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*
Two years after the birth of his son, John Elon began to show signs of diabetes. The condition amounted to a death sentence at the time
and, despite being only thirty-two, John Elon learned that he would likely have six months or so to live. With a bit of nursing experience
behind her, Almeda took it upon herself to discover an elixir or treatment that would extend John Elon’s life. According to family lore, she
hit on chiropractic procedures as an effective remedy, and John Elon lived for five years following the original diabetes diagnosis. The life-
giving procedures established what would become an oddly rich chiropractic tradition in the Haldeman family. Almeda studied at a
chiropractic school in Minneapolis and earned her doctor of chiropractic, or, D.C., degree in 1905. Musk’s great-grandmother went on to
set up her own clinic and, as far as anyone can tell, became the first chiropractor to practice in Canada.
*
Haldeman also entered politics, trying to start his own political party in Saskatchewan, publishing a newsletter, and espousing conservative,
antisocialist ideas. He would later make an unsuccessful run for Parliament and chair the Social Credit Party.
*
The journey took them up the African coast, across the Arabian Peninsula, all the way through Iran, India, and Malaysia and then down the
Timor Sea to Australia. It required one year of preparation just to secure all of the necessary visas and paperwork, and they suffered from
constant stomach bugs and an erratic schedule along the way. “Dad passed out crossing the Timor Sea, and mum had to take over until
they hit Australia. He woke up right before they landed,” said Scott Haldeman. “It was fatigue.”
*
Both Joshua and Wyn were accomplished marksmen and won national shooting competitions. In the mid-1950s, they also tied for first
place in the eight-thousand-mile Cape Town to Algiers Motor Rally, beating pros in their Ford station wagon.
*
Musk couldn’t remember this particular conversation. “I think they might be having creative recollection,” he said. “It’s possible. I had lots
of esoteric conversations the last couple years of high school, but I was more concerned about general technology than banking.”
*
When Maye went to Canada to check out places to live, a fourteen-year-old Tosca seized the moment and put the family house in South
Africa up for sale. “She had sold my car as well and was in the midst of putting our furniture up for sale, too,” Maye said. “When I got
back, I asked her why. She said, ‘There is no need to delay. We are getting out of here.’”
The Musk brothers were not the most aggressive businessmen at this point. “I remember from their business plan that they were originally
asking for a ten-thousand-dollar investment for twenty-five percent of their company,” said Steve Jurvetson, the venture capitalist. “That is
a cheap deal! When I heard about the three-million-dollar investment, I wondered if Mohr Davidow had actually read the business plan.
Somehow, the brothers ended up raising a normal venture round.”
Musk also got to show off the new office to his mother, Maye, and Justine. Maye sometimes sat in on meetings and came up with the idea
of adding a “reverse directions” button on the Zip2 maps, which let people flip around their journeys and ended up becoming a popular
feature on all mapping services.
At one point, the founders thought the easiest way to solve their problems would just be to buy a bank and revamp it. While that didn’t
happen, they did snag a high-profile controller from Bank of America, who in turn explained, in painful detail, the complexities of sourcing
loans, transferring money, and protecting accounts.
Fricker disputed that he yearned to be CEO, saying instead that the other employees had encouraged him to take over because of Musk’s
struggles getting the business off the ground. Fricker and Musk, once close friends, remain unimpressed with each other. “Elon has his own
code of ethics and honor and plays the game extraordinarily hard,” Fricker said. “When it comes down to it, for him, business is war.”
According to Musk, “Harris is very smart, but I don’t think he has a good heart. He had a really intense desire to be running the show, and
he wanted to take the company in ridiculous directions.” Fricker went on to have a very successful career as CEO of GMP Capital, a
Canadian financial services company. Payne founded a private equity firm in Toronto.
Musk had been pushed out as CEO of X.com by the company’s investors, who wanted a more seasoned executive to lead the company
toward an IPO. In December 1999, X.com hired Bill Harris, the former CEO of the financial software maker Intuit, as its new chief. After
the merger, many in the company turned on Harris, he resigned, and Musk returned as the CEO.
*
After feeling ill for a few days, Musk went to Stanford Hospital and informed them that he’d been in a malaria zone, although the doctors
could not find the parasite during tests. The doctors performed a spinal tap and diagnosed him with viral meningitis. “I may very well have
also had that, and they treated me for it, and it did get better,” Musk said. The doctors discharged Musk from the hospital and warned him
that some symptoms would recur. “I started feeling bad a few days later, and it got progressively worse,” Musk said. “Eventually, I
couldn’t walk. It was like, ‘Okay, this is even worse than the first time.’” Justine took Musk to a general practitioner in a cab, and he lay
on the floor of the doctor’s office. “I was so dehydrated that she couldn’t take my vitals,” Musk said. The doctor called an ambulance,
which transported Musk to Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City with IVs in both arms. Musk faced another misdiagnosis—this time of the
type of malaria. The doctors declined to give Musk a more aggressive treatment that came with nasty side effects including heart
palpitations and organ failure.
*
When Zubrin and some of the other Mars buffs heard of Musk’s plant project, they were upset. “It didn’t make any sense,” Zubrin said.
“It was a purely symbolic thing to do, and the second they opened that door, millions of microbes would escape and plague all of NASA’s
contamination protocols.”
*
Most of the stories written about Musk that touch on this period say he went to Moscow three times. According to Cantrell’s detailed
records, this is not the case. Musk met with the Russians twice in Moscow, and once in Pasadena, California. He also met with
Arianespace in Paris, and in London with Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd., which Musk considered buying.
*
Buzza knew Hollman’s work at Boeing and coaxed him to SpaceX about six months after the company started.
*
Including a 1,300-pound hunk of copper.
*
Before returning to El Segundo, Hollman used a drill press to remove the glasses’ safety shield. “I didn’t want to look like a nerd on the
flight home,” he said.
*
Hollman left the company after this incident in November 2007 and then returned for a spell to train new personnel. A number of people I
interviewed for the book said that Hollman was so key to SpaceX’s early days that they feared the company might flame out without him.
*
In a press release announcing the funding round, Musk was not listed as a founder of the company. In the “About Tesla Motors” section,
the company stated, “Tesla Motors was founded in June 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning to create efficient electric cars
for people who love to drive.” Musk and Eberhard would later spar over Musk’s founder status.
*
This was how the employee remembered the text. I did not see the actual e-mail. Musk later told the same employee, “I want you to think
ahead and think so hard every day that your head hurts. I want your head to hurt every night when you go to bed.”
*
Musk fought to set the record straight, as he saw it, on the
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