Reeve learned as a child how to survive. When he was a child, his parents recognized that there was something different about Reeve. He was highly intelligent but struggled with social interactions. He was unable to make friends, failed to understand social cues, became lost in his own thoughts, became obsessed with certain interests, and was unable to understand empathy. During conversations, Reeve would often stop mid-sentence and get a glazed look. He would pause, sometime for minutes, while his thoughts were processing. Sometimes he would continue the sentence where he left off as if nothing had happened. Other times, he would simply walk away. Reeve, the smallest child in his elementary class, was constantly targeted by bullies who enjoyed punching him in the face. As an adult, Reeve said, “If you have never been punched in the nose, you have no idea how it affects you the rest of your life.”

His mother thought he was a genius, but his father saw his awkwardness as a weakness. Reeve’s father often used physical and mental torture against him. Reeve’s father constantly berated Reeve and called him useless, an idiot, and, one that stuck more than the others, stupid. Although never officially diagnosed, Reeve was born with a neurodevelopmental disorder known as Asperger Syndrome. On the autism spectrum, someone with Asperger’s Syndrome is considered “high functioning.” Reeve’s father thought Reeve just needed toughening up.

When he was twelve years old, Reeve’s father sent him to a wilderness survival camp. At camp, counselors gave the children a small ration of food and water. The children were allowed, then encouraged, to fight the other children for their rations. The bigger, stronger kids thrived after beating up and stealing the food and water from the weaker ones. Reeve, small and socially awkward, was one of the weaker ones. At the end of the first week, the boys were divided into two groups and ordered to attack. The stronger team took the food and water from the weaker team. The children on both teams were left battered and bleeding. Every few years, a child died during the wilderness survival camp. Rather than altering the mission of the wilderness survival camp for safety, the counselors used the deaths as warnings. “Don’t be stupid like that dumb [expletive] who died last year,” they would say, “Don’t be the weak dumb [expletive].” When Reeve returned home from camp, he had lost ten pounds.

In college, Reeve still struggled to make friends, but he used his ability to concentrate for long periods of time to his advantage. He wrote a business plan for an electronic book service similar to the e-books many of us now read. Following college, Reeve, along with his brother and another student, founded a company that became known as Zip2 whose product was internet-based city guides with maps and directions. Most of us use this technology on our mobile phones to get directions. In February 1999, the founders sold Zip2 and Reeve received $22 million. In the following month, Reeve co-founded an online banking service and email payment company now called PayPal. Three years later, the founders sold PayPal to eBay for $1.5 billion in stock, and Reeve received $175.8 million. From there, Reeve cofounded two other companies which have become successful.

Despite what his father thought, Reeve was not worthless. He certainly was not stupid. Reeve still struggles with social interactions and refers to ideas that he disagrees with, even some of the ideas of his own employees, as stupid. “Adversity shaped me,” he claims. Reeve said the time at the wilderness survival camp taught him some necessary skills which have helped him run SpaceX and Tesla. Reeve is the middle name of Elon Musk.