South African born entrepreneur, investor, and inventor-extraordinaire, Elon Musk came to California State University-Bakersfield on Nov. 6. As the first speaker of CSUB’s new Distinguished Speaker Series, the founder of PayPal and CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX spoke to a packed audience in the Dore Theater.

Musk started first with his early years attempting to start a business. Recalling living in an office building and writing code with his brother for the then infant Internet because it was cheaper to live in the office than pay rent.

From there he went into the development and selling of PayPal, and discussed using those profits to found Tesla Motors and SpaceX. Musk mentioned the difficulties of his time running these businesses, as well as SolarCity, during the beginning of the 2008 recession.

Most of the event’s time was spent on questions. These were numerous and involved his current contracts with the US government through SpaceX; his decision to remain in California even with the state’s less than stellar business climate; and the most asked question of the night, his intentions and concepts for the California high speed rail.

Congressman Kevin McCarthy was on hand to announce Musk, and also talked about his [McCarthy] history in the Bakersfield area.