Musk also made amends with Thiel, Sacks and the other “coup” leaders, according to Isaacson
The rapprochement was a wise move by Musk, who went on to launch SpaceX the same year he cashed out his PayPal equity.
Musk built up the staff of SpaceX, adding top rocket engineers like Tom Mueller and Hans Koenigsmann and seasoned executives like Gwynne Shotwell.
The key to the company’s survival was to prove that it could build a rocket on its own without relying on suppliers
In order to make money, SpaceX needed to demonstrate to both commercial and government entities that it could launch its Falcon 1 rocket into orbit and release its payload, which usually consists of sensitive satellites.
But the company was burning through cash and running out of money after it launched three failed tests of its Falcon 1 from the Pacific atoll of Kwajalein in the Marshall Island, where the US military maintains a base.
The Falcon 1 rocket blew up before reaching orbit, prompting SpaceX engineers to go back to the drawing board and correct the technical faults which led to the aborted launch.
By 2008, SpaceX was on the verge of bankruptcy. In order to avert disaster, it needed a successful fourth test launch of its Falcon 1, but Musk didn’t have they money for it
The Founders Fund, a venture capital fund that included ex-PayPal board members Thiel, Ken Howery, and Luke Nosek, came to the rescue with a $20 million investment.
“Part of my thinking was that it would be a way to patch things up from the PayPal saga,” Thiel told Isaacson, who wrote that the infusion of cash was a “lifeline that allowed Musk” to fund a fourth launch.
“It was an interesting exercise in karma,” Musk told Isaacson
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