I assume everyone starting or working for a for-profit business is primarily (though not solely) motivated to make money for themselves. Otherwise, they wouldn't be starting or working at a for-profit business.

That assumption doesn't bear out in practice, in my experience. There are plenty of people who believe that for-profit businesses can also achieve great, positive purposes in the world, and want to be a part of it.

Cases in point: Tesla and SpaceX. They aren't charities. They are very purposeful.

Tesla and SpaceX are both massive exceptions to the rule, not examples of the norm.

You are not Tesla or SpaceX.

And in fact if you want to write code that goes to space, you have 4 or 5 options top in the US? Vs many other business models (webapps for music) there may be 50 or 100.

> Cases in point: Tesla and SpaceX. They aren't charities. They are very purposeful.

Those are just two companies, ran by the same guy. I think finding even a couple dozen more examples would be very difficult.

Have a look at the companies listed halfway down the page on http://danieltenner.com/open-cultures/ . Not all qualify as purposeful orgs, but quite a few do. Reinventing Organisations, mentioned on this page too, is a book that studies a dozen examples of purposeful, open culture organisations, if you're interested in learning more about this.

Charity vs. for-profit is a false dichotomy. A charity is a specific form of non-profit. In addition, there is the (relatively new) benefit corporation which, while technically for-profit, has explicit non-financial goals.

That said, nothing about being motivated by money means you can't have a purpose as well. That's why I was careful to draw a distinction between "solely" and "primarily". Making money while also improving the world is just enlightened self-interest.

Funnily enough, Elon has a reputation for paying below market.