TOMORROW SPACEX GOES PUBLIC AT A $1.77T VALUATION. THE LAST TIME ELON MUSK TOOK A COMPANY PUBLIC, A REPORTER LISTED EVERY REASON THE DEAL WAS A "LEAP OF FAITH." The company was not making a profit. No mass production. No distribution. Just a prototype. Here was Musk's response, on Tesla IPO day, June 29, 2010: "The smartest money in the world is betting on Tesla. They must have a reason for doing so because obviously, to go public and increase the range and increase the price in this market is not easy, and these are very well-informed people." Then the reporter pressed him on the losses. Musk fired back: "If Tesla were just making the sports car and doing our powertrain supply business, we would be profitable as a company. We're expanding by 3,000% in the space of 2 to 3 years. It's just not possible for the company as a whole to be profitable with that rate of expansion. It's not some fundamental flaw in the Tesla business." Tesla $TSLA priced at $17, opened at $19, and closed at $23.89. Up 41% on day one. The deal raised $226M. At the time, Musk himself had just $650,000 in liquid assets per public filings and was taking loans from friends to cover personal expenses. Almost everything he had was tied up in Tesla. A $10,000 investment in Tesla at the IPO would be worth ~$3.41 million today. BlackRock alone just ordered at least $5B worth of SpaceX shares.