"We started Zip2 with ~$2k from me plus my overclocked home-built PC, ~$5k from my bro & ~$8k from Greg Kouri (such a good guy — he is greatly missed).

My Dad provided 10% of a ~$200k angel funding round much later, but by then risk was reduced & round would’ve happened anyway."

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1211064937004589056

Also relevant in that thread:

"He didn’t own an emerald mine & I worked my way through college, ending up ~$100k in student debt. I couldn’t even afford a 2nd PC at Zip2, so programmed at night & website only worked during day. Where is this bs coming from?"

"This is a pretty awful lie. I left South Africa by myself when I was 17 with just a backpack & suitcase of books. Worked on my Mom’s cousin’s farm in Saskatchewan & a lumber mill in Vancouver. Went to Queens Univ with scholarship & debt, then same to UPenn/Wharton & Stanford."

Not a rebuttal of the Zip2 seed investment point, but the ability to leave SA when he was 17 for CA/USA with a suitcase of books is not something most South Africans would be able to do. Kudos to him for doing it, but most of the population of SA wouldn't have even seen that many books.

It's pretty clear that Elon was from a wealthy*N background so the details are kind of irrelevant. Who bought the plain ticket?

There is also security, it's easier to take risks with strong familial support and fallback. Not saying this is a bad thing at all, it just is what it is.

>Worked on my Mom’s cousin’s farm in Saskatchewan & a lumber mill in Vancouver.

This is pretty intense myth-making. He worked 4 days at a lumber mill.