Elon Musk says it is “very difficult to start a business and make it succeed”

Elon Musk said he was “very, very difficult to start a business and make it” succeed “in response to a question in a town hall in Wisconsin on Sunday.

“It is true that most of the companies that start do not succeed,” he told an 18-year-old voter asking him for young entrepreneurs.

He said that the success of a business, “whether it is an excellent restaurant or store or a technological business or whatever the case,” has been withstanding consumers who find its products or services.

“I have a lot of admiration for anyone doing an honest job, you know, to make products or produce services for their colleagues human beings,” said Musk. “But it’s difficult.”

He underlined the automotive industry, citing its manufacturer of Tesla and Ford electric vehicles as the only major American car manufacturers who did not go bankrupt at some point, and its own SpaceX as one of the few successful “commercial rocket companies.

“It is incredibly difficult to ensure that the value of the exit exceeds the cost of the entry – it is really what defines a prosperous business. And the profit is really between the value of the exit and the cost of the entry.”

The event in Green Bay was part of Musk’s support to a campaign to help the conservative judge Brad Schimel Be elected to the Supreme Court of Wisconsin.

Musk also recognized the crisis of its net value, which was bumped by the slide of 30% in Tesla’s share price this year.

He is still the richest person in the world worth $ 330 billion, but the total has plunged $ 102 billion since the start of 2025, according to the Bloomberg billionaire index.

While he still has $ 116 billion in front of the Amazon founder Jeff BezosMusk said he knew that his role as Doge was a “very expensive work”.

“In fact, it costs me a lot to be in this work,” he said. “You know, my stock of Tesla and the stock of all those who hold the stock of Tesla have gone almost in two.” Musk referred to the slide of Tesla’s sharing compared to their value at the end of last year.

He made similar statements in an interview on Friday on Fox News, saying that his companies “suffered” because of his work in the White House. In another Fox commercial interview earlier this month, Musk said he was leading his businesses “with great difficulty” in the midst of DOGE activities.