Will.i.am is a powerhouse musician, producer, technologist, entrepreneur and philanthropist. Born Williams Adams, the musician turned entrepreneur is a multi-faceted entertainer and creative innovator, and a seven-time Grammy Award winner. He started off as a solo artist before co-founding the musical group Black Eyed Peas.
As co-founder of Black Eyed Peas, he became a worldwide sensation, working with chart-topping artists like Britney Spears while hanging out with tech pioneers like Google cofounder Larry Page.
Along the way, he reinvented himself as a tech entrepreneur although tech had always been part of his life. The musician and entrepreneur has since made some savvy investment choices over the years.
In a recent interview with Fortune, the Black Eyed Peas founder revealed that he invested in Tesla back in 2006, before Elon Musk became CEO.
“I invested in Tesla in 2006, before Elon took over the company, and he’s done great, taking it to where it is,” he said. “Hopefully, he can figure out a way to get it back to its glory.”
But while Tesla turned out to be a win, Will.i.am admits he missed out on another golden opportunity: Airbnb. The company’s CEO, Brian Chesky, once invited him to invest up to $200,000 in an early funding round. However, after learning that the platform lacked hotel-style amenities like concierge services, he passed.
Looking back, he acknowledges it was a mistake. At a recent SXSW event, he called it the “wrong decision” and a “bad one,” joking in an Instagram video, “Ballin’, I would have been. Now, I’m like bawlin’.” Airbnb’s current $80 billion valuation means even a small stake would have been worth tens of millions.
Beyond Tesla, Will.i.am has backed several other tech ventures, including Pinterest, Dropbox, OpenAI, and Anthropic. He also briefly invested in Twitter, selling his stake after co-founder Jack Dorsey stepped down. “When Jack left, I sold it. Made good there,” he told Fortune.
With his net worth now reported to be $50 million, Will.i.am’s admiration for visionary leaders extends beyond Musk. During a 2016 Drinks Champs podcast appearance, he was asked to choose between Musk and Apple’s Steve Jobs. “Damn, both of those cats is why my life is nice,” he responded, crediting both for shaping his career, as per Business Insider Africa.
