Gwynne Shotwell is a fuckin boss. She is one of the biggest reasons SpaceX is where it is today. Back in 2002, she was working at a small rocket company called Microcosm. She met up with former colleague Hans Koenigsmann, who had just joined SpaceX, for lunch. After getting a tour, she spent a few minutes talking with Elon. She casually mentioned that SpaceX needed someone focused on business development. Elon agreed, created the role of VP of Business Development, and offered her the job that same day. She almost turned it down. She was going through a divorce, raising two young kids, and joining an unknown rocket startup in an industry where companies failed all the time sounded like one of the riskiest decisions imaginable. Weeks later, while driving on a Los Angeles freeway, she called Elon and said: “I’ve been a fucking idiot… I’m taking the job.” The rest is history. While Elon pushes the impossible and does hardcore engineering, Gwynne makes sure the company actually delivers. She runs the day-to-day operations of SpaceX - leading roughly 22,000 employees, managing customer relationships, overseeing launches, negotiating NASA, commercial, and defense contracts, helping steer the company’s finances, and turning Elon’s bold ideas into real businesses. Her impact is hard to overstate. • She sold launch contracts before SpaceX had ever successfully reached orbit. • She helped secure the $1.6 billion NASA Commercial Resupply Services contract in 2008, a deal that helped keep SpaceX alive after the Falcon 1 failures. • She helped build Falcon into the world’s most active and reliable orbital launch system. • She oversaw milestones including reusable boosters, drone ship landings, fairing recovery, and Crew Dragon becoming the first private spacecraft to carry astronauts to the International Space Station. • She helped turn Starlink into one of the company’s largest profit engines. And 24 years after joining one of the world’s riskiest startups, she stood on the Nasdaq stage and rang the opening bell for SpaceX’s historic 2026 IPO. She’s one of the very few executives who has spent more than two decades working alongside Elon. Gwynne Shotwell is an absolute legend.