20 Elon Musk Quotes That Every Entrepreneur Should Know

Known for his work as the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk is incredibly inspiring to entrepreneurs across industries. On top of being a major success, Musk has multiplied his net worth ten times since 2020. 

Whether you’re in the tech realm, like Elon Musk, or starting a small business in a completely different industry, here are some Elon Musk quotes that every entrepreneur should know.

Seeing The Glass Half Full

“I’d rather be optimistic and wrong than pessimistic and right.” — Elon Musk 

The Best Piece Of Advice

“I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better. I think that’s the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself.” — Elon Musk

Creating A Company

“If you’re trying to create a company, it’s like baking a cake. You have to have all the ingredients in the right proportion.” — Elon Musk

Competition Breeds Innovation

“I really do encourage other manufacturers to bring electric cars to market. It’s a good thing, and they need to bring it to market and keep iterating and improving and make better and better electric cars, and that’s what’s going to result in humanity achieving a sustainable transport future. I wish it was growing faster than it is.” — Elon Musk

Embracing Change

“Some people don’t like change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is disaster.” — Elon Musk

Taking Technology For Granted

“If you go back a few hundred years, what we take for granted today, would seem like magic – being able to talk to people over long distances, to transmit images, flying, accessing vast amounts of data like an oracle. These are all things that would have been considered magic a few hundred years ago.” — Elon Musk

Find Your Inspiration 

“There have to be reasons that you get up in the morning, and you want to live. Why do you want to live? What’s the point? What inspires you? What do you love about the future? If the future does not include being out there among the stars and being a multi-planet species, I find that incredibly depressing.” — Elon Musk

What is Your Brand? 

“Brand is just a perception, and perception will match reality over time. Sometimes it will be ahead, other times it will be behind. But brand is simply a collective impression some have about a product.” — Elon Musk

Work With People You Like

“It’s very important to like the people you work with. Otherwise, your job is going to be quite miserable.” — Elon Musk

Make Your Product Better Than That of Your Competitors

“If you’re entering anything where there’s an existing marketplace, against large, entrenched competitors, then your product or service needs to be much better than theirs. It can’t be a little bit better, because then you put yourself in the shoes of the consumer … you’re always going to buy the trusted brand unless there’s a big difference.” — Elon Musk

The Path Of The CEO

“The path to the CEO’s office should not be through the CFO’s office, and it should not be through the marketing department. It needs to be through engineering and design.” — Elon Musk

Process is Not the Same as Thinking

“The problem is that at a lot of big companies, process becomes a substitute for thinking. You’re encouraged to behave like a little gear in a complex machine. Frankly, it allows you to keep people who aren’t that smart, who aren’t that creative.” — Elon Musk

People Will Pay a Premium

“I do think there is a lot of potential if you have a compelling product and people are willing to pay a premium for that. I think that is what Apple has shown. You can buy a much cheaper cell phone or laptop, but Apple’s product is so much better than the alternative, and people are willing to pay that premium.” — Elon Musk

Possibility Before Probability

“The first step is to establish that something is possible; then probability will occur.” — Elon Musk

Be Interested in Changing the World

“I’m interested in things that change the world or that affect the future and wondrous, new technology where you see it, and you’re like, ‘Wow, how did that even happen? How is that possible?'” — Elon Musk

Always Find the Innovation

“When Henry Ford made cheap, reliable cars, people said, ‘Nah, what’s wrong with a horse?’ That was a huge bet he made, and it worked.” — Elon Musk

Control And Protect Your Future

“It’s okay to have your eggs in one basket as long as you control what happens to that basket.” — Elon Musk

Always Be Persistent In Your Endeavors 

“Persistence is very important. You should not give up unless you are forced to give up.” — Elon Musk

Be Extraordinary Whenever Possible

“I think it is possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary.” — Elon Musk

Innovation, Drive, And Determination

“Starting and growing a business is as much about the innovation, drive, and determination of the people who do it as it is about the product they sell.” — Elon Musk

Inspirational Elon Musk Quotes For Entrepreneurs

If these Elon Musk quotes tell us anything, becoming a successful entrepreneur is possible, and persistence is vital. Could Musk become the next trillionaire, or even a quadrillionaire, in his lifetime?  

If you’re an entrepreneur, check out our latest post on large numbers and set your sights beyond “millionaire” as you grow your business and net worth to astrological numbers, just like tech superstar Elon Musk.

NERD NOTE: Did you know that with a net worth of $264.6 billion, Elon Musk is the richest person in the world? The billionaire even bought Twitter in April 2022, using only one-sixth of his net worth on the purchase.