From Elon Musk’s Assistant To SpaceX Investor, Meet Elissa Butterfield

Forbes

Elissa Butterfield spent years of her life responding to Elon Musk’s ever-shifting demands. Now she’s investing in his companies.  Read the full story on Forbes:  https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnhyatt/2025/04/28/from-elon-musks-assistant-to-spacex-investor-meet-elissa-butterfield/ Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Today on Forbes, from Elon Musk's assistant to SpaceX investor, meet Alyssa Butterfield.

00:08In 2016, when she was 25 years old, Alyssa Butterfield, a Los Angeles native working in

00:15the entertainment industry, accepted a new job that would change her life. She went to work

00:20for Elon Musk. At the time, Musk was not the household figure he is today. He was worth closer

00:26to $10 billion, or 38 times less than he is now. For two years, as one of Musk's team

00:34of executive assistants, Butterfield helped manage her mercurial boss's calendar and ever-changing

00:40priorities, from rescuing kids in a cave in Thailand to tunneling holes in Tesla's parking

00:45lot. She coordinated calls with investors, moved around meetings, and juggled Musk's

00:51wide-ranging portfolio, from Tesla and SpaceX duties to his eccentric extracurriculars and

00:57new ventures. In 2018, she graduated to operational roles at both Tesla and SpaceX, before leaving

01:04Musk's payroll in 2022. A former SpaceX employee says, quote,

01:10I got the impression she was incredibly loyal and must have been incredibly effective.

01:14Now, Butterfield is capitalizing on her experience and connections. Since she joined Los Angeles-based

01:22venture capital firm Island Green Capital Management in 2024, the firm has made investments in XAI

01:29and SpaceX, Musk's two fastest-growing companies. Island Green, founded in 2023 by former Goldman Sachs

01:38trader Atit Alualia, was one of at least 61 investors to participate in XAI's $6 billion investment

01:45round last May, which valued the startup at $24 billion, according to PitchBook. In January,

01:53Island Green bought a stake in SpaceX from an unknown seller, likely at a valuation of around $350 billion,

02:00which the company hit last December in a $1.25 billion share sale. Island Green's SpaceX bet was

02:08through a special-purpose vehicle, a structure popular with investors clamoring to get a piece

02:12of SpaceX and willing to pay a fee, according to a person familiar with the matter. Island Green's

02:19Musk-linked bets have already appreciated on paper. XAI raised an additional $6 billion in November

02:26at a $50 billion valuation. The valuation hit $80 billion in Musk's merger in March between XAI and

02:33his social media company X. And now Musk is reportedly seeking to raise even more money for XAI at a so-called

02:40proper value, one that Bloomberg recently suggested could be as high as $120 billion. Likewise, SpaceX shares

02:48are now trading in secondary markets at valuations of between $380 billion to $400 billion,

02:55according to market data trackers, PM Insights, and CapLite.

03:00Island Green has also backed Impulse Space, the startup of another SpaceX alum, Tom Muller,

03:07who is one of the rocket maker's first employees and lead engineer on its rocket.

03:12Butterfield's firm participated in a $150 million fundraising round last October,

03:17which valued the startup at $510 million, according to PitchBook.

03:21Before Butterfield's arrival, Island Green, which now reports $88 million of assets under

03:27management, had made just two other bets in defense company Shield AI and robotics company

03:33Formic. Butterfield joins the growing list of Musk alumni to strike deals and launch companies in the

03:41Musk-influenced venture capital and startup world. Several of Musk's top executives have amassed

03:47$100 million, even billion-dollar fortunes. Veterans of SpaceX have so far launched 116 companies and

03:54raised $6.1 billion in venture capital, according to the SpaceX alumni founder's website.

04:01Musk's chief of staff from 2014 until 2019, who hired Butterfield, Sam Teller, joined Valor Equity Partners,

04:09the firm run by Musk's billionaire pal and investor, Antonio Gracias, and was a partner there for three

04:15and a half years. Unlike her former boss, Butterfield keeps a low profile. She did not

04:22return Forbes' requests for comment for the story. The 34-year-old Los Angeles native graduated cum laude

04:29in 2013 from Belmont University, a private Christian university in Nashville, with a music business

04:34degree, according to the university registrar's office. She began her career at talent agency WME,

04:42rising to the role of assistant to the head of events, according to her LinkedIn. She then jumped

04:47to Musk's team of executive assistants. For full coverage, check out John Hyatt's piece on Forbes.com.

04:56This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes. Thanks for tuning in.

Category

Transcript

Recommended