Ritesh Agarwal, the founder and CEO of OYO, has shared his experience after meeting Elon Musk at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas. Agarwal, along with a delegation of India’s top entrepreneurs, was hosted by Musk for a tour of the facility and witnessed the launch and booster catch of SpaceX’s Starship Flight 7.
Agarwal described Musk as someone who is “doing the most to evolve humankind,” echoing Peter Thiel’s—the billionaire co-founder of PayPal and Palantir Technologies—sentiment that Musk has us “closest to getting flying cars.” He shared key takeaways from Musk’s comments from the meeting, including his admiration for India as an “ancient and great civilization” and his enthusiasm for the growing positive relationship between the US and India.
Musk, who also believes we might be living in a simulation due to “what has happened in last few months”, reiterated his commitment to the pursuit of interplanetary living, calling it “super critical.”
Musk charms Indian leaders, eyes collaboration
Agarwal also shared interesting observations from the event, such as the fact that this was only the second time SpaceX successfully caught a booster with chopsticks. He noted Musk’s fascination with the Kumbh Mela and praised the impressive vegetarian spread served at SpaceX. The Indian delegation received SpaceX chopsticks in the end.
In the meeting—led by the India Global Forum (IGF)—there were discussions about technology’s role in finance and AI innovation, among other things, and potential partnerships to address global challenges.
The Indian delegation represented diverse sectors like technology, manufacturing, and renewable energy, including Prashant Ruia, Director of Essar Capital; Kalyan Raman, CEO of Flipkart; Jay Kotak, Co-Head of Kotak811; Nilesh Ved, Chairman of Apparel Group; Aryaman Birla, Director at Aditya Birla Management Corporation Private Limited; and author Amish Tripathi.
Musk shared insights into his companies, including SpaceX, Tesla, and Neuralink. He emphasized technology’s transformative potential and SpaceX’s mission to “expand the scope and scale of consciousness,” while sharing his optimism to collaborate with India, particularly in areas like technology and space exploration.
“Things are trending positive. I’m certainly in favour of lowering trade barriers to increase commerce between the US and India,” Musk said.
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