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Elon Musk

06/20/25

@ Y Combinator

In 1995, I faced a choice between pursuing a PhD in material science or doing something with the internet. I decided to defer my studies to try building something useful on the internet, which ended up being reasonably successful and sold for about $300 million.

Video

Elon Musk: Digital Superintelligence, Multiplanetary Life, How to Be Useful

@ Y Combinator

Elon Musk: Digital Superintelligence, Multiplanetary Life, How to Be Useful

06/20/25

Related Takeaways

Elon Musk

01/10/17

@ Y Combinator

I decided to start an internet company in 1995 instead of pursuing a PhD at Stanford because I wanted to be part of the technological advancements happening at that time.

Ron Conway

10/15/14

@ Y Combinator

Investing in the internet was a strategic choice in 1994, as it was a growing field with significant potential, and that focus has continued to guide investments.

Andrew Mason

10/15/14

@ Y Combinator

I received a million dollars to drop out of grad school and work on 'The Point', despite having no prior experience in starting a tech company.

Gaurav Misra

05/02/25

@ EO

I dropped out of my PhD program in machine learning to join a startup, which was a high-risk decision that ultimately paid off.

Reid Hoffman

10/15/14

@ Y Combinator

After selling PayPal to eBay in October 2002, I recognized that the consumer internet was just beginning, contrary to the belief that it was over, and I decided to pursue the LinkedIn idea.

Ben Silbermann

11/09/16

@ Y Combinator

After graduating, I took a job at a consulting firm in Washington, D.C., while working on small internet projects with friends on the side.

Ben Silbermann

11/09/16

@ Y Combinator

I eventually moved to California to work at Google, where I was in online sales and operations, while continuing to explore side projects.

Werner Vogels

11/12/18

@ Y Combinator

I was an academic before I joined Amazon, working as a research scientist at Cornell for 10 years, focusing on large-scale distributed systems and doing startups on the side.

Diane Greene

08/09/17

@ Y Combinator

I co-founded and was the CEO of three startups, starting with V-Extreme in 1995, where we developed low bandwidth streaming video technology that was sold to Microsoft for $75 million in 1997.