Karim said the inspiration for YouTube first came from Janet Jackson's role in 2004 Super Bowl incident when her breast was exposed during her performance, and later from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Karim could not easily find video clips of either event online, which led to the idea of a video sharing site.
Elon Musk was always keen on the possibilities of electric cars. So, in February 2004, he became one of the major funders of Tesla Motors, later renamed Tesla, Musk led the Series A round of investment, joining Tesla's board of directors as its chairman.