Elon Musk, NASA, Picasso and More

As always, I have searched the internet for some great interviews and stories about tech founders and innovators to bring you some inspiration and valuable lessons. Read on to learn about how Elon Musk nearly killed himself and Peter Thiel in PayPal's early days, the African-American inventor who worked at NASA, the Ukrainian refugee who changed the tech landscape and a futurist's top 100+ lessons he wished he had learned earlier in life. Enjoy.

PODCAST

The Day Elon Musk Nearly Killed Himself and Peter Thiel

I thoroughly enjoyed this week's interview with Ken Miller who was employee number 22 at PayPal. Ken had been employed by Elon Musk to join X.com working on anti-fraud but little did he know he was about to go on the journey of his lifetime. Listen here.

In this week's episode, Ken talks about his time working on anti-fraud at PayPal, dealing with Russian mafia, as well as working with tech visionaries Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and Max Levchin... and being an advisor to Jack Dorsey. Listen here.

QUOTE

“Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.”

―?Pablo Picasso

INTERVIEW

Meet Valerie Thomas - Scientist and Inventor.

Valerie invented the?illusion transmitter , for which she received a patent in 1980. During her career, Valerie was responsible for developing the digital media formats?image processing?systems used in the early years of?NASA 's?Landsat ?program, and much more.

Read an interview with her here where she talks about her career at NASA, and beyond.

READ

“Once you have truly learned a lesson, you will be presented with the next one. If you are alive, that means you still have lessons to learn." Kevin Kelly.

Kevin Kelly turned seventy yesterday and, to celebrate, he shared 103 great pieces of advice that he wished he had known earlier. Another favourite, “The chief prevention against getting old is to remain astonished.”

Read here. Photo by Christopher Michel.

WATCH

Max Levchin: The Making of a Tech Mogul

"Behind the curtain of Soviet-era Ukraine, Maksymilian Rafailovych Levchyn is born to a family of physicists. As a child, Max struggles to overcome life-threatening respiratory diseases. His parents are told he won't live past childhood. With his mother's urging, a determined young Max begins playing the clarinet to build lung capacity. Doctors would eventually give up on predicting how long he had to live."

Image of Max, as a teenage refugee, credit here. Watch the full interview at his alma mater here.

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Thanks for reading and see you on the other side.

Danielle