Bridgewater founder once advised Musk not to bet all his wealth on exploring Mars, Musk responded "no backup plan needed"

BlockBeats news, on July 22, the founder of Bridgewater Ray Dalio once advised Elon Musk not to invest most of the funds obtained after the sale of PayPal into Mars exploration, but Musk responded at the time, "No need to do that."

Dalio recently recalled on a podcast that he first met Musk in 2002 when he was researching entrepreneurs' personality types. He believes Musk belongs to the "shaper" type, that is, someone with grand visions who is eager to turn ideas into reality.

According to Dalio, after selling PayPal, Musk received about $180 million in funds and then invested most of it into startups, including about $100 million into SpaceX, about $70 million into Tesla, and about $10 million into the solar company SolarCity.

Dalio stated that at the time, he had suggested Musk set aside some cash as a safety cushion: "If things don't go well, at least you'll have some funds." But Musk replied, "No, I don't need to do that."

Dalio believes that Musk is not driven primarily by wealth accumulation, but is focused on achieving long-term goals. One of SpaceX's current objectives is to establish a technological system to make humanity a "multi-planetary species."

After SpaceX completed the largest IPO in history this summer and listed on Nasdaq, investors could gain deeper insight into the company's strategy for the first time. The company stated in its prospectus that its mission is "to build the systems and technologies necessary for life to become multi-planetary."

Dalio also pointed out that the characteristics of "shapers" like Musk are that, on one hand, they possess a grand strategic vision, and on the other hand, pay extreme attention to details. He recalled that Musk once showed him details of Tesla vehicles and discussed concrete ideas such as sending plant irrigation devices to Mars.

Currently, Mars exploration remains the core of SpaceX's long-term strategy, and Musk continues to bet on rockets, satellites, and artificial intelligence and other fields.