Task 02 - Individual Report
Elon MuskEntrepreneur, Engineer, Inventor & Investor
Introduction
Elon Musk is an engineer, entrepreneur and philanthropist currently the CEO and CTO
of SpaceX, CEO and Product Architect of Tesla Motors and Chairman of SolarCity.
Musk is best known for having created the first viable production electric car of the
modern era, for designing a private successor to the Space Shuttle and creating the
world's largest Internet payment system.
Humble Beginnings
Elon Musk was born in 1971 in South Africa. Childhood wasn’t a great time for him—he had a tough family life and never fit in well at school. He was an avid self-learner early on. His brother Kimbal has said Elon would often read for 10 hours a day — a lot of science fiction and eventually, a lot of non-fiction too.
Involvement with Computers at a young age and moving to Canada and the USA
He became consumed with a second fixation at the age of nine when he got his hands on his first computer, the Commodore VIC-20.
At age 12, he used his skills to create a video game called Blastar. In 1983, he sold to the ‘PC & Office Technology’ computer magazine for $500.
At the age of 24, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in physics at Penn's College of Arts and Sciences and a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Musk moved to California to begin a PhD in applied physics at Stanford University, but left the program after two days to pursue his entrepreneurial aspirations in the areas of the Internet, renewable energy and outer space.
Early Career
Zip2, X.com and Paypal
ZIP2
Elon Musk teamed up with his brother Kimbal to start their own company—Zip2. It’s goal was to get businesses to realize that being in the Yellow Pages would become outdated at some point and that it was a good idea to get themselves into an online directory.
In 1995, it was hard to convince businesses that the internet was important but eventually, they began to rack up customers and the company grew. In 1999, Compaq snatched up Zip2 for $307 million. Musk, who was 27, made off with $22 million.
X.COM / PAYPAL
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Elon Musk’s new idea, an outrageously bold plan to build essentially an online bank—replete with checking, savings, and brokerage accounts—called X.com.
In the same building that X.com worked out of was another internet finance company called Confinity. Both companies began to notice a strong demand for their money-transfer service and they finally decided to just merge into what we know today as PayPal.
Despite the company growing rapidly, things inside the office did not go smoothly. The conflicts boiled over in late 2000, and a coup was staged and Musk was replaced as CEO.
He stayed on the team in a senior role, continued investing in the company, and played an instrumental role in selling the company to eBay in 2002, for $1.5 billion. Musk, the company’s largest shareholder, walked away with $180 million (after taxes).
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Elon Musk’s quest for a better world - Sustainable Energy & Space Exploration
What will most affect the future of humanity?
Elon Musk had a very clear vision for a better future and took the initiative very early on to do the impossible. He would improve the internet, initiate an all electric clean/sustainable future for energy, start private space exploration - in particular the permanent extension of life beyond Earth.
SpaceX
Revolutionize the cost of space travel in order to make humans a multi-planetary species by colonizing Mars with at least a million people over the next century.
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● With $100 million of his own money, he started one of the most unthinkable and ill-
advised ventures of all time: a rocket company called SpaceX, whose stated purpose
was to revolutionize the cost of space travel in order to make humans a multi-planetary
species by colonizing Mars with at least a million people over the next century.
● SpaceX develops and manufactures space launch vehicles with a focus on advancing
the state of rocket technology.
● In September 2009, SpaceX's Falcon 1 rocket, became the first privately funded liquid-
fuelled vehicle to put a satellite into Earth orbit. On May 25, 2012, the SpaceX Dragon
vehicle berthed with the ISS, making history as the first commercial company to launch
and berth a vehicle to the International Space Station.
● SpaceX was awarded a contract from NASA in 2006 to develop and test a new launch
vehicle, followed by a US$1.6 billion NASA contract on December 23, 2008.
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Tesla
Revolutionize the worldwide car industry by significantly accelerating the advent of a mostly-electric-car world—in order to bring humanity on a huge leap toward a sustainable energy future.
Tesla Motors, Inc. is an American automotive and energy storage company that designs,
manufactures and sells electric cars, electric vehicle powertrain components, and battery
products.
Tesla first gained widespread attention following their production of the Tesla Roadster, the first
fully electric sports car. The company's second vehicle is the Model S, a fully electric luxury
sedan.
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Tesla’s Model S has become a smashing success, blowing away the automotive industry with
the highest ever Consumer Reports rating of a 99/100, and the highest safety rating in history
from the National Highway Safety Administration.
They’re also becoming the world’s most formidable battery company, currently working on their
giant Nevada “Gigafactory,” which will more than double the world’s total annual production of
lithium-ion batteries.
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Elon Musk has the potential to be grander than anything Howard Hughes and Steve Jobs ever produced
The world’s most remarkable living entrepreneur & Real-Life Tony Stark /
IronMan
He deeply believes that he’s taken on the most pressing possible causes to give humanity the best chance of a good future and has dramatically already changed the world.
With an impressive, humble and incredible work-ethic, he is respected by his employees for his integrity & consistency. The success of his companies prove that.
In building a successful automotive startup and its worldwide network of electric Supercharger stations, Musk has been compared to visionary industrialists like Henry Ford and John D. Rockefeller.
The pioneering work of SpaceX on rocket technology has led to comparisons to Howard Hughes, and many have drawn parallels between Musk and Thomas Edison because of the advancements in engineering Musk has been able to achieve across industries.
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Perhaps most often, he’s compared to Steve Jobs, for his remarkable ability to disrupt giant, long-stagnant industries with things customers didn’t even know they wanted. Some believe he’ll be remembered in a class of his own.
References
1. Most information from this report is used from the following article -
http://waitbutwhy.com/2015/05/elon-musk-the-worlds-raddest-man.html
2. http://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-musk/
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk
Images
1. http://www.sudo-apt-geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/elon-musk-Time.png
2. https://blog.kissmetrics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/tesla-model-s.jpg
3. http://www.parabolicarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/falcon9_wetdry83112.jpg
Task 04 - Assignment
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Communication amongst employees in an Engineering Organisation
Integrated Company Email
Creating individual email accounts for every employee at the organization and giving them the
ability to be able to check their emails on the go, either on mobile or on laptops. Many email
services now such as Google, Hotmail ( Microsoft) now offer additional services such as an
integrated Calendar and the ability to edit documents and spreadsheets on the cloud with the
email service.
A calendar integrated with one’s email office account would allow you to set reminders for
certain appointments or meetings on certain dates and allow fellow co-workers to edit or be
reminded of these meetings. Accessing Word or Spreadsheet documents on-the - go would
allow one’s employees to edit or check documents , such as a project report or Purchasing
report at the site and be able to update it on mobile or a laptop and directly share it amongst
desired people at the organisation.
Advantages
● Emails amongst the company are usually automatically saved on a server, so records of
dates, content is always available for reference by a simple search.
● Ability to edit and create documents amongst the emails from anywhere and share them
in an instant.
● Due to the convenience of mobile, you can be constantly updated with the latest updates
from work instantly.
Disadvantages● A decent smartphone is required to check and reply emails
conveniently, specially to use the additional features that most email
services offer.
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● Is is required for you to be connected to the internet 24/7, so you would need to have a
decent internet package for your device which would cost you.
● The email app and additional apps would need constant updating and you would need to
take that into consideration when deciding your internet package
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