His First Startup Was Zip2

Creating Zip2, a company that provided maps and business directories to newspapers, was Musk's first commercial venture. Zip2 was ultimately sold to Compaq for $307 million. Elon Musk's first firm, Zip2, was a former American technology company that operated from 1995 to 1999. It offered a searchable business directory that may be compared to an online Yellow Pages phone book that also had maps. When computers were still uncommon, Musk came up with the idea of enabling computer users to find nearby companies. This is one of the interesting facts about Elon Musk.

Musk convinced Navteq, a maker of electronic navigable maps, to offer him free mapping software in 1995 after he bought a disc containing a company directory. Then he created the programming required to link the company directory and map databases. After roughly a year, in early 1996, Mohr Davidow Ventures decided to invest about $3 million in Zip2 in exchange for majority ownership. The company had increased its listing by persuading companies to pay for inclusion.

Additionally, Richard Sorkin, a more seasoned businessman, took over as CEO from Musk, who continued to serve as executive vice president and chief technology officer. Under Sorkin, Zip2 started providing newspapers with access to its technology so they could build local directories for their online subscribers.