bcpreneur-summit-blog

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Featured Entrepreneur for February 2018 - Bozoma Saint John

"Nobody knew what in the hell we were doing. Everybody's making it up. It's called 'innovation': That's the fancy word for 'making s--- up.” - Bozoma Saint John

Ms. Bozoma Saint John, also known as Boz, is the Chief Brand Officer at Uber Technologies, Inc. since June 2017. Ms. John is responsible for improving the brand image of Uber. 

She ran Global Consumer Marketing of Apple Music and iTunes. She served as the Head of Global Marketing and Senior Vice President at Beats Music, LLC since April 2014. Ms. John led on all Beats Music marketing initiatives, from brand and performance marketing to collaborations with Target, Chevy, Beats Electronics and others. She utilized her experience combining music with powerful international brands to further the Beats Music mission of delighting music fans and supporting a sustainable music business. Hand in hand with the Beats Music and Beats Electronics executive teams, she executed strategic marketing initiatives in order to earn and nurture true consumer brand recognition, loyalty and equity that enable Beats Music to take its rightful place at the forefront of pop culture. For the last decade and a half, she has been blazing marketing and advertising trails across various industries including consumer packaged goods, digital music/entertainment, fashion, automotive, and sports. 

Prior to joining Beats Music, she served as the Head of the Music and Entertainment Marketing Group at Pepsi-Cola North America where she was responsible for leading breakthrough, integrated & sustained consumer engagement plans for brands across the soda giant's beverages portfolio. She has spearheaded multiple 360º integrated programs that engaged tastemaker- consumers in the Pepsi brand through music, film, television, print, online, grassroots, events, and retail vehicles. During her tenure at Pepsi-Cola she managed brand integrations with media juggernauts like the Super Bowl, GRAMMY Awards, MTV VMAs, and CMA Awards. 

Her prior experience includes Vice President of Marketing for fashion brand Ashley Stewart and traditional advertising agency management at Arnold Worldwide and Spike Lee's SpikeDDB. 

Throughout her career, she has been recognized by some of the industry's most influential media outlets including Billboard Magazine's Top Women in Music and Top Executives 40 Under 40, Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People, Ebony Magazine's 100 Top Executives and was featured on the cover of AdWeek as one of the most exciting personalities in Advertising. She also contributes her expertise to various groups including serving on the Leadership Council for the United Nation's partnership with the PVBLIC Foundation and as a mentor for the Levo League. She is a graduate of Wesleyan University with a BA in English and African American Studies.

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About to enter the Parq Vancouver #parqvancouver #bcpreneur #bcpsummit this placeisrefined

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We are thrilled to have Vancouver TV Personalities, @FionaForbes and @MaryZilba co-hosting the BCPRENEUR Summit on May 19 & 20, 2018 at the Parq Vancouver. #bcpreneur #vancouverentrepreneurs #bcentrepreneurs #bcsmallbusiness #fionaforbes #maryzilba #parqvancouver #bcpsummit #ILoveMyTribe (at Vancouver, British Columbia)

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FEATURED ENTREPRENEUR FOR SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

“I find nothing wrong with striving for the impossible. But I find alot wrong with giving up” - Scooter Braun   

Scooter Braun (born June 18, 1981 as Scott Samuel Braun in New York, New York) is an American talent manager. Scooter found early success in Atlanta’s hip-hop scene, hosting major parties for celebrities like Britney Spears and Ludacris, and the 2003 NBA All-Star Game, all while still enrolled at Emory University. He scored his first big talent find in 2008, when he saw a young Canadian teen singer on YouTube. That young performer was Justin Bieber, who Scooter and R&B star Usher signed to their label Raymond-Braun Media Group. Scooter’s career skyrocketed from there, signing new talent Asher Roth, Carly Rae Jepsen, The Wanted and Cody Simpson to Scooter Braun Projects. Scooter’s accomplishments are unparalleled, accomplishing more than most entrepreneurs twice his age.

Best Known For:

Discovering Justin Bieber

Entrepreneurship: 

Scooter Braun is also a savvy investor and made early stage investments in Uber, Pinterest, and Spotify. Scooter always wants to know one thing before he enters a new situation: Did you burn the ships?That's what he asked his friend Tom McLeod, a serial entrepreneur and chief of storage concierge startup Omni, who came to Braun recently with an investment opportunity. Braun quickly declined, and McLeod asked him why. The ancient Greeks, Braun explained, used to burn their own ships upon arriving on enemy shores.

“You are a serial entrepreneur,” he told McLeod. “If we are going to do this, I need to know you’re going to burn the ships. There is no turning back, there is no, ‘Hey, it’s getting tough now. It’s not really working out. I’m going to fold and try something else.’ If this is you're [going to] burn the ships, that’s a different story.”

Braun has stuck to that philosophy throughout his career, and it has served him well. After guiding a teenaged Bieber to superstar status, Braun didn't retreat as his young charge's career unraveled while the world watched; instead, he stuck with the singer and helped Bieber re-establish himself as one of the foremost names in the world of pop music.

"He just wants to make sure I’m on my toes," Bieber explained, understatedly, in an interview for the FORBES Celebrity 100 cover story four years ago.

Even back then, Braun was diversifying his roster, adding acts like the Wanted and Asher Roth--while getting his start as a venture capitalist and helping Bieber do the same.

Braun has since expanded much more than his list of clients, adding entire categories to his budding SB Projects empire. Among them: motion picture arm SB Films, the entity behind the record-setting documentary Justin Bieber: Never Say Never; Silent Labs, which houses Braun's investments in companies like Uber and Spotify; music label Schoolboy Records, home to the likes of Psy and Carly Rae Jepsen; and a host of philanthropic endeavors.

"I was given the opportunity to music and I was trying to do that to the best of my ability," he told FORBES during a recent video interview at his Los Angeles headquarters. "But I always had this entrepreneurial spirit that wanted to wake up and do cool shit, and never want to be limited by anything."

In Braun's eyes, the same skills apply to all his areas of operation. His experience packaging and producing Bieber biopics helped him score a hit with the CBS CBS -3.49%show Scorpion; in the tech field, he looks for companies that already churn out meaningful revenues, just as he often decides to manage acts who already have their own audiences--frequently beyond the U.S.--like K-Pop sensation CL, Dutch DJ Martin Garrix and Swedish star Steve Angello.

To be sure, Braun hasn't been able to replicate the Bieber magic with all his acts. The Wanted never caught up to One Direction, and Asher Roth didn't become Eminem. But in his interview with FORBES, Braun seemed to confirm his biggest addition since Bieber: Kanye West.

The rapper-producer-designer, who would likely appreciate Braun's ship-burning philosophy, recently made his new album The Life Of Pablo available across all major streaming services after releasing it only via Jay Z's Tidal at first. That seems a first step in a direction of which Braun would approve.

Perhaps Braun will be able to help West soar into the upper reaches of hip-hop's top earners--the manager is certainly persuasive, as the resolution of his interaction with McLeod shows. The entrepreneur called Braun a day after their discussion. “I’m going to burn the f---ing ships,” he said calmly. What did Braun do?

"I invested," he recalls. "I felt his passion, and I think it’s that mentality of, 'I will not take no for an answer' that you look for in people to find the things that are going to be successful."

Personal Life:

Scooter grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut to parents, Ervin and Susan, both dentists. His paternal grandparents were Hungarian Jews and both survivors of the Holocaust. In high school, Scooter produced a documentary, “The Hungarian Conflict,” inspired by their experience. The film now plays at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. He studied at Emory University in Atlanta, and became a self-named “power player” in the city’s hip-hop scene. For all his success, Scooter is committed to giving back and serves on the Advisory Board for Pencils of Promise, a non-profit organization founded by his brother Adam.

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Register for the BCPRENEUR Summit using coupon code, VSW2017 to save $25. #bcpreneur #bcentrepreneur #vancouverentrepreneurs #bcstartup #vanstartup #bcpsummit #ILoveMyTribe (at Vancouver, British Columbia)

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Inviting all BC Entrepreneurs and Small Business owners to join us at the 2018 BCPRENEUR Summit on May 19 & 20. See www.bcpreneur.com #vsw2017 #entrepreneur #bcpreneur #vancouverstartup #vanstartup #bcsmallbusiness #bcpsummit (at Vancouver, British Columbia)

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Submit your video presentation for your BC Startup for a chance to win $25,000. For more details, visit www.bcpreneur.com

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FEATURED ENTREPRENEUR FOR SEPTEMBER 22nd, 2017

Real entrepreneurs do what they say they're going to do, wannabes ask about it and have tons and tons of coffee meetings. - Brian Wong, CEO of Kiip

Brian Wong is the co-founder and CEO of Kiip (pronounced "keep"), a category-creating mobile rewards network that is redefining mobile advertising through an innovative platform that leverages "moments of achievement" in games and apps to simultaneously benefit users, developers and advertisers. Backed by Relay Ventures, Interpublic Group, Hummer Winblad, True Ventures, Digital Garage and others, the company has raised $15.4 million in funding to date.

Kiip has been named one of the world's 50 Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company, listed by Forbes as one of the 4 Hot Online Ad Companies to Put on Your Watch List and included on the Dow Jones FasTech50 List. After skipping four K-12 grades, Brian received his Bachelor of Commerce from the University of British Columbia at age 18, and shortly after became one of the youngest people to ever receive venture capital funding.

He has been recognized with many awards for his accomplishments and leadership, including: the Top 20 Under 20 awards for all of Canada; Business Insider's Top 25 Under 25 in Silicon Valley, 30 Under 30 in Advertising and 18 Most Important People in Mobile Advertising; Forbes' 30 Under 30 in 2011 and 2012; Mashable's Top 5 Entrepreneurs to Watch; iMedia 25; One of AdWeek's Seven Would-be Mobile Titans; and the AdAge Creativity Top 50.

Before starting Kiip, Brian led key publisher and tech partnerships at the social news website Digg.com, where he accelerated the company’s mobile presence by launching the Digg Android mobile app.

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Our Pitch Competition has been increased to $25,000. What could your start up business do with $25,000? Refer to our website for more details.

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FEATURED ENTREPRENEUR FOR SEPTEMBER 21, 2017

“ All kids need is a little help, a little hope and somebody who believes in them.” - Earvin Magic Johnson

For 12 years, Earvin "Magic" Johnson dominated the court as one of America's best basketball players. In 1991, he announced that he had tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Synopsis

Born Earvin Johnson Jr. on August 14, 1959, in Lansing, Michigan, Magic Johnson dominated the court as one of America's best basketball players for 12 years. He retired from the LA Lakers in 1991 after revealing that he had tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. He has since then built up a business empire, which includes real estate holdings, several Starbucks franchises, and movie theaters. He is also an author.

Early Life

Basketball icon Magic Johnson was born Earvin Johnson Jr. on August 14, 1959, in Lansing, Michigan. For 12 years, Johnson dominated the court as one of America's best basketball players. He has since then built up a business empire, which includes real estate holdings, several Starbucks franchises, and movie theaters.

From a large family, Johnson grew up with nine brothers and sisters. Both of his parents worked—his father for the General Motors plant in town and his mother for as a school custodian. He had a passion for basketball, and would start practicing as early as 7:30 a.m. At Everett High School, Johnson earned his famous nickname, "Magic," after a sportswriter witnessed him score 36 points, 16 rebounds, and 16 assists in a single game.

Passion for Basketball

Magic Johnson continued to play in college for Michigan State University. Standing at 6 feet 9 inches tall, he made for an impressive point guard. Johnson excelled during his freshman year, helping his team, the Spartans, clinch the Big Ten Conference title. The following year, he played an important role in taking the Spartans all the way to the NCAA Finals. There they faced off against the Indiana State Sycamores. In one of the most famous match-ups in college basketball history, Johnson went head-to-head with Indiana's star forward, Larry Bird. The Spartans proved victorious, and the Johnson-Bird rivalry would follow the players to their days with the NBA. Leaving college after two years, Johnson was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1979. He did well in his first season (1979-80) with the team, averaging 18 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 7.3 assists per game. Johnson won the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player award for his efforts in leading the Lakers to a victory over the Philadelphia 76ers, winning four of six games in the championship series. The team also included such strong players as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jamaal Wilkes and Norm Nixon.NBA StarDuring Magic Johnson's third season (1981-82) with the team, the Lakers made the NBA Finals again. For the second time in his pro career, the Lakers defeated the Philadelphia 76ers for the championship title. Additionally, Johnson, who scored 13 points, and made 13 rebounds and 13 assists in Game 6 of the 1982 Finals, earned his second series MVP award. The following season (1982-83) saw the third Finals match-up between the Lakers and the 76ers in four years. This time, however, L.A. was defeated by Philadelphia, losing four consecutive games to the 76ers and winning none during the series.In the 1984 NBA Finals, Johnson again encountered rival Larry Bird, who had signed with the Boston Celtics. This was the first of several match-ups between the two teams. The Celtics beat the Lakers in a tight competition—four games to three—for the 1984 championship. The Lakers, however, took down the Celtics the following year in the finals.Johnson and his team continued to be one of the NBA's top competitors throughout the rest of the 1980s. In the 1987 NBA Finals, they again defeated the Boston Celtics, and Johnson received the NBA Finals MVP Award for the third and final time in his career. This remarkable season marked Johnson's personal best in terms of average points per game, with an incredible 23.9. Additionally, in 1987, he received his first NBA MVP award for his performance on the court—an honor he would receive again in 1989 and 1990.

HIV Diagnosis 

In November 1991, Magic Johnson retired from the Lakers after revealing that he had HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. He believed he contracted the disease through unprotected sexual activity. The diagnosis was especially hard for Johnson. At the time he learned he had the disease, his wife Cookie was pregnant with their first child. Both his wife and son, Earvin III, turned out to not have HIV.At the time, many people thought the virus mostly affected homosexuals or intravenous drug users. There was also a lot of fear and confusion regarding how the disease could be transmitted. Johnson's decision to go public with his medical condition helped raise awareness about the disease. He established the Magic Johnson Foundation to support HIV/AIDS research efforts and awareness programs that same year. In 1992, he wrote the educational guide What You Can Do to Avoid AIDS.Undeterred, Johnson played in the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. Along with Michael Jordan and Larry Bird, he was part of the American "Dream Team" that won the gold medal. He hoped to return to professional basketball for the next season, but he dropped that plan amidst fear from other players who were concerned about playing with an HIV-positive competitor.

Retirement and Legacy

Magic Johnson explored other options after leaving basketball. In 1992, he had his latest book, My Life, published. Johnson had previously written two books about himself and the game, 1983's Magic and 1989's Magic's Touch. He also appeared on television as a sports commentator. During the 1993-1994 basketball season, Johnson tried his hand at coaching with the Lakers. He then bought a small share of the team.

In 1996, staging a brief comeback, Johnson returned for a few months to the Lakers as a player. He finally retired for good that same year, leaving behind an impressive legacy. Over his long career, Johnson scored 17,707 points and made 10,141 assists, 6,559 rebounds and 1,824 steals. He also became the all-time leader in NBA assists per game, with an average of 11.2—a title that he continues to hold today. Johnson was named one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history in 1996, and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002.

Just as he had dominated the courts, Johnson became a powerful force in business. He created Magic Johnson Enterprises, which has a variety of holdings. Much of his efforts have focused on developing urban areas, bringing Starbucks coffee franchises and movie theaters into underserved communities. In 2008, he shared his secrets for success with the book 32 Ways to be a Champion in Business.

Recently, Johnson reteamed with Larry Bird to write the 2009 book When the Game Was Ours, which explores their rivalry, their experiences on the court, and the sport they love. That same year, he was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.

In addition to son Earvin, Johnson and his wife, Cookie, have a daughter named Elisa, whom they adopted in 1995. He also has a son, Andre, from a previous relationship.

His estimated Net worth in 2017 is $600 million USD.

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FEATURED ENTREPRENEUR FOR SEPTEMBER 20, 2017

I'm looking forward to influencing others in a positive way. My message is you can do anything if you just put your mind to it. - Justin Bieber

Justin Bieber showed off his entrepreneurial side recently, becoming the lead investor in a new teen focused social network, according to Fortune.

The 19-year-old pop star led a $1.1 million seed round for the new social network called Shots Of Me, which is scheduled to launch later this week by the founders of RockLive games.

According to Fortune, this is the Biebs' first VC investment in a social network. The “Baby” singer is managed by businessman Scooter Braun, who has made major moves in tech including investments in Stamped and Spotify.

"We got to know Justin after he began playing our games and tweeting about it," RockLive CEO and co-founder John Shahidi told Fortune. "He's been very involved in our products, helping us test things and providing feedback… When we told him that we were looking to create a social network for teens that really addresses what they aren't getting on other networks, and which tries to deal with things like cyber-bullying, his eyes just lit up."

The network’s other investors reportedly include venture capitalist Shervin Pishevar, boxer Floyd Mayweather and angel investor Tom McInerney.

Bieber joins the likes of Justin Timberlake and Ashton Kutcher who have also used their celebrity for investments in the tech space. Kutcher has invested in companies such as Skype, Foursquare, Airbnb and Warby Parker, among others. Timberlake has an ownership stake in the social network MySpace.

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Pitch Competition win $10,000 for your startup in Vancouver. Visit the following link for more details: www.bcpreneur.com/pitch-comp #bcpreneur #vancouverstartup #bcstartups #bcpsummit #ILoveMyTribe

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Are you a BC Entrepreneur or Small Business owner? If so, join us at the BCPRENEUR Summit at the brand new Parq Vancouver on May 19 & 20. Tickets available now at www.bcpreneur.com #bcpreneur #bcsmallbusiness #bcentrepreneur #vancouverentrepreneurs #entrepreneur #parqvancouver #bcpsummit #ILoveMyTribe

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Follow our new twitter account @BCPRENEUR

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FEATURED ENTREPRENEUR FOR SEPTEMBER 19th, 2017

“What consumerism really is, at its worst is getting people to buy things that don't actually improve their lives.” -  Jeff Bezos - Entrepreneur, Business Leader (1964–) Read more at: - https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/jeffbezos449981.html 

American entrepreneur Jeff Bezos is the founder and chief executive officer of Amazon.com and owner of 'The Washington Post.' His successful business ventures have made him one of the richest people in the world.

Who Is Jeff Bezos? 

Entrepreneur and e-commerce pioneer Jeff Bezos was born on January 12, 1964, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Bezos had an early love of computers and studied computer science and electrical engineering at Princeton University. After graduation he worked on Wall Street, and in 1990 he became the youngest senior vice president at the investment firm D.E. Shaw. Four years later, he quit his lucrative job to open Amazon.com, a virtual bookstore that became one of the internet's biggest success stories. In 2013, Bezos purchased The Washington Post in a $250 million deal. His successful business ventures have made him one of the richest people in the world. 

Early Life and Career

Jeff Bezos was born on January 12, 1964, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to a teenage mother, Jacklyn Gise Jorgensen, and his biological father, Ted Jorgensen. The Jorgensens were married less than a year, and when Bezos was 4 years old his mother re-married, to Cuban immigrant Mike Bezos.

As a child, Jeff Bezos showed an early interest in how things work, turning his parents' garage into a laboratory and rigging electrical contraptions around his house. He moved to Miami with his family as a teenager, where he developed a love for computers and graduated valedictorian of his high school. It was during high school that he started his first business, the Dream Institute, an educational summer camp for fourth, fifth and sixth graders.

Bezos pursued his interest in computers at Princeton University, where he graduated summa cum laude in 1986 with a degree in computer science and electrical engineering. After graduation, he found work at several firms on Wall Street, including Fitel, Bankers Trust and the investment firm D.E. Shaw. It was there he met his wife, Mackenzie, and became the company's youngest vice president in 1990.

While his career in finance was extremely lucrative, Bezos chose to make a risky move into the nascent world of e-commerce. He quit his job in 1994, moved to Seattle and targeted the untapped potential of the internet market by opening an online bookstore.

Launching Amazon.com

Bezos set up the office for his fledgling company in his garage where, along with a few employees, he began developing software. They expanded operations into a two-bedroom house, equipped with three Sun Microstations, and eventually developed a test site. After inviting 300 friends to beta test the site, Bezos opened Amazon.com, named after the meandering South American River, on July 16, 1995.

The initial success of the company was meteoric. With no press promotion, Amazon.com sold books across the United States and in 45 foreign countries within 30 days. In two months, sales reached $20,000 a week, growing faster than Bezos and his start-up team had envisioned.

Amazon.com went public in 1997, leading many market analysts to question whether the company could hold its own when traditional retailers launched their own e-commerce sites. Two years later, the start-up not only kept up, but also outpaced competitors, becoming an e-commerce leader.

Bezos continued to diversify Amazon’s offerings with the sale of CDs and videos in 1998, and later clothes, electronics, toys and more through major retail partnerships. While many dot.coms of the early '90s went bust, Amazon flourished with yearly sales that jumped from $510,000 in 1995 to over $17 billion in 2011.

In 2006, Amazon.com launched its video on demand service; initially known as Amazon Unbox on TiVo, it was eventually rebranded as Amazon Instant Video. In 2007, the company released the Kindle, a handheld digital book reader that allowed users to buy, download, read and store their book selections. That same year, Bezos announced his investment in Blue Origin, a Seattle-based aerospace company that develops technologies to offer space travel to paying customers.

Bezos entered Amazon into the tablet marketplace with the unveiling of the Kindle Fire in 2011. The following September, he announced the new Kindle Fire HD, the company's next generation tablet designed to give Apple's iPad a run for its money. "We haven't built the best tablet at a certain price. We have built the best tablet at any price," Bezos said, according to ABC News.

Buying 'The Washington Post'

Bezos made headlines worldwide on August 5, 2013, when he purchased The Washington Post and other publications affiliated with its parent company, The Washington Post Co., for $250 million. The deal marked the end of the four-generation reign over The Post Co. by the Graham family, which included Donald E. Graham, the company's chairman and chief executive, and his niece, Post publisher Katharine Weymouth.

"The Post could have survived under the company's ownership and been profitable for the foreseeable future," Graham stated, in an effort to explain the transaction. "But we wanted to do more than survive. I'm not saying this guarantees success, but it gives us a much greater chance of success."

In a statement to Post employees on August 5, Bezos wrote: "The values of The Post do not need changing. ...There will, of course, be change at The Post over the coming years. That's essential and would have happened with or without new ownership. The internet is transforming almost every element of the news business: shortening news cycles, eroding long-reliable revenue sources, and enabling new kinds of competition, some of which bear little or no news-gathering costs. There is no map, and charting a path ahead will not be easy. We will need to invent, which means we will need to experiment. Our touchstone will be readers, understanding what they care about—government, local leaders, restaurant openings, scout troops, businesses, charities, governors, sports—and working backwards from there. I'm excited and optimistic about the opportunity for invention."

Amazon Prime & Amazon Studios

In early December 2013, Bezos made headlines when he revealed a new, experimental initiative by Amazon, called "Amazon Prime Air," using drones—remote-controlled machines that can perform an array of human tasks—to provide delivery services to customers. According to Bezos, these drones are able to carry items weighing up to five pounds, and are capable of traveling within a 10-mile distance of the company's distribution center. He also stated that Prime Air could become a reality within as little as four or five years.

Bezos oversaw one of Amazon's few major missteps when the company launched the Fire Phone in 2014; criticized for being too gimmicky, it was discontinued the following year. However, Bezos did score a victory with the development of original content through Amazon Studios. After premiering several new programs in 2013, Amazon hit it big in 2014 with the critically acclaimed Transparent and Mozart in the Jungle. In 2015, the company produced and released Spike Lee's Chi-Raq as its first original feature film.

In 2016, Bezos stepped in front of the camera for a cameo appearance playing an alien in Star Trek Beyond. A Star Trek fan since childhood, Bezos is listed as a Starfleet Official in the movie credits on IMDb.

In July 2017, Bezos briefly surpassed Microsoft founder Bill Gates to become the richest person in the world, according to Bloomberg. Gates, who was the richest person in the world since 2013, made $90.7 billion, shy of Bezos' worth of $90.9 billion, which rose with a surge in Amazon.com Inc. shares. However, by the close of the market, Gates' net worth climbed to $90 billion while Bezos' had a net worth of over $89 billion.

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FINDING MY VIRGINITY - Book launch

The global launch event is at The Troxy London on October 12. Tickets for the event are on sale now, including a copy of Finding My Virginity!

Head over to The Troxy website to buy tickets and find out more information. If you can’t make it in person, mark 8pm GMT in your diary to join for a livestream of the Finding My Virginity global launch event.

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FEATURED ENTREPRENEUR FOR SEPTEMBER 18, 2018

On risk: “Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.” - Elon Musk - Explorer, Inventor, Engineer(1971–)

South African entrepreneur Elon Musk is known for founding Tesla Motors and SpaceX, which launched a landmark commercial spacecraft in 2012.

Synopsis

Born in South Africa in 1971, Elon Musk became a multimillionaire in his late 20s when he sold his start-up company, Zip2, to a division of Compaq Computers. He achieved more success by founding X.com in 1999, SpaceX in 2002 and Tesla Motors in 2003. Musk made headlines in May 2012, when SpaceX launched a rocket that would send the first commercial vehicle to the International Space Station. He bolstered his portfolio with the purchase of SolarCity in 2016, and cemented his standing as a leader of industry by taking on an advisory role in the early days of President Donald Trump's administration.

Early Life

Son of a Canadian mother and a South African father, Elon Reeve Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa. He spent his early childhood with his brother Kimbal and sister Tosca in South Africa, and at 10, the introverted Elon developed an interest in computers. During this time, his parents divorced. He taught himself how to program, and when he was 12 he made his first software sale—of a game he created called Blastar. At age 17, in 1989, he moved to Canada to attend Queen’s University and avoid mandatory service in the South African military, but he left in 1992 to study business and physics at the University of Pennsylvania. He graduated with an undergraduate degree in economics and stayed for a second bachelor’s degree in physics.

After leaving Penn, Elon Musk headed to Stanford University in California to pursue a Ph.D in energy physics. However, his move was timed perfectly with the Internet boom, and he dropped out of Stanford after just two days to become a part of it, launching his first company, Zip2 Corporation.

An online city guide, Zip2 was soon providing content for the new websites of both The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune, and in 1999, a division of Compaq Computer Corporation bought Zip2 for $307 million in cash and $34 million in stock options.

An Earnest Entrepreneur

Also in 1999, Musk co-founded X.com, an online financial services/payments company. An X.com acquisition the following year led to the creation of PayPal as it is known today, and in October 2002, PayPal was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in stock. Before the sale, Musk owned 11 percent of PayPal stock.

Never one to rest on his laurels, Musk founded his third company, Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or SpaceX, in 2002 with the intention of building spacecraft for commercial space travel. By 2008, SpaceX was well established, and NASA awarded the company the contract to handle cargo transport for the International Space Station—with plans for astronaut transport in the future—in a move to replace NASA’s own space shuttle missions.

The boundless potential of space exploration and the preservation of the future of the human race have become the cornerstones of Musk's abiding interests, and toward these he has founded the Musk Foundation, which is dedicated to space exploration and the discovery of renewable and clean energy sources.

Tesla Motors

Another Musk venture is Tesla Motors, a company dedicated to producing affordable, mass-market electric cars. Five years after its formation, the company in 2008 unveiled the Roadster, a sports car capable of accelerating from 0 to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds, as well traveling nearly 250 miles between charges of its lithum ion battery. With a stake in the company taken by Daimler and a strategic partnership with Toyota, Tesla Motors launched its initial public offering in June 2010, raising $226 million.

Additional successes include the Model S, the company's first electric sedan. Capable of covering 265 miles between charges, the Model S was honored as the 2013 Car of the Year by Motor Trend magazine.

In April 2017, it was announced that Tesla had surpassed General Motors to become the most valuable U.S. car maker. The news was an obvious boon to Tesla, which was looking to ramp up production and release its Model 3 sedan later that year.  

Preparing for Lift-Off

On May 22, 2012, Musk and SpaceX made history when the company launched its Falcon 9 rocket into space with an unmanned capsule. The vehicle was sent to the International Space Station with 1,000 pounds of supplies for the astronauts stationed there, marking the first time a private company had sent a spacecraft to the International Space Station. Of the launch, Musk was quoted as saying, "I feel very lucky. ... For us, it's like winning the Super Bowl."

In December 2013, SpaceX notched another milestone when Falcon 9 carried a satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit, a distance at which the satellite would lock into an orbital path that matched the Earth's rotation. In February 2015, SpaceX launched another Falcon 9 fitted with the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite, aiming to observe the extreme emissions from the sun that affect power grids and communications systems on Earth.

In March 2017, SpaceX enjoyed another breakthrough with the successful test flight and landing of a Falcon 9 rocket made from reusable parts, a development that opened the door for more affordable space travel.

Other Innovations

Musk has continued his work in attempting to make his innovative ideas a reality. In August 2013, he released a concept for a new form of transportation called the "Hyperloop," an invention that would foster commuting between major cities while severely cutting travel time. Ideally resistant to weather and powered by renewable energy, the Hyperloop would propel riders in pods through a network of low-pressure tubes at speeds reaching more than 700 mph. Musk noted that the Hyperloop could take from seven to 10 years to be built and ready for use.

Although he introduced the Hyperloop with claims that it would be safer than a plane or train, with an estimated cost of $6 billion—approximately one-tenth of the cost for the rail system planned by the state of California—Musk's concept has drawn skepticism. Nevertheless, the entrepreneur has sought to encourage the development of this idea. After he announced a competition for teams to submit their designs for a Hyperloop pod prototype, the first Hyperloop Pod Competition was held at the SpaceX facility in January 2017.

The entrepreneur has also pursued an interest in Artificial Intelligence. He became co-chair of the nonprofit research company OpenAI, which launched in late 2015 with the stated mission of advancing digital intelligence to benefit humanity. Additionally, in 2017 it was revealed that Musk was backing a venture called Neuralink, which intends to create devices to be implanted in the human brain and help people merge with software.

In yet another innovation, Musk in January 2017 suddenly decided he was going find a way to reduce traffic by devoting resources to boring and building tunnels. He launched his venture, reportedly named "The Boring Company," with a test dig on the SpaceX property in Los Angeles.

SolarCity Acquisition

In August 2016, in Musk’s continuing effort to promote and advance sustainable energy and products for a wider consumer base, a $2.6 billion dollar deal was solidified to combine his electric car and solar energy companies. His Tesla Motors Inc. announced an all-stock deal purchase of SolarCity Corp., a company Musk had helped his cousins start in 2006. He is a majority shareholder in each entity. “Solar and storage are at their best when they're combined. As one company, Tesla (storage) and SolarCity (solar) can create fully integrated residential, commercial and grid-scale products that improve the way that energy is generated, stored and consumed,” read a statement on Tesla’s website about the deal.

Trump Adviser

With Donald Trump announcing plans to pursue massive infrastructure developments after his successful election to the U.S. presidency in 2016, Musk found himself on common ground with the new president and his advisers. That December, he was named to President Trump’s Strategy and Policy Forum, and the following January he joined Trump's Manufacturing Jobs Initiative.

While sometimes at odds with the president's controversial measures, such as a proposed ban on immigrants from Muslim-majority countries, Musk defended his involvement with the new administration. "My goals," he tweeted in early 2017, "are to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy and to help make humanity a multi-planet civilization, a consequence of which will be the creating of hundreds of thousands of jobs and a more inspiring future for all."

Personal Life

Musk, who became a U.S. citizen in 2002, has been married twice and has five sons. He married Justine Wilson in 2000. In 2002, their first son died at 10 weeks old from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). They would have five additional sons together, twins and triplets.

After their contentious divorce, Musk met actress Talulah Riley and they married in 2010. The couple split in 2012 but married each other again in 2013. Their relationship ultimately ended in divorce in 2016.