1/ In 2004, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos met for a meal to discuss space.
It was one of their few in-person interactions.
The conversation they had perfectly captures the different approaches they've taken to space exploration.
Here's the story 🧵
2/ For Bezos, the path to the meeting began in 1999 when he and famed sci-fi author Neal Stephenson watched the film "October Sky" (about NASA engineer Homer Hickam)
After the viewing, the Amazon founder told Stephenson he always wanted to start a space company...
3/..and Stephenson said "why don't you start today?"
Stephenson -- author of classics such as "Snow Crash" -- was hire #1 and put together a team of thinkers and engineers.
Bezos dropped in on the team one Saturday a month, mostly to discuss alternatives to chemical rockets.
4/ Bezos' space company Blue Origins was officially incorporated in Sept 2000.
Elon Musk wouldn't launch SpaceX until Mar 2002. He bankrolled it with 2 big tech exits:
• selling Zip2 to Compaq for $300m in 1999
• netting $180m after eBay bought PayPal for $1.5B in July 2002
5/ From the start, SpaceX was much more publicly visible.
Musk's attempts to win NASA contracts (competing w/ Boeing and Lockheed Martin) included wild stunts.
In Dec 2003, he rolled a SpaceX rocket down Independence Ave in DC and gave a speech at the Air & Space Museum
6/ While SpaceX had yet to launch a rocket into space, it was testing engines in Texas and Bezos wanted to pick Musk's brains.
When they met in 2004, Musk was not impressed by Bezos' progress:
7/ Like really unimpressed ("dude, we tried that")
8/ Why did Bezos ignore Musk's advice?
His history at Amazon clearly shows 3 things:
• vast patience
• trailblazing its own path
• constant experimentation
If Bezos was wrong, he wanted to find out on his own...and didn't mind if that would take some time.
9/ The Bezos strategy is enshrined in Blue Origin's motto and its coat of arms.
The motto is "Gradatim Ferociter" (step by step, ferociously) while the coat of arms has a pair of turtles (AKA the tortoise vs. the hare) heading to the stars.
Slow and steady wins it for Bezos.
10/ Conversely, SpaceX's motto is "Head down. Plow through the line" Musk's aim of creating a multi-planet species (eg Mars) requires urgency.
(Bezos is more focussed on creating a space economy for millions of people)
SpaceX's first successful launch came 4yrs after they met.
11/ Over the years, Blue Origin has aggressively hired top SpaceX talent, often 2x-ing their salary:
"I think it’s unnecessary and a bit rude,” Musk says of the practice.
Blue Origin's New Shepard would finally touch the edge of space in Apr 2015, nearly 7 years after SpaceX.
12/ With Bezos retiring from Amazon and focussing more on Blue Origin, the battle b/t the world's 2 richest people (each worth $160B+) may just be starting.
While SpaceX has the clear lead, Bezos is likely banking on Aesop's tortoise and hare fable to win the race.
13/ If you enjoy business stories like this (or dumb memes) SMASH that follow: @TrungTPhan
Excerpts from the great book "The Space Barons" by Christian Davenport.
Check this story about Elon Musk starting SpaceX with a legendary cold call:
14/ PS. Here's a funny video debunking Bezos' claim that Blue Origin made the first re-usable rocket:
15/ If the space beef between Musk and Bezos wasn’t enough.
Amazon-backed EV startup Rivian (maker of trucks and SUVs) is eyeing a $50B IPO this year.
Here’s how it’s truck stacks up to Tesla’s Cybertruck.
16/ PS: Link to "Space Barons" amazon.com/Space-Barons-B…
And a story I wrote about founding SpaceX team member, Jim Cantrell: thehustle.co/jim-cantrell-r…
17/ PPS: Here was a dumb meme that got the @elonmusk seal of approval
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