{"url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbuTBlHY900", "page_url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbuTBlHY900", "title": "Elon Musk, Enda Kenny, Shervin Pishevar & Mark Little - Web Summit 2013", "show_or_channel": "Web Summit", "date": "2013-10-31", "duration_s": 2471, "type": "panel", "speakers": ["Elon Musk", "Enda Kenny", "Shervin Pishevar", "Mark Little"], "confidence": "high", "notes": "Web Summit Dublin 2013; Musk interviewed alongside Irish PM; Mars/future topics. Uploaded 2016.", "people": ["elon-musk"], "id": "2013-10-31_web-summit-elon-musk-enda-kenny-shervin-pishevar", "audio_duration_s": 2470.4853125, "worker": "jc-w14", "transcribe_s": 32.1, "model": "large-v3", "segments": [{"start": 11.38, "end": 36.3, "text": "Now that's some entrance befitting the last session of this Web Summit. And I have to say, I just, I don't want it to end. And in some ways it doesn't have to. And I think this is what I'd like to do with our very special guests here, is to make sure that as every one of us walks out of this room tonight, we will think as individuals what we can take from the last couple of days."}, {"start": 36.3, "end": 64.42, "text": "to change not just the companies that you might work for, that you founded, but the communities you live in, and I hope also in the case of Ireland, Taoiseach, the nation that we live in as well. And for that reason, I think we could have no better guests with us to talk about the time we live in. I think, Elon, you once said about this is a great time to be alive as a creator. This is a time where the balance of power is in our favor. Yeah, I don't think you could ask for a better time in history. Yeah, absolutely."}, {"start": 64.42, "end": 92.37, "text": "I think people sometimes forget that, but it is, you have to say, realistically, when else would you want to be alive? But it's also, I suppose, teaching a difficult time, right? It's a disruption. You have about the worst job in the world to some extent, don't you, in terms of trying to recover an economy that fell into the toilet. And now we're back at a point where you do feel something moving in this country, but it's still tough. A lot of people out there are very fearful of change."}, {"start": 92.37, "end": 120.98, "text": "It didn't just fall into the toilet, it got flushed out the other side. It's been a long process to take it out of that tank, let me tell you, and shake it up and dry it off and put it on high ground. But I think it's an extraordinary privilege for us here in Ireland to have two innovators, entrepreneurs, thinkers about the future here at this web summit. And no matter what you do, it has to be about people at the end of the day. And as an island nation that has been travelling since the 5th and 6th century,"}, {"start": 120.98, "end": 149.41, "text": "We understand interdependence and the common thread of our humanity. We rely upon each other in so many ways. And I think that what's happened in Dublin this week has been quite extraordinary. The collegiality, the challenge, the bar, the understanding that it is from this kind of interaction of people like this that new ideas come for new ways of doing things to create that future that's actually coming at us."}, {"start": 149.41, "end": 177.86, "text": "Changing at bewildering speed. And that's why many of the young companies who are here in the RDS this week will explode in terms of their potential in the next five years. They've never been heard of. Their products, their ideas, the new ways of doing things are going to impact on the lives of hundreds of millions of people, just as has happened here already. So in that sense, it's the question that President Xi Jinping asked me when he came here from Washington. How do you build a sense of community in your country?"}, {"start": 177.86, "end": 206.98, "text": "Because they know about that. And as an island nation, we understand that. And it's to get that sense of community throughout our common humanity is where the challenge and the answers lie to the future. Sherwin, you have vested interest in this web summit in the sense that this has been very good to you in your business. Tell me a little bit about the last two web summits and what came out of it in terms of practical change in your life. Ireland has actually changed my life. And I have a lot to be thankful for."}, {"start": 206.98, "end": 236.88, "text": "I'm grateful for both for this nation and also for Patty and the Founders Conference and the Web Summit. Two years ago, I flew here in a rush to meet Travis Kalanick at the Summit in Dublin at the Shelbourne. We met up, and he was the founder of Uber. I don't know how many of you have heard about Uber before. At the time, the company was..."}, {"start": 236.88, "end": 265.54, "text": "9,000 customers, 7,000 of them were in San Francisco. So it was still a very small company. And it was a hotly contested investment. Lots of competition. If I hadn't come here, I wouldn't have won that investment. I wouldn't have had the blessing and the privilege to be involved. Signed the term sheet at the Shelbourne that night and closed that investment. And that was a transformational."}, {"start": 265.54, "end": 294.96, "text": "The following year, I came together with my co-founder of Sherpa Ventures, Scott Stanford, who was at Goldman Sachs at the time. He headed up all of the global internet practice. We got in a car that was arranged by an amazing man named Eamon O'Connor, who recently passed."}, {"start": 294.96, "end": 321.33, "text": "And he's a great man. And we got in the car and we drove to the tip of Ireland to see his house in this little village. And at the Cliffs of Moher is where we came up and finalized the idea of Sherpa. So those two years have been a really transformational time. And Sherpa is a whole new way of thinking about how to invest in companies and help entrepreneurs. Mark, isn't it a funny thing in a way that here in this building,"}, {"start": 321.33, "end": 349.6, "text": "It's where the Young Scientist exhibition has taken place for the last 50 years. And here you have the Web Summit this week, which is another new direction for all of that. I think it's absolutely fitting that this is where it should be, because it's the next platform. I think it's fair to say that we just can't take for granted the scale of this remarkable moment. I mean, one of the super connectors of Silicon Valley sitting beside me on my right, and somebody, and Elon, I had to go to find..."}, {"start": 349.6, "end": 385.55, "text": "A quote from one of your former employees, which I don't really summed up a lot of what you have achieved. He said, he is Werner Bron Bron, Howard Hughes, Henry Ford, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and every other badass rolled into one. Yeah, that's probably a bit generous. But talk about generosity. Now, you are moderately busy running two billion dollar companies that are stretching the boundaries of space and time and energy."}, {"start": 385.55, "end": 413.28, "text": "And you came to Dublin. What was the attraction of this event this time? I understand there's really going to be a great party tonight. I think you missed it. It was last night. Yeah, no, I wanted to come back to Ireland for a while. Last time I was here was about a third of a century ago. I was like seven years old. And I had a great time as a kid. I've been wanting to come back for a long time, so this was a good opportunity to do so."}, {"start": 413.28, "end": 449.3, "text": "Don't leave it so long, next time. You'll keep coming back here, you hear me? Absolutely. We need you. We need you. You were reminding Elon about the fact that Henry Ford came here to set up his car company. I was here with the Tesla car, which I've just had the privilege of getting a short spin in here. Extraordinary vehicle. Extraordinary. When you lift the bonnet, as we call it in Ireland, they've got a trunk in the front and a trunk in the back. And you can make it into an even bigger vehicle if you wish."}, {"start": 449.3, "end": 480.69, "text": "But it's quite extraordinary. Henry Ford started off his motor industry in Cork at the turn of the last century and was here for 60 years. So if you're looking for a good base, we'll certainly give you an opportunity. Seriously, let me say this to you. If you're going to come to Europe with Tesla, we will compete with the best. So if you're going to do that, you give us a chance. We'll give you a fair hearing and our workers will not let you down, believe you me."}, {"start": 480.69, "end": 511.66, "text": "All right? Thank you. Okay, let's keep that between ourselves. I just want to also just get some water up here. I don't want our guests to die of dehydration before we get to the end of our session here, but if we can get some water on stage. But I just want to go back, Elon, to your years growing up when, obviously, at 12 years old, I think you sold your first video game that you had programmed. Yeah. But at what point in your teenage years was there a light bulb moment where you said, I really do want to change the world?"}, {"start": 511.98, "end": 540.67, "text": "Teenage years, maybe I was probably 21 or something like that. So it was like a little beyond teenage years. I mean, when I was a teenager, I didn't really know what I was going to do. I liked playing video games and I liked writing software. So I thought, well, maybe I'll professionally write video game software. That seemed like a pretty fun thing. And then when I was in college, I just sort of..."}, {"start": 540.67, "end": 566.98, "text": "Thinking about what's going to most affect the world. And there were actually sort of, I thought there were five things that I thought would most affect the world. Three of which I thought would definitely be positive things to solve. Two of which are a slight question mark. And as it turned out, I was able to get involved in all three of those things. The internet, sustainable energy, and space."}, {"start": 566.98, "end": 596.9, "text": "Now, obviously, you revolutionized online payments. But after PayPal, other innovators might have moved on to the same area to have another success. You chose a completely different set of challenges to address. I mean, space. What was the thinking there? Why didn't you just follow your money back into online commerce, for example? Well, I guess the thing that motivated me there was that I kept expecting that there'd be a manned mission to Mars."}, {"start": 596.9, "end": 624.43, "text": "That was the continuation of the dream of Apollo. We went to the moon, then there was supposed to be a base on the moon, there was supposed to be space hotels, there were going to be human missions to Mars. And year after year, that stuff didn't happen. And at first I thought, well, maybe people have lost the will to do that. And I sort of came up with this"}, {"start": 624.72, "end": 653.44, "text": "The idea to do a mission to Mars to kind of get people excited about that stuff again. But I came to the conclusion that I was actually wrong about that assumption. And there's plenty of will. And it's really about making sure that there's a way. If people think there's a way to do it without bankrupting the economy, I think there's plenty of will. And so that's the start of SpaceX to try to improve rocket technology and just do as much as we can to advance that."}, {"start": 653.44, "end": 689.14, "text": "I'm not saying we'll take people to Mars, but we want to try to move things forward as much as possible. What I'm fascinated by was you started out to try to get people excited again in space. And then you ended up with this fact. There are only four entities that ever sent a space capsule into space and brought it back. US, Russia, China, Elon Musk. I have a lot of really great people at SpaceX."}, {"start": 689.14, "end": 718.0, "text": "We've got an awesome team at SpaceX. And actually, I think one of the things that isn't recognized is that, I mean, there's way too much attention paid to me. And it's really, that's not right. I mean, people want to focus, they want to identify with an individual. And so that sort of naturally is what occurs. But, you know, there's a super talented group of people at SpaceX who make it happen. You've done something remarkable in a couple of years. But can I just take you forward, let's say, 20 years?"}, {"start": 718.0, "end": 747.26, "text": "In your mind, what is your vision for humanity in 20 years' time, particularly about space exploration? Well, I think the thing that would be really great is to have a base on Mars and to ultimately be making steady progress towards having it be a self-sustaining civilization on Mars. And I think that's the most powerful thing we can do to ensure the long-term survival of civilization."}, {"start": 747.26, "end": 775.28, "text": "And it's just a very exciting future, I think. If you imagine a future where we're out there exploring the stars, and we're a multi-planet species, the scope and scale of society is that much greater. I find that sort of view of the future really exciting and inspiring. And there need to be things that are inspiring. There are lots of problems on Earth, and we'll always have problems on Earth."}, {"start": 775.28, "end": 803.3, "text": "But they also need to be things that are inspiring, that make you want to get out of bed in the morning. And having a bright future in space, I think, is one of those things. I just want to touch on something that isn't talked about as much, especially about how Elon got there, is that founders and entrepreneurs have to have the ability to face death right in the face and survive."}, {"start": 803.3, "end": 833.07, "text": "To be able to start a company and not give up and put everything you have, your heart and soul, into that company to bring it to life. And one of the things that Elon did with both his companies is an incredible example of that in terms of what you did in 2008, 2009. If you could touch on that and tell that story, I think it's so inspiring and it really exemplifies what it means to be a founder. Sure."}, {"start": 833.07, "end": 862.93, "text": "Short account of that time. And things were very, very tough in that 2007, 8, and 9 period. And even sort of the first half of 2010. And the low point was late 2008 because the first three launches of the rocket at SpaceX didn't work. We had three failures in a row. And when I started the company, I thought, you know, I'll make sure there's enough capital for three launches."}, {"start": 862.93, "end": 892.08, "text": "But we managed to just barely scrape together enough to do a fourth launch. And in late 2008, that fourth launch worked. And that was a last chance. That was the last chance, right? The company would have gone to the wall if the fourth... Game over, yeah. So what's going through your mind as you're watching that rocket blasting off for the fourth time? I mean, you know, like a white-knuckle flight. I mean, it was like..."}, {"start": 892.66, "end": 921.81, "text": "Yeah, I mean, it was so tense that when it succeeded, I didn't actually feel elation. I didn't feel, I just felt like stress relief, that's all. I think this is something about founders, is having success and failure sitting side by side in a moment. Does it not drive you mad, I mean, to have to cope with that level of pressure? Yeah, that was pretty intense."}, {"start": 921.81, "end": 951.82, "text": "And there were some other compounding things, because at Tesla, we were raising around in summer 2008, and then the financial crisis hit, and they had General Motors and Chrysler going bankrupt. So trying to raise money for a startup electric car company, in the face of that, it was like, I mean, people were angry that you even brought up this subject. And so we were only able to raise money from the existing investors."}, {"start": 951.82, "end": 978.62, "text": "And I put everything I had remaining and had to borrow money from friends for the Tesla financing round. And it closed on the last hour of the last day that it could close, which was 6 p.m. Christmas Eve 2008. And we would have gone bankrupt a few days later. They all think it's an overnight success. One of the lessons we can learn from this weekend here, Mark, is exactly what the two gentlemen are talking about."}, {"start": 978.62, "end": 998.94, "text": "To have a culture of not being afraid that something might go wrong, that something might fail. And I think for all the young people in the country who are our future, really, it's from a political perspective, it is to open the doors of opportunity and give them that chance to build their dreams. They won't all work, obviously."}, {"start": 998.94, "end": 1021.34, "text": "But it's to kind of encourage them not to be afraid to follow that. And if it doesn't work, that you start again. You've had the wrong view about that in this country for many years. I think that's something you see in Silicon Valley, that there's no fear of failure. But culturally in this part of the world... I'm not sure that's true. I think there's fear of failure. I certainly have fear of failure. But it didn't stop you. No."}, {"start": 1021.34, "end": 1049.98, "text": "But I think it's an inherent thing, though, like when Irish people have gone away and they've gone all over the world, you know, they might try three or four ventures before something actually works in the way they want. But in a confined island, the tradition has been if it goes down, well, that's a, you know, it's a bad mark against you. That shouldn't be the way. And when I find going through the secondary schools and the colleges of technology and the universities, there's a different attitude, and that's inspired by people like what you do."}, {"start": 1049.98, "end": 1079.5, "text": "I'll touch on fear a little bit because it's one of the things that I've realized is fear is finite. Hope is infinite. And I think what's happened in Silicon Valley is that, as Elon said, we are afraid of failure. But it doesn't stop us from trying because we hold on to the hope that we will finally actually succeed regardless of the three failures that happen in those rocket launches."}, {"start": 1079.5, "end": 1108.62, "text": "You were hoping that fourth would work. And I think the mentality has to be that failure is actually an option. It is an option. And in other places, failure is not an option. And that we look up to people who actually fail, but they keep going forward. But it's also to listen to where a new venture might actually be. For hundreds of thousands of years, we measured the volume of timber."}, {"start": 1108.62, "end": 1131.01, "text": "By measuring the height of the tree in the circumference and calculate the volume. In Cork, Trematics have cracked this. 3D version, you can put the entire Mato Grosso on a computer and determine the value and the quantity and the volume of timber that's there. It's a whole new way of doing things. Why is it that it's taken Elon, after 50 years of analysis on space travel, to be able to..."}, {"start": 1131.01, "end": 1155.73, "text": "To define and make a reusable rocket. We've had, you know, America, NASA, Russia, China, Japan, Europe. Here's one that flies and comes back down and is usable again in a few hours. And as he said himself, you know, it cuts the cost by over a hundredfold, which is incredible. Can I ask a question? It seems to me that in many ways, Elon, you relish the status of outsider. I think you're talking about how you're fighting."}, {"start": 1155.73, "end": 1185.33, "text": "Well, I wouldn't say that I relish being an outsider. I really just, you know,"}, {"start": 1185.33, "end": 1215.22, "text": "Agnostic as to whether it's sort of outsider or insider, it's just that in the case of SpaceX and Tesla and SolarCity, we're trying to do something useful and I'd rather we weren't an outsider, honestly. I think ultimately in order for SpaceX to be successful, it really has to become part of the system. It can't be an outsider for forever. And I think we're gradually getting there."}, {"start": 1215.22, "end": 1243.92, "text": "For example, NASA is our biggest customer. That's about a quarter of our launches are for NASA. And we're launching GPS satellites and other things, weather satellites. And essentially, it's important to do useful things in kind of the Earth orbit arena in order to earn money necessary to develop interplanetary transport technology. But being an outsider or insider, I wouldn't say is..."}, {"start": 1243.92, "end": 1275.9, "text": "All that important. Except to the degree that you don't want to compromise the fundamental goals and values of the organization in order to become an insider. Shervin, do you think there's a sense of celebrating the iconoclast in American innovative culture? What defines a great innovator? What are the qualities you need? A great innovator is not following the crowd, is not following trends. It's thinking ahead of the curve."}, {"start": 1275.9, "end": 1304.75, "text": "Confidence to believe in your vision and to never give up on that vision. The greatest innovators that I've seen in my life and I've been blessed to work with from Travis onwards and friends like Elon and seeing what they accomplish, what you notice in them is that they have an opinion. They actually have an opinion. They have a vision of their own. They're not influenced by a lot of outside trends."}, {"start": 1304.75, "end": 1334.38, "text": "And they're trying to force that vision onto the world and shape the world in any way. And they have the courage to confront any of the fears that they might have and they have to make that vision come true. Let's pretend Elon's not here for a moment. I know you're a very good friend of his. Some people do stand head and shoulders above others. I think it's fair to say, Elon. What makes somebody like Elon Musk special, different, better?"}, {"start": 1334.96, "end": 1362.77, "text": "I think much of what I said is that ability to say, I believe in this and I'm willing to put everything I have on the line. It's something that I've seen many entrepreneurs that I've been able to be blessed to invest in do. It's something that I've had to do in my own life, is be able to say, here's everything I have and I'm putting it all on the table."}, {"start": 1362.77, "end": 1389.23, "text": "And if you're not willing to risk everything, to again, face your fears, if you're not willing to do that, if you don't have the courage to do that, you can't stand up high and be someone that people can look up to and say, that's how I would love to live my life, both professionally and personally. I would say it's driven by the power of imagination."}, {"start": 1389.23, "end": 1416.94, "text": "It was Einstein who said that imagination is the greatest force because it encircles the entire sphere. And for somebody like Elon, to imagine something that's going to be different and to have the conviction and the belief to actually follow it through, despite the naysayers or the cynicism, it is about making decisive moves and have the courage to follow that imaginative force, out of which may come success and may not, like his Christmas Eve in 2008."}, {"start": 1416.94, "end": 1445.41, "text": "It happened. But it's driven by somebody having a view, a thought, an inspiration, an imaginative quality. This is what I believe in. And whether it be Jacques Cousteau to the sea so many years ago and the whole marine business, or the evolution of space travel and where we're going and how to get there, and the impact of that on humankind, it's driven essentially by an imaginative quality. The personality of the person carries that."}, {"start": 1445.41, "end": 1475.12, "text": "Followed by belief and conviction and really good people to make that become a reality. And Elon, sometimes that puts you against the conventional wisdom. So I'm thinking now, while you were giving us ways to get out of off Earth and go and colonize other places and planets, you were also trying to make life better here. So the solar energy is a big focus for you. Tesla, obviously. How difficult was it to convince the United States, a public that is in love with the car, and we're talking about the gasoline-powered car, to embrace the idea of an electric car?"}, {"start": 1475.41, "end": 1505.39, "text": "Well, it was tricky at first. Essentially, we're going against the preconceived notion of what an electric car was, which was kind of like a golf cart. There was literally their experience with an electric car. So they're used to a car that didn't look good, wasn't fast, couldn't handle well, had low range, a golf cart. And so if that's the framework that people are coming from, then obviously when you say the word electric car, they're not going to have good associations."}, {"start": 1505.39, "end": 1535.22, "text": "And so the first order of business for Tesla was to try to create a car that broke the mold or really fundamentally changed those perceptions. And that's why we did the Tesla Roadster and an electric sports car. So in order to be sexable, it had to be something that had some sex appeal, had great acceleration, handling, long range. Those things were really important to fundamentally change the perception. And it still took a long time."}, {"start": 1535.54, "end": 1565.33, "text": "And we were able to change people's minds one by one by giving them a test drive. So, like, here's the proof is in the pudding. Here's the car. Take it for a ride. And it was very slow going at first. And, I mean, if I had a dollar for every time someone mentioned Tucker or Lorian, I would not have needed an IPO. So it was tough going in the beginning there."}, {"start": 1565.42, "end": 1595.34, "text": "I think it was just by making a product, initially just a demonstration article, and then going into limited production with the Roadster, and then going to a much higher level of production with the Model S. I think people's minds have gradually changed, and then this year with some of the toughest critics in the world are reviewing the Model S and saying it's the best car in the world. Consumer Reports gave it the highest rating they've ever given any car."}, {"start": 1595.34, "end": 1623.18, "text": "I think this year really has been a turning point. There's still a huge way to go because the number of electric cars going on the road is tiny. There's almost 100 million new cars made every year. There's an existing base of about 1.8 billion cars. So even if all new cars made were electric tomorrow, it would still take on the order of 20 years to..."}, {"start": 1623.18, "end": 1653.22, "text": "Elon, that car will sell very well in Ireland."}, {"start": 1653.22, "end": 1682.53, "text": "I mean, I do think, you know, just being, something that Steve Jobs was that I think was quite admirable was he was ultra product focused, like down to the little details. And he and the other people at Apple would really try hard to have these, both at a high level and a small level, these delightful things happen. So the product was just, it just made you happy. And that's..."}, {"start": 1682.53, "end": 1710.1, "text": "That's what we try to do with the Model S, is just every little detail that we can think of to really bring joy to the owner of the car, that's what we want to do. And when can we expect it on the roads of places like Ireland or this part of the world? Well, we should have the right-hand drive version in production in March. And so I would imagine late March, April, that time frame. And, yeah."}, {"start": 1710.1, "end": 1739.79, "text": "I hope there's many people who will buy it in Ireland. It would be great. Listen, I can't ask you to come to Ireland and not give a bit of advice, perhaps, to the Taoiseach. I was tweeting out this week saying, anyone got some good questions? It was a great question from somebody which said, Elon Musk, if you were the Taoiseach of Ireland, could you give us three pointers of what you would do to put us there on the digital frontier? The digital frontier? Okay. Well, I haven't really thought about digital stuff for a while."}, {"start": 1739.79, "end": 1771.41, "text": "Any frontier. Any frontier. Well, I think that the most important thing for creating companies is you need a concentration of talent. You know, it's like creating a, you know, think of like a world sports team or something. You really want to focus your talent on a particular area. And that's what a company is. It's a group of people that got together to create a product or service."}, {"start": 1771.41, "end": 1801.65, "text": "So in order to have a great company, you've got to focus your energies on a particular area. And then make sure that from a regulatory standpoint, in terms of regulations and taxation and government support, that it's there for startup companies. And that it goes from startup all the way through the medium phase of the company. Because where most companies tend to"}, {"start": 1801.65, "end": 1831.09, "text": "To not make it is not so much at that very beginning stage, it's that intermediate stage. So can they sort of reach escape velocity as a company? And when a new company is formed, you're going up against big established companies. You're trying to build some kind of credibility. And it's incredibly important that companies are nurtured through that phase. I mean, it's just like a little sapling growing in a redwood forest."}, {"start": 1831.09, "end": 1851.79, "text": "You've got these giant companies. If you don't get a little bit of sunlight and nutrition, it's game over. That's an important piece of advice, actually. As a small country, we don't have the resources to spend on all the things that you might like to follow through. So we've looked at the areas where Ireland could concentrate on big data or logistics or whatever."}, {"start": 1851.79, "end": 1874.77, "text": "And one of the things that is growing in importance here, Elon, is the capacity of many firms to mentor smaller firms and newer entrepreneurs coming through. To give the benefit of my experience, let's look at where you're headed. And there's a lot of that going on. I think it's very true to say that the more you get them together, the more the challenge and the results actually come from that. And if you ally that to..."}, {"start": 1874.77, "end": 1898.26, "text": "A sort of an openness to say, look, we're going to give you the opportunity to have a go at this. If it works, great. If it doesn't, we're going to start again. I think that's where the future... We have the best demographics of any country in Europe for the next 25 years. When President Clinton was here, he said, all these young people, they're actually going to short-circuit the rigors that so many other countries had to go through coming out of a recession."}, {"start": 1898.26, "end": 1925.82, "text": "So it's in there. There is certainly real potential, and I thank you for that. And if you're sending that spacecraft off to Mars, I have a few people that could put on it for you as well. Maybe you could send it from Shannon. We could actually get SpaceX to Shannon. That was another suggestion I had from the Twitter machine. Listen, this man, either of you are welcome here anytime. You've done very well so far. Elon, we're a different kind of people. The personality of our people has been all around the world for centuries."}, {"start": 1925.82, "end": 1955.52, "text": "We're open, pragmatic, work very hard, not afraid of that. And I think the young talent you have in the country, really, the essence of it was here all week, speaks for itself about their imaginative capacity to change the world and create the future. And anything we can do as a sort of a catalyst for that is our responsibility to open those doors and let them follow their dreams and build them through to reality, as you have done and will do for the future. Yeah, absolutely. I was trying to think of, like, is there anything, what useful things can I..."}, {"start": 1955.52, "end": 1984.59, "text": "I'm trying to say something that isn't just sort of a bland platitude. I think for technology companies, you need engineers. So to the degree that there can be encouragement of that course of study at Irish universities, I think that would be really, really powerful. Yeah, like maybe engineering could be like tuition free or something like that."}, {"start": 1984.59, "end": 2018.46, "text": "But then tie it to, like, they've got to stay in Ireland. They can't just bail. So it's like free engineering tuition, but you've got to create your company here. I guess that's the kind of thing that I think would be effective for creating technology companies. What do you think, Tishak? Well, I think the whole area of third and fourth level education is changing."}, {"start": 2018.46, "end": 2044.59, "text": "The relationship between lecturers and teachers is going to change because the student now has so much capacity in terms of drawing down data that they get swamped with it completely. So lecturers are going to be different kinds of mentors, drivers, indicators of where pupils' talent really lies. I think that's all going to change in the next decade with the MOOCs and the capacity of universities and colleges of technology with online courses that can be done worldwide."}, {"start": 2044.59, "end": 2070.99, "text": "Lecturers aren't speaking anymore to 45 students. It could be 45 million students. And I think that's where the next big change is actually coming. But it's creativity and all of that that makes the difference. We do need technicians coming from our colleges of technology. We do need engineers coming from our universities. And ally that to the world of academia and business. And you've got a thriving potential, put it that way. I'll add one more idea to Elon's."}, {"start": 2070.99, "end": 2098.51, "text": "In the U.S., we co-founded something called the Startup Visa Act and started the visa movement with Dave McClure and a number of other entrepreneurs and VCs. And the idea was really to expedite the ability for entrepreneurs to immigrate to America. The thing about Ireland is Ireland has one of the greatest people in the world and one of the greatest cultures, one of the greatest brands. And I would do something very similar."}, {"start": 2098.51, "end": 2128.42, "text": "As well, just do a startup visa here in Ireland. Attract entrepreneurs to come here and start their companies in Ireland. So that you're importing talent on top of growing it homegrown. Like that tuition thing, I'd say make it free for anyone that wants to come here from around the world. From all over the world. Yeah, because you need that concentration of technical talent. Yeah, we have relaxed the visa system. We give entrepreneurs who wish to come here, even with the right of residency, if they've got an idea and some capital."}, {"start": 2128.42, "end": 2157.71, "text": "To be able to come here and get involved, if you like, in the energy that's coming off all of these creators that are in the country at the moment. I'm sorry to say, Taoiseach, but I'd probably be dragged off stage now because it's gone way over. It's been a remarkable conversation, I have to say. An honor for me. Can I just ask one very final question of each one of you? There's so many people here tonight, but there's also people watching live. Laptops and their tablets. And somewhere out there, there's probably somebody who has a great idea."}, {"start": 2157.71, "end": 2186.32, "text": "But it's kind of paralyzed by fear. They don't know, they don't want to take that chance. Can you just talk for a moment, Sherva, first of all, what would you say to that young potential entrepreneur who just doesn't know if they can take the risk? It's a great question. You know, when I, we immigrated to the US, so we came from nothing really. My father was a taxi driver in DC, and my mom cleaned hotel rooms, and all we had was the American dream. And I grew up"}, {"start": 2186.32, "end": 2212.62, "text": "Just reading a lot of books and dreaming that I could be something and do something of value. And when I went to Berkeley, I started my first company senior year of college. And one of my mentors taught me that you should always ask. That the answer is always no if you don't ask. And as soon as you start asking,"}, {"start": 2212.62, "end": 2237.65, "text": "You actually get some yeses. And so I applied that in my very first company. When I first started, I had nothing. I was working at night as a security guard while going to school. I had no money. And I read an article about a guy named Jamie Dimon, who's now the head of J.P. Morgan. And the article said he was fired by Citibank, by Citi."}, {"start": 2237.65, "end": 2267.6, "text": "And he was in his office with his secretary and kind of waiting for his next move. And I was 22, 23 years old. And in my mind, I was like, oh, he's available. I'm going to call him. And he's one of the most powerful people in banking and finance. And so I call 411, which is directory information. And I say, can I get the number for Jamie Dimon in New York? And they connect the call and it rings. And I go, may I speak to Jamie Dimon? And someone answers. And the voice says, this is him."}, {"start": 2267.7, "end": 2294.59, "text": "And I'm like, oh shit, sorry. Sorry about that. He's never heard that one before. I heard that before. And I go, so I knew I had like 60 seconds. I had to face my fear. And I said, you know, Mr. Diamond, my name is Shervin. I have this dream for this company. And after a couple minutes of listening to me, he says, that sounds really good. Come up to New York. We'll have dinner."}, {"start": 2294.59, "end": 2323.95, "text": "And I did that, and he wrote one of my first checks as an angel investor, and that changed my whole life. If I hadn't made that call, or if I hadn't flown to Ireland to meet with Travis on Uber, those pivotal moments, you just got to make that call, get on that plane, and ask. You know what's happening now? Everyone's looking for your phone number. Oh, no. In directory. 411. Elon, can I ask you about that one message to that potential entrepreneur waiting to make the jump?"}, {"start": 2328.88, "end": 2359.25, "text": "Well, I mean, certainly, I think people should ignore fear if it's irrational. But even if it's rational and the stake is worth it, it's still worth proceeding. And I'll say a few of the things that some people may have heard me say before, which is I think if you're creating a company and doing something new, it's important to reason from first principles, which is kind of a physics framework, rather than reason by analogy."}, {"start": 2359.25, "end": 2387.58, "text": "And try to get as much critical feedback as possible from friends. And you have to ask, you have to coax it out of them because they'll be reluctant to say it because they don't want to hurt you. But they know what's wrong with your product. Just, yeah, you need to get it out of them. Yeah, thanks. I think if somebody came to me, as they do occasionally, Mark, with ideas, I think I'd make arrangements to protect their patent because that's always an issue."}, {"start": 2387.58, "end": 2416.32, "text": "But I think it's about giving them the confidence and the courage to follow through with it. Because if it's inside you, it's a bit like in my business, politics, if you don't deal with that, you grow into an old person bitter at not having had the courage to go and do it. So if an entrepreneur, an initiator, somebody with an idea, if they don't follow it, it's always festers inside them and time passes by and they miss the opportunity. We have no days to waste in life and no time to waste in dealing with it."}, {"start": 2416.32, "end": 2431.3, "text": "Problems that we face. So it's about confidence and courage and giving people the opportunity to follow their dreams. I'm going to have to leave that as the last word, Taoiseach. And I want to say, I mean, I remember being told the Samuel Beckett line, that great line. He said, ever tried, ever failed, no matter."}, {"start": 2431.3, "end": 2456.46, "text": "Try again, fail again, fail better. And that's what sort of keeps me going, I suppose, in many ways. So that's it for us. I just want to say what an absolute privilege it has been on your behalf as well to welcome Shirvan and to Tishak and Elon Musk. Thank you so much for your time, your insight. And I think before we go, I think Paddy's going to come back up. And before he comes up, I actually chaired the first Web Summit three, four years ago. And by God, has it come on."}, {"start": 2456.46, "end": 2463.12, "text": "And I just want to say that a huge round of applause to Paddy Cosgrave and the team of the Web Summit for doing this."}]}