One of the most interesting people on this planet is Elon Reeve Musk. Some of the few hats he wears are engineer, inventor, investor, and visionary. He went from creating a software company, to designing forward-thinking electric vehicles, to the idea of ​​colonizing Mars with his SpaceX. This planet literally cannot hold him. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay Musk was born on June 28, 1971 to Maye Haldeman and Errol Musk in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa. Musk started very young by teaching himself computer programming at the age of 10. Within two years he was already selling the code for a BASIC-based video game he had created. BASIC stands for Beginner's All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code, it was a very early form of high-level programming language popularized by its ease of use and the explosion of personal computers in the mid-1980s. He moved to Canada just before his 18th birthday. and secured citizenship through his Canadian-born mother. At twenty-four he earned a Bachelor of Science in physics from Penn's College of Arts and Sciences and a Bachelor of Science in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. While studying for his PhD at Stanford University, he left two days of the program to follow his dreams of space travel and entrepreneurship. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Musk's first business was starting a web software company called Zip2 with his younger brother Kimbal with an initial investment of $28,000 from his father Errol. Zip2 helped develop, host, and maintain consumer-specific websites for media companies. Zip2 will eventually power nearly 200 sites, including its flagship deal with the New York Times' local directory site, New York Today. The company started with “negative money,” Musk says because of his huge student debts. At first, Musk couldn't afford a place to stay and an office for the company, so he rented an office, slept on a futon, and showered at a local YMCA. Compaq acquired Zip2 for $307 million in cash and $34 million in stock options in 1999. Musk received 7% or $22 million from the acquisition. All that money would have been enough for most people, but Elon felt something was missing. He was happy with his success and new found wealth, but it was enough. Elon wasn't content to subtly alter the newspaper industry, he wanted to make his mark on the world.