‘Musk’s new startup is the USA,’ Naval Ravikant hails Elon Musk, ‘he invested Paypal’s $200m and had to borrow money for rent’

Elon Musk may be known for building rockets, cars, and satellites, but according to entrepreneur and investor Naval Ravikant, his most audacious startup might just be America itself.

“I’m always struck by the Elon Musk story where he did PayPal,” Ravikant said in a podcast with Chris Williamson. “He said along the lines of: ‘I made $200 million from the sale of PayPal. I put $100 million into SpaceX, $80 million into Tesla, $20 million into SolarCity, and I had to borrow money for rent.’” Ravikant sees that moment as the defining trait of Musk’s career, the sheer willingness to go back to zero. Calling Musk a “perennial risk taker,” Ravikant explained that the billionaire has a rare quality, the absence of ego when it comes to success or failure.

“He doesn’t have any pride about being seen as successful or being seen as a failure,” he said. “He’s willing to put it all on the line.” That same attitude, Ravikant believes, is fueling Musk’s most recent ambitions — to disrupt the US political system, much like he has done in tech and space. “Even now, his new startup is the USA,” Ravikant quipped. “He’s basically trying to fix it like he would fix one of his startups.” “A lot of people become successful or rich or famous, and that’s it, they’re stuck. They don’t want to go back to zero,” he said. “But creating anything great requires zero to one. And that means you go back to zero. And that’s really painful and hard to do.”

Musk’s political leap

Musk recently hinted at forming a new political party, the “America Party” as a direct challenge to what he called the “Democrat-Republican uniparty.” The move, he said, would come if lawmakers pass a sweeping tax and spending package he opposes. “If this insane spending bill passes, the America Party will be formed the next day,” Musk wrote on X. “Our country needs an alternative… so that the people actually have a VOICE.” Whether that party materializes or not, Naval Ravikant believes the mindset behind the threat is what makes Musk truly unique. “He’s willing to look like a fool. He’s willing to start over. And most people simply aren’t.”