According to a book that describes his first startup in 1990, Elon Musk's office sleeping patterns have been around since the early 90s.

[TAG0][TAG2]

In 1995, Elon Musk and his brother founded Zip2, his first startup.
Jimmy Soni's book "The Founders", details how he slept in the office and publicly criticized colleagues.
The billionaire still manages Twitter almost three decades later.

Although Elon Musk's Twitter management has been criticized for his long hours and demanding work schedules, he did not behave similarly in his first startup, according Jimmy Soni, "The Founders".

Soni's book, published in February 2012, two months after Musk offered to buy Twitter, covers the rise and fall of Musk and his PayPal cofounders.

Musk and his brother Kimbal founded Zip2 in 1995. It was an online business directory that included maps. This was before Google or Apple's navigation systems became the standard. According to "The Founders", Musk's company rented a Palo Alto office space. He would then sleep in the office and use the nearby YMCA.

Musk also stated that he would sleep at the office until the organization is "fixed" shortly after he took over Twitter. Musk converted some office space in San Francisco into bedrooms for employees.

Insider's Kali Hays was told by a person who knew the details that Musk also had a bedroom he made. Officials have since ordered the company to either properly label them as sleeping areas or convert them back into offices.

This was Musk's ultimatum to Twitter staff: work "extremely hardcore" to receive three months' severance. It was sent via midnight email.

Soni, back at Zip2, describes Musk as a "perpetually sleeping-deprived" individual who openly attacked other executives and coworkers in 1996. Musk said in an interview with Ashlee Vance that he had never been a captain of sports or a captain for any other sport or managed one person.

These habits still exist at Twitter 27 years later. Insider reported that Musk wanders around the office asking people random questions about their work. One person familiar with the matter said that Musk "has to figure out how to answer that question in a way that won't get you fired."

Platformer reported that Musk fired an engineer from Twitter who explained why his popularity was falling. One employee said to the tech newsletter that Musk sometimes wakes up late at night and makes all kinds of strange statements.

[TAG1][TAG3]

Zip2 was purchased in 1999 for $307 Million. Musk then founded X.com, an online payment platform. This company would eventually merge with Thiel's to create PayPal.

Harris Fricker, the cofounder of the company, told Soni that Musk continued to sleep at his second company. According to the book, Musk would leave work at 4 a.m. and "take a nap on his office floor," while his cofounder would be there before the financial markets opened at 6:30.

Soni writes that this was to Fricker a sign Musk was disconnected from the company. But to Musk, late night were how startups operated. The $44 billion Musk paid for Twitter is more than 100 times the price of Zip2, but the second-richest person in the world is still investing the same amount in the social-media company.

Musk stated that he had worked more than 120 hours per week since he took over Twitter in February. According to the Observer, Musk stated that he went to bed, woke up, worked, then went to sleep again, waking up to work.

Insider asked Twitter for comment but was not answered.

Business Insider has the original article.

—————————————————————————————————————————————
By: psyme@insider.com (Pete Syme)
Title: Elon Musk’s office sleeping habits have existed since the early 1990s, according to a book about his first startup
Sourced From: www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-running-twitter-like-startup-sleeping-office-argued-coworkers-2023-2
Published Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2023 10:08:00 +0000

Related posts:

Leave a Reply Cancel reply