complex machine. Frankly, it allows you to keep people who aren’t that smart, who aren’t that creative.” – Elon Musk
49. “As much as possible, avoid hiring MBAs. MBA programs don’t teach people how to create companies.” – Elon Musk
50. “Whatever you do, whatever area that you get into, even if you’re the best of the best, there’s always a chance of failure. So I think it’s important that you really like whatever you’re doing. If you don’t like it, life’s too short. If you like what you’re doing, you think about it even when you’re not working. It’s something that your mind is drawn to, and if you don’t like it, you just can’t make it work.” – Elon Musk
51. “Don’t be afraid of new arenas.” – Elon Musk
52. “You have to be pretty driven to make it happen. Otherwise, you will just make yourself miserable.” – Elon Musk
53. “My motivation for all my companies has been to be involved in something that I thought would have a significant impact on the world.” – Elon Musk
