Where does Elon Musk work?

Elon Musk is Founder at Neuralink and Co-founder & former Co-chair / board member at OpenAI and Founder, CEO & Chief Engineer at SpaceX.

What companies did Elon Musk found?

Elon Musk founded OpenAI, SpaceX, Neuralink, Tesla, The Boring Company, xAI.

Elon Musk

Investor2× unicorn founder

Founder at Neuralink · Co-founder & former Co-chair / board member at OpenAI · Founder, CEO & Chief Engineer at SpaceX

Austin, TX

FoundedOpenAI$852B SpaceX$800B Neuralink Tesla The Boring Company xAI

Photo, via Wikimedia Commons ↗

About

Elon Musk has founded or led five of the defining companies of the modern era — Zip2, PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla, and xAI — and now runs SpaceX as, at roughly $1.25 trillion after absorbing xAI in February 2026, the world's most valuable private company. Born in Pretoria, he emigrated to Canada at 17, took physics and economics degrees at UPenn, and dropped out of Stanford's PhD program after two days to start Zip2 (sold for $307M). He co-founded X.com, which became PayPal (sold to eBay for $1.5B), founded SpaceX in 2002, led Tesla's Series A in 2004 and became its CEO in 2008, co-founded OpenAI in 2015 and Neuralink in 2016, bought Twitter for $44B in 2022, and founded xAI in 2023 — folding X into it in 2025 and both into SpaceX ahead of a planned IPO.

Beyond investing

Founded: Musk co-founded Zip2, a web software company, in 1995. Musk co-founded X.com, an e-commerce payment system that merged with Confinity to form PayPal. Musk founded SpaceX in 2002. Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015. Musk established xAI, which became a subsidiary of SpaceX in 2026. Musk co-founded Neuralink in 2016. Musk founded the Boring Company in 2017. Founded Zip2 with his brother Kimbal in 1995; Compaq bought the city-guide platform for $307M in 1999.
Education: Studied at University of Pennsylvania (BA, 1997) Studied at Smith School of Business Studied at The Wharton School Studied at Pretoria Boys High School Studied at Waterkloof House Preparatory School Studied at Queen's University Studied at Stanford University
Boards: Chairman of SolarCity, his cousins' solar company, from 2006 until Tesla acquired it in 2016. Co-founded OpenAI as a nonprofit in 2015, left its board in February 2018 citing Tesla's AI conflict, and later sued it over its for-profit shift.
Communities: Core member of the 'PayPal mafia' alongside Peter Thiel and Max Levchin — the alumni network that seeded LinkedIn, YouTube, and Palantir.
Awards: Musk is a Fellow of the Royal Society. Musk received the Gold Medal of the Royal Aeronautical Society. Musk was named Time Person of the Year. Musk was included in the Time 100. Musk received the John Fritz Medal. Musk received the NSS Wernher Von Braun Memorial Award. Musk received the Great Immigrants Award. Musk received the Axel Springer Award. Musk received the Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication. Musk received an Edison Award. Musk received the Heinlein Prize for Advances in Space Commercialization. Musk was named to Living Legends of Aviation. Musk received the Order of Defence Merit. Musk is a Member of the National Academy of Engineering. Musk received an honorary doctorate from Yale University. Musk received the Rusty Razor Award.
Hobbies: Musk was an enthusiastic reader who credited part of his success to reading The Lord of the Rings, the Foundation series, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Family: Musk was born into the Musk family in Pretoria, South Africa, and has a younger brother Kimbal and younger sister Tosca. Musk has 14 children, including Vivian Wilson. Born June 28, 1971 in Pretoria, South Africa; emigrated to Canada at 17 through his Canadian-born mother, Maye Musk.
More: At age twelve in 1983, Musk sold his BASIC-based game Blastar to a magazine for approximately $500. Early investor in DeepMind (2010) — he said the goal was to 'keep an eye on' AI rather than returns; Google's 2014 acquisition returned ~$92M.

Mentioned above: the OpenAI mafia →

From Elon's own website — common ground for a warm intro.

Founder at Neuralink

Intro paths

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In turn, Elon can intro founders to Neuralink's investors below.

Neuralink's investors · 25

Advaita CapitalBoston Aurum Venture PartnersPleasanton Beyond CapitalSan Diego Dreamers VCEl Segundo · $500K – $5M checks Founders FundSan Francisco · $500K – $5M checks Gestio CapitalLondon GigafundAustin · $1M – $5M checks Glade Brook Capital PartnersGreenwich GV (Google Ventures)Mountain View · $250K – $50M checks HOF CapitalNew York · $25K – $15M checks Human CapitalSan Francisco · $250K – $200M checks Integra GroupeMenlo Park · $100K – $200K checks Khosla VenturesMenlo Park · $5K – $50M checks Lightspeed Venture PartnersMenlo Park · $1.7M – $87M checks Moonshots CapitalAustin · $5K – $2.5M checks Page One VenturesSilicon Valley Partners ResoluteChicago S32Palo Alto Section 32Palo Alto Sequoia CapitalMenlo Park · $4.4M – $214M checks Time BioVenturesSouthern California Trousdale VenturesWest Hollywood · $1M – $5M checks Type One VenturesLos Angeles · $100K – $5M checks Vantage Legacy CapitalHoboken VU Venture PartnersSan Francisco · $200K – $1M checks

Co-founder & former Co-chair / board member at OpenAI

Intro paths

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In turn, Elon can intro founders to OpenAI's investors below.

OpenAI's investors · 61

A.Capital VenturesSan Francisco A'Z AngelsLos Gatos Advent InternationalBoston · $1.1B checks Alpha Wave GlobalMiami Altimeter CapitalMenlo Park · $1M – $25M checks · since 2026 Andreessen HorowitzMenlo Park · $500K – $50M checks AntiSan Juan · $250K – $30M checks BedrockLos Angeles · $5M – $30M checks boldstart venturesMiami · $1M – $3M checks Coatue ManagementNew York · $1M – $20M checks Cosmic Venture PartnersAustin · $100K – $5M checks Dragoneer Investment GroupSan Francisco · $100K – $5M checks · since 2025 Eastlink Capital PartnersMenlo Park · $100K – $5M checks Emerson Collective InvestingPalo Alto · $100K – $1M checks Everybody Ventures$100K checks Felicis VenturesSan Francisco · $500K – $15M checks Firestreak Ventures Founders FundSan Francisco · $500K – $5M checks Frontier VenturesCupertino · $100K – $5M checks Galdana VenturesBarcelona Gestio CapitalLondon Glynn Capital ManagementMenlo Park Greylock PartnersSan Francisco · $100K – $200M checks HOF CapitalNew York · $25K – $15M checks ICONIQSan Francisco Ineffable VenturesStamford Kaleida CapitalSan Diego Khosla VenturesMenlo Park · $5K – $50M checks Lakeside CapitalTampa · $100K – $250K checks Madrona Venture GroupSeattle · $2M – $10M checks MastrySan Francisco Maverick VenturesSan Francisco · $3M – $10M checks Mech VenturesLas Vegas MGXAbu Dhabi · since 2025 Next Legacy PartnersPortola Valley NVIDIASanta Clara Ossian Capital Peter Thiel Riverbend CapitalWashington Rosecliff VenturesNew York City · $500K checks Sanctor CapitalNew York Sequoia CapitalMenlo Park · $4.4M – $214M checks SGH CapitalParis SoftBank GroupTokyo SoftBank Vision FundLondon Soma CapitalSacramento · $100K – $300K checks Sound VenturesSanta Monica SparkLabs KoreaPalo Alto SquareOne CapitalMiami Stack CapitalToronto Standard CapitalSan Francisco SV AngelSan Francisco T. Rowe PriceBaltimore · since 2025 Thrive CapitalNew York · $500K – $25M checks · since 2025 Touring CapitalSan Francisco Type One VenturesLos Angeles · $100K – $5M checks Valkyrie Ventures Management, LlcPark City VU Venture PartnersSan Francisco · $200K – $1M checks WAGMI Ventures WealthUnion$10K checks XYZ Venture CapitalSan Francisco · $10K – $5M checks

Co-founders at OpenAI

Sam AltmanCo-founder & CEO

Greg BrockmanCo-founder & President

Ilya SutskeverCo-founder & Chief Scientist

Wojciech ZarembaCo-founder

John SchulmanCo-founder (departed 2024)

Andrej KarpathyCo-founder

Trevor BlackwellCo-founder

Vicki CheungCo-founder

Founder, CEO & Chief Engineer at SpaceX

Intro paths

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In turn, Elon can intro founders to SpaceX's investors below.

SpaceX's investors · 117

1/1 CapitalMiami Beach 137 VenturesSan Francisco 4DX VenturesAccra · $50K – $500K checks 75 & SunnyLos Angeles · $100K – $5M checks A*San Francisco · $500K – $3M checks Abstract VenturesSan Francisco · $250K – $750K checks Access Technology Ventures ACME CapitalSan Francisco Adapt VenturesNew York · $250K – $350K checks Adit Ventures Management, LlcNew York Advaita CapitalBoston Alpha Wave GlobalMiami alphabet angels Altra VentureNew York City · $500K – $25M checks Andreessen HorowitzMenlo Park · $500K – $50M checks AntiSan Juan · $250K – $30M checks Arctic Digital Aser VenturesLondon B CapitalGeneva Baillie GiffordEdinburgh Baron CapitalNew York Beyond CapitalSan Diego Beyond Earth VenturesWilmington · $500K – $2M checks Black Mountain Investment GroupNew York City Bollinger Investment Group Boom Capital VenturesSan Francisco · $50K – $300K checks Buckhill CapitalSan Francisco Capital FactoryAustin Champion Hill Ventures$500K – $1M checks Chicago Early Growth Ventures (CEGV)Chicago Coatue ManagementNew York · $1M – $20M checks Cold Start VenturesNew York Collective LiquidityPlantation Cosmic Venture PartnersAustin · $100K – $5M checks Craft VenturesSan Francisco · $50K – $50M checks Crimson Investment FundDelaware Das & Co.New York DBL PartnersPalo Alto Draper AssociatesSan Mateo · $500K – $5M checks Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ)San Mateo Duke Capital PartnersDurham E2MC VenturesOrlando · $250K – $2M checks Factorial FundsSan Francisco Fidelity InvestmentsBoston Fifth Down CapitalDover Founders FundSan Francisco · $500K – $5M checks FoundersXSilicon Valley FoundersX VenturesSilicon Valley Fourth RealmMenlo Park FriedomMiami Beach Friends Family CapitalSilicon Valley Frontera Technology VenturesTexas FusionPalo Alto · $500K – $1M checks Galdana VenturesBarcelona Gestio CapitalLondon Glade Brook Capital PartnersGreenwich Green Meadow VenturesWest Hollywood · $500K – $3M checks Haymaker VenturesClaremont · $1M – $10M checks Helios CapitalMiami · $25K – $1M checks HOF CapitalNew York · $25K – $15M checks Human CapitalSan Francisco · $250K – $200M checks Hyperguap Industrious VenturesDenver Integra GroupeMenlo Park · $100K – $200K checks Interplay Ventures Early Stage Management LlcNew York · $1M checks J17 Capital JuniperoMiami K3 VenturesSingapore · $1.2M – $42M checks Kleiner PerkinsMenlo Park · $500K – $15M checks Knockout CapitalSan Francisco Kohli VenturesGrand Cayman Kube VC Kyber Knight CapitalSan Francisco Lakeside CapitalTampa · $100K – $250K checks Lauder PartnersLos Altos LaunchBay CapitalLondon Long Journey VenturesSan Francisco · $100K – $1M checks Loup VenturesMinneapolis Machina VenturesSan Francisco Manhattan WestLos Angeles Marin Digital Ventures MassiveBoulder · $1M – $3M checks Maven VenturesPalo Alto · $1M checks MetaplanetTallinn · $500K – $10M checks Moonshots CapitalAustin · $5K – $2.5M checks Night Owl Ventures Nucleus Adventure CapitalNew York Owl Capital Page One VenturesSilicon Valley Partners ResoluteChicago PIPELINE CAPITAL PARTNERSLas Vegas Public Investment FundRiyadh · since 2026 Reinvent CapitalNew York Republic Capital (ex Republic Labs)New York Riverbend CapitalWashington Rizvi Traverse ManagementWest Palm Beach · $25M – $1B checks Rosecliff VenturesNew York City · $500K checks Rothenberg VenturesPalo Alto · $500K – $10M checks Sequoia CapitalMenlo Park · $4.4M – $214M checks SpaceFundHouston Sprint VcBangalore · $300 checks Staged Ventures Starbridge Venture Capital LlcWashington Strategxy Ventures LLCBeverly Hills · $1M – $5M checks Summit Peak InvestmentsFort Worth Texas VenturesHouston Threshold VenturesPalo Alto · $500K – $20M checks Trousdale VenturesWest Hollywood · $1M – $5M checks UpVentures CapitalUpstate New York Valor Equity PartnersChicago Vanedge CapitalVancouver · $1M – $15M checks Veligera CapitalNew York VTF CapitalLas Vegas · $300K – $2M checks VU Venture PartnersSan Francisco · $200K – $1M checks WAGMI Ventures WealthUnion$10K checks WorldQuant VenturesOld Greenwich

Investments

Investor

Tesla

Per curated public sources.

Podcasts & interviews

featuring Elon Musk

Elon Musk: Neuralink and the Future of Humanity

Lex Fridman Podcast · lexfridman.com

Elon Musk: War, AI, Aliens, Politics, Physics, Video Games, and Humanity

Lex Fridman Podcast · lexfridman.com

Elon Musk: SpaceX, Mars, Tesla Autopilot, Self-Driving, Robotics, and AI

Lex Fridman Podcast · lexfridman.com

Network10

Peter ThielScout

Co-founder & Partner at Founders Fund

Michael MoritzScout

Former Partner at Sequoia Capital; Senior Adviser at Sequoia Heritage

Ron ConwayScout

Founder of SV Angel

Max LevchinScout

Co-founder of PayPal; founder & CEO of Affirm

Abhinav GuptaScout

Managing Partner at Thirdbase

Diana MoldavskyScout

Investor at Tencent Holdings

Luciana Lixandru

Partner at Sequoia Capital

Bill Coughran

Partner at Sequoia Capital

Bill Elkus

Managing Partner at Clearstone Venture Partners

Kevin Hartz

Co-Founder & General Partner at BA Capital

Investors connected to Elon in public investor directories — a warm-intro map.

Frequently asked questions

Where does Elon Musk work?: Elon Musk is Founder at Neuralink and Co-founder & former Co-chair / board member at OpenAI and Founder, CEO & Chief Engineer at SpaceX.
What companies did Elon Musk found?: Elon Musk founded OpenAI, SpaceX, Neuralink, Tesla, The Boring Company, xAI.