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Baptiste

Nov 28, 2024 • 14 tweets • 4 min read • Read on X

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After losing his $180 Million PayPal fortune...

Elon was 3 weeks from bankruptcy.

Tesla was losing $10 Million/month. Everyone thought he was finished.

Then, he bet his last $6 Million on his cousin's dying startup.

Here's how a family meeting saved him: 🧵

2008: Everything was falling apart.

SpaceX couldn't get a rocket to orbit.
Three failed launches had drained millions.

Tesla was bleeding $10M every month trying to deliver the Roadster.

And Elon? He was living off personal loans just to pay rent...

The PayPal fortune was gone.

From $180M to nearly zero in just a few years.

Most billionaires would've cut their losses. Declared bankruptcy. Started over.

But Elon was about to make a decision that seemed completely insane:

With just weeks of cash left...

He called a family meeting.

What happened next would either destroy his last chance at survival...

Or change the future of energy forever.

His cousins Lyndon and Peter had a radical idea:

Make solar power accessible to everyone, not just the wealthy.

When they started in 2006, this seemed impossible. Solar panels cost a fortune. Oil was king.

But they had cracked a revolutionary model:

Instead of selling expensive panels, they'd lease them to homeowners.

No massive upfront costs. No maintenance nightmares.

Just clean energy at prices anyone could afford.

The catch? They needed $6M to launch...

Elon had a choice:

Save his last millions for Tesla and SpaceX...

Or bet everything on a third company in an industry investors called "dead on arrival."

He wrote the check. And became chairman.

By 2012, that "doomed" bet became SolarCity – America's largest solar provider.

They went public at $1.6 Billion

The same company investors mocked was now powering more homes than any competitor in the country.

2016: The master plan revealed itself.

Tesla acquired SolarCity for $2.6 Billion.

Critics screamed "bailout!" Shareholders sued.

But they missed what Elon saw in that family meeting years ago:

He wasn't just saving a solar company...

He was building the world's first complete sustainable energy ecosystem:

• Cars powered by electricity
• Homes powered by sun
• Batteries storing clean energy

All working as one.

The courts eventually cleared him.

That desperate family meeting didn't just save his fortune.

It laid the foundation for a world beyond fossil fuels.

Today, that "crazy" solar bet is powering millions of homes.

What started as a last-ditch family meeting became an energy revolution.

The future belongs to those bold enough to bet everything on it.

Even when they're weeks away from losing it all...

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https://twitter.com/2880807161/status/1862186280270139547

I am Baptiste Parravicini:

• Tech entrepreneur & API visionary
• Co-founder of apidays, world's leading API conference
• Passionate about AI integration & tech for the greater good

Follow for insights on how APIs are connecting our future

Repost for your network 🔄:

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