SpaceX’s IPO on Friday officially made it one of the most valuable companies in the world with a $2 trillion market cap—but getting to this point was no easy feat.
Just over two decades ago, SpaceX was a fledgling startup sparked by an idea Elon Musk had after talking with his old college roommate.
Speaking to employees in Texas on Friday just before he rang the opening bell to signal SpaceX’s first day of trading, the CEO admitted he thought the company would fail.
“I gave SpaceX less than a 10% chance of succeeding at all,” Musk said.
In fact, SpaceX endured multiple rocket explosions and brushes with bankruptcy along the way. Here’s the story, according to Musk’s official biography, by Walter Isaacson.
