Elon’s Roommate

Adeo Ressi

The story is told that one day, a rich man called his psychologist friend. The man’s name is Adeo Ressi. Adeo is a successful serial entrepreneur, a millionaire who had founded several tech startups, sold each of them for millions of dollars, and is now leading yet another company he had founded which was currently in about 40 countries around the world. He was successful by most standards, right? So it amazed his psychologist when Adeo called him, saying that he was feeling depressed. That he didn’t think he had done very much with his life. “Why?”, his friend asked. “Well, look at my roommate”, Adeo said. “Compared to my roommate, I feel I haven’t done much!”.

Who was Adeo’s roommate? Elon Musk. Yes, tech billionaire Elon Musk. Both men had been roommates at the University of Pennsylvania, and were reputed to have hosted epic parties together in their room. Today Elon musk is leading the successful commercialization the electric car, built a better rocket ship than NASA, attached the electric car to the rocket, shot both up to space, and brought them back to earth. Elon musk is not just the erichest man on the planet, he is expected by many to become the world’s first trillionaire. No wonder Ressi feels inferior!

The dangers of Competition

Why was Adeo depressed? Adeo had benchmarked himself against the best in the world and by Elon’s standards, he was way off. But you might tell Adeo “hey, you’re already a millionaire! You can afford most of the finer things life has to offer. Why are you beating yourself up? Learn to count your blessings”. But if you look at yourself, I bet you will need to take your own advise. How many times have you felt bad because someone you knew from secondary school or someone you grew up with seemed to be faring better in life than yourself? Do you remember to count your blessings then?

Comparison is often born out of competition, and that comparison is the thief of joy.

But Is Competition really that bad?

I dont think so. I dont believe competition in itself is evil. Humans have a knack for complacency and there is nothing like good competition to spur you to action whenever you feel like resting on your oars. Without competition, many of us would be satisfied in our mediocre state . Unwilling to give ourselves the push needed to achieve our full potential. Without competition between Robert Hooke (of Hooke’s law) and Isaac Newton, neither might have been spurred to explore the universe. If there were no competition between Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla, we may not have the AC and DC currents in electricity we have today. And without competition, Adeo Ressi might not have started his latest company. Afterall, he was already a millionaire. Why did he bother? He should have just retired and gone to live on some tropical island, shouldn’t he?

Competition Vs Collaboration

So, we have established that competition can damage your mental health. But we also agree that it can help you achieve more out of life. However, I imagine another scenario. What if Elon and Adeo collaborated? What if Elon helped him out in his education startup project, while Adeo used his educational platform to teach the next generation of enterpreneurs on the need for space exploration and the future of electric cars that Elon is creating? I believe this would create a better world where both men are fulfilling their goals without either looking at the other as an adversary. They will rather look at themselves as partners on the road to success.

Life doesnt have to be difficult.

However, they could still retain their boyish desire to outdo each other even while they collaborate. This will spur growth in both companies and foster a transfer of skill between the two, and within the startup ecosystem.

Competition is a slippery slope. Be careful so you dont make a million dollars only to end up depressed in a ferarri.