How to Make a Spaceship by Julian Guthrie

Author:Julian Guthrie
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2016-08-25T10:22:19+00:00

19

Elon’s Inspiration

Peter’s part-time assistant, Angel Panlasigui, opened the door to Peter’s Santa Monica apartment late in the morning and saw what was becoming an increasingly familiar sight in early 2001: Peter still in his bathrobe, hair disheveled. The place was dark, the shades down. Peter had yet to emerge from the rubble of Blastoff.

Things hit a new low in early March, when Peter sat with a copy of Fortune magazine featuring Bill Gross on the cover. The title of the story by Joe Nocera was “Why Is He Still Smiling? Bill Gross Blew Through $800 Million in 8 Months (and he’s got nothing to show for it).” It was painful to read the piece, which made no mention of Blastoff. Peter also had nothing to show for his last ten months. Unlike Gross, Peter had put everything on the line.

Then, in May 2001, when Peter was whiling away another afternoon in his apartment, Angel said there was a call from Larry Gross.

“Peter,” Larry said, “I’ve got a fortieth birthday present for you.”

—

Peter arrived at the Skybar, a rooftop watering hole on Sunset Boulevard, a week after Larry Gross told him he knew who was going to fund the continuation of Blastoff. It was two men who had made a fortune on the Internet and who were interested in space. Peter had never heard of the men, so he wrote down their names: Adeo Ressi and Elon Musk.

Peter usually approached pitch meetings with great enthusiasm, but tonight he felt subdued. He spotted Adeo by the Skybar pool, smoking a cigarette and looking out at the gold and glimmering Los Angeles sunset. He was tall and thin, a Giacometti walking man figure, and immediately affable. Adeo said Elon was running late but on his way. Elon was working on getting his pilot’s license and was flying down from San Jose with his instructor. He had a new plane being built.

It was Sunday, June 3, 2001, and Adeo, Elon, and Peter were scheduled to have dinner at Asia de Cuba, adjacent to the Skybar in the Mondrian Hotel. Peter took in the beautiful women in filmy tops and short skirts, and felt overdressed in his suit and mock turtleneck. Adeo was in casual slacks and a shirt open at the collar. The music was pulsating, the lychee up martinis flowing, and the entire hotel was bathed in white, with minimalist accents of Hermès orange. Even the matches were stylish, with lime-green tips. Peter had taken notice of the white-clad valet team when he pulled up to the white-façade hotel. The valet attendants all clasped their hands in exactly the same way.

Peter joined Adeo for a drink near the pool. Adeo, who knew Larry Gross from a two-month stint as CEO of Idealab in New York, had just sold his Web development firm Methodfive and was working on turnarounds of lagging public companies. He said he and Elon had been housemates at the University of Pennsylvania. Elon was South African and had founded Zip2,

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