End of the Beginning
The French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte met with his
advisers who recommended him a new general to lead a
new military campaign. The advisers told Napoleon that
the prospective general was good with the men, he was
smart, and he had excellent tactics. Napoleon looked at
his advisers and asked “Yes, but is he lucky?” For en-
trepreneurs, luck is important, but so is good tactics, and
you need to be good with the men and women in the
organization.
Elon answered the question if you create a successful
company it’s more about the external environment than
any skill the entrepreneur has. “I’m just very lucky,” Elon
replied. “Definitely luck plays a role in anything. I do think
you’ve got to have perseverance. You’ve got to stick it out,
and the team that you’re working with does, too. That
allows you to get through a series of issues. It took us
four flights to get to orbit at SpaceX. That was kind of
grueling.”^57
Because all rocket launches after the first three flights
have been successful, it looks like SpaceX might have
passed the first stage where a new company has to fight
for its survival. SolarCity had some minor troubles in the
beginning, but has been fine since then. “Solar City is doing
super well,” Elon said. “They’re growing at 50 percent to
100 percent a year with positive cash flow, which is pretty