Tesla CEO Elon Musk reacts to old picture with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos

A Twitter handle @TrungTPhan took to his handle to share a small story about Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and posted an old picture of the two eating together. Musk on Sunday reacted to the throwback memory and wrote, "Wow, hard to believe that was 17 years ago!"

According to the Twitter handle, the two met in 2004 for a meal to discuss space. "It was one of their few in-person interactions," Phang wrote.

1/ In 2004, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos met for a meal to discuss space.

It was one of their few in-person interactions.

The conversation they had perfectly captures the different approaches they've taken to space exploration.

Here's the story 🧵 pic.twitter.com/g8hAsEj3d4

— Trung Phan 🇨🇦 (@TrungTPhan) March 1, 2021

Wow, hard to believe that was 17 years ago!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 21, 2021

Read the Story by Trung Phan —

4/ Bezos' space company Blue Origins was officially incorporated in Sept 2000.

Elon Musk wouldn't launch SpaceX until Mar 2002. He bankrolled it with 2 big tech exits:

• selling Zip2 to Compaq for $300m in 1999
• netting $180m after eBay bought PayPal for $1.5B in July 2002

— Trung Phan 🇨🇦 (@TrungTPhan) March 1, 2021

6/ While SpaceX had yet to launch a rocket into space, it was testing engines in Texas and Bezos wanted to pick Musk's brains.

When they met in 2004, Musk was not impressed by Bezos' progress: pic.twitter.com/2a2a8iWHDI

— Trung Phan 🇨🇦 (@TrungTPhan) March 1, 2021

7/ Like really unimpressed ("dude, we tried that") pic.twitter.com/NfLpTRMQbA

— Trung Phan 🇨🇦 (@TrungTPhan) March 1, 2021

8/ Why did Bezos ignore Musk's advice?

His history at Amazon clearly shows 3 things:
• vast patience
• trailblazing its own path
• constant experimentation

If Bezos was wrong, he wanted to find out on his own...and didn't mind if that would take some time.

— Trung Phan 🇨🇦 (@TrungTPhan) March 1, 2021

9/ The Bezos strategy is enshrined in Blue Origin's motto and its coat of arms.

The motto is "Gradatim Ferociter" (step by step, ferociously) while the coat of arms has a pair of turtles (AKA the tortoise vs. the hare) heading to the stars.

Slow and steady wins it for Bezos. pic.twitter.com/hnDDrKWHEc

— Trung Phan 🇨🇦 (@TrungTPhan) March 1, 2021

10/ Conversely, SpaceX's motto is "Head down. Plow through the line" Musk's aim of creating a multi-planet species (eg Mars) requires urgency.

(Bezos is more focussed on creating a space economy for millions of people)

SpaceX's first successful launch came 4yrs after they met. pic.twitter.com/gdHZQpLmNo

— Trung Phan 🇨🇦 (@TrungTPhan) March 1, 2021

12/ With Bezos retiring from Amazon and focussing more on Blue Origin, the battle b/t the world's 2 richest people (each worth $160B+) may just be starting.

While SpaceX has the clear lead, Bezos is likely banking on Aesop's tortoise and hare fable to win the race. pic.twitter.com/mpJOTazMBP

— Trung Phan 🇨🇦 (@TrungTPhan) March 1, 2021