People work better when they know what the goal is and why. It is important that people look forward to coming to work in the morning and enjoy working.

Starting and growing a business is as much about the innovation, drive, and determination of the people behind it as the product they sell.

You have to say, ‘Well, why did it succeed where others did not?

It is a mistake to hire huge numbers of people to get a complicated job done. Numbers will never compensate for talent in getting the right answer (two people who don’t know something are no better than one), will tend to slow down progress, and will make the task incredibly expensive.

I always have optimism, but I’m realistic. It was not with the expectation of great success that I started Tesla or SpaceX… It’s just that I thought they were important enough to do anyway.

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.

I don’t create companies for the sake of creating companies, but to get things done.

Persistence is very important. You should not give up unless you are forced to give up.

When somebody has a breakthrough innovation, it is rarely one little thing. Very rarely, is it one little thing. It’s usually a whole bunch of things that collectively amount to a huge innovation.

It’s very important to like the people you work with, otherwise life [and] your job is gonna be quite miserable.

As much as possible, avoid hiring MBAs. MBA programs don’t teach people how to create companies.

People should pursue what they’re passionate about. That will make them happier than pretty much anything else.

Some people don’t like change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is disaster.

I don’t spend my time pontificating about high-concept things; I spend my time solving engineering and manufacturing problems.

“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 the best way to attract venture capital is to try and come up with a demonstration of whatever product or service it is and ideally take that as far as you can. Just see if you can sell that to real customers and start generating some momentum. The further along you can get with that, the more likely you are to get funding.

If you get up in the morning and think the future is going to be better, it is a bright day. Otherwise, it’s not.

If something has to be designed and invented, and you have to figure out how to ensure that the value of the thing you create is greater than the cost of the inputs, then that is probably my core skill.

I say something, and then it usually happens. Maybe not on schedule, but it usually happens.