Space Manufacturing Systems Engineer | Advancing aerospace manufacturing through automation, precision engineering, scalable systems, and flight-ready hardware.
Elon Musk and Larry Page used to be close friends.
Steve Jurvetson, a longtime venture investor in both Tesla and SpaceX, once shared a story about Larry Page that even Elon had never heard.
-Steve Jurvetson: I want to share a short story that leads to a question from a different angle. I do not think you have heard this before, but I find it fascinating.
I was having lunch at a Google event when, completely out of the blue, Larry Page turned to me. He knew a little about our connection. He wondered aloud how much money he had, mentioned a number, and then said, “If I were hit by a bus today, I should leave all of it to Elon Musk.”
-Elon Musk: Really?
-Steve Jurvetson: Yes.
-Elon Musk: He said that?
-Steve Jurvetson: Yes. I immediately thought, “Can we get some paper and a pen and put that in writing?”
-Elon Musk: I love that. He is a good friend of mine.
-Steve Jurvetson: The context is important.
-Elon Musk: I met Larry before he received venture funding, so I have known him since around 1997.
-Steve Jurvetson: Back in the Stanford days?
-Elon Musk: Yes.
-Steve Jurvetson: He is a remarkable guy, although obviously an underachiever. He also has a company that wants to do good in the world.
I think he looks at you with a little envy, because he went on to say, “I could give my money to a nonprofit, and far less would get done than if I gave it to a corporation pursuing goals directly aligned with the things I care about, such as moving away from oil and colonizing other planets.”
He believes in those missions. He thinks a corporation built around the right business purpose is the best vehicle for accomplishing them, and he wishes he could do more of that in his own life.