The Outsider 86
the journey they talked about founding an online medical
database.^320 Kimbal, who had studied at the Queen’s Uni-
versity in Canada, and now joined an Internet hardware
firm as a market analyst and sales manager, decided to join
his brother.^262 They had both finished school the same year.
Elon is one year older but had decided to remain one more
year to get a second degree. Also a friend of Elon’s mother,
Greg Kouri, was convinced to join Zip2. Kouri worked as a
real estate developer in US and Canada.^18 Both Kimbal and
Kouri joined Elon in the fall of 1995.
Elon didn’t have any experience from the Internet
industry or how to build a company. But since the genius
boy is a fast learner, he could learn everything he needed
to know along the way. No mentors were available, so he
gained most knowledge on how to build a company by
reading books and through learn by doing.^324 “I think you
could learn whatever you need to do to start a successful
business,” Elon said. “There are examples of successful
entrepreneurs who never graduated from high schools,
and there are those with PhDs. So I think the important
principle is to be dedicated to learning what you need to
know.”^364 But he added that a degree would speed up the
learning process.
Not knowing anything was in retrospect an advantage.
“I’ve found that being an outsider helps you to think
creatively about improving the way things are done,” Elon
said. “When people have been doing things the same way
for years, they stop questioning their methods even if they
defy common sense.”^263