Startup Archive(@StartupArchive_):Elon Musk on how to choose what to work on “I don’t think everything needs to change the world. There’s lots of useful things that people do, and I think it should really be like a usefulness optimization.” For anyone trying to figure out what to work on, Elon suggests asking yourself, “Is what I’m doing as useful as it could be?” He continues: “Even if something isn’t changing the world but it’s making people’s lives better, I think that’s great.” Elon gives the example of an app that makes people’s lives only slightly better - the area under the curve of the usefulness optimization is quite good if it’s affecting a lot of people. Source: @Stanford (Dec 2015)

2026.09.20 15:50

Elon Musk on how to choose what to work on “I don’t think everything needs to change the world. There’s lots of useful things that people do, and I think it should really be like a usefulness optimization.” For anyone trying to figure out what to work on, Elon suggests asking yourself, “Is what I’m doing as useful as it could be?” He continues: “Even if something isn’t changing the world but it’s making people’s lives better, I think that’s great.” Elon gives the example of an app that makes people’s lives only slightly better - the area under the curve of the usefulness optimization is quite good if it’s affecting a lot of people. Source: @Stanford (Dec 2015)