Whenever you feel 'demotivated' in life, rewatch an old video of Elon Musk from Tesla's near-bankruptcy days

Elon Musk once stood before an audience pitching a $109,000 Tesla Roadster while the company was fighting to survive. In the same video, the billionaire entrepreneur said his salary was minimum wage and described himself as “a volunteer, basically.” Now, social media user Unnati has shared the old clip on X, calling it something she revisits whenever she feels demotivated. The video offers a glimpse into Tesla’s early struggles and the thinking behind Musk’s ambition to build affordable electric cars.

Elon Musk's old Tesla video goes viral

Unnati took to X to share the video of Musk speaking about Tesla in 2008, reportedly just days away from bankruptcy. Alongside the clip, she wrote that she rewatched it whenever she felt demotivated, describing Musk as pitching a $109,000 car at a time when the company was struggling financially. The clip has amassed 5.1 million views till now.

During the presentation, Musk clarified that Tesla was not seeking a bailout. Instead, he said the company had applied for funding to develop lower-cost, mass-market vehicles. He also explained why Tesla began with an expensive sports car. According to Musk, every penny the company earned from selling the Roadster would go towards developing more affordable vehicles. He argued that new technology is expensive at first because companies must establish that it works before producing it on a larger scale.


“You can't get to the low-cost cars unless you start with the expensive cars,” he said, explaining Tesla's strategy.

How did the internet react?

A user wrote, "The fact that he's trying to pitch something and people are disrespectfully walking right in front of him... Not realizing that they are pre-emptively walking in front of the future worlds richest man and making as impactful pitch to humanity as he was in that moment." Another commented, "Guy even could not talk in a very professional way. He’s changed history and the world. gotta respect that. he’s not an ordinary person." Another said, "2008 was not that long ago. This video should give everyone pause as to where they were then and where they are now."

Why Tesla and SpaceX nearly collapsed in 2008

Musk's confidence came at a time when both Tesla and SpaceX were facing serious financial problems. After the sale of PayPal, he had received roughly $180 million and invested much of his wealth in the two ventures.

SpaceX had suffered three consecutive rocket launch failures, while Tesla was battling production delays, cost overruns and technical problems with its early Roadster. The global financial crisis made raising money even harder. Musk was also going through a divorce.

Speaking to CBS News years later, Musk described the period as “the worst year of my life.” Recalling how close he felt to a breakdown shortly before Christmas 2008, he said it was the closest he had ever come to a nervous breakdown.

What saved Musk's companies?

SpaceX achieved a major breakthrough in September 2008 when its rocket successfully reached orbit, becoming the first privately developed liquid-fuelled rocket to do so. NASA later awarded the company a contract worth approximately $1.5 billion to provide cargo services to the International Space Station.

Tesla received crucial financial relief on Christmas Eve, when its investors agreed to inject additional capital into the struggling company. The funding helped Tesla continue operations and pursue its ambition of making electric vehicles more accessible.