Musk tested Davis' engineering skills by challenging him to make a $120,000 part with a budget of $5,000. After months of work, Davis emailed Musk that he did so with just $3,900 and Musk responded with one word: "Ok."
Davis was living in D.C. working for SpaceX and missed California-style Frozen Yogurt, so he taught himself to make it "via trial and error" and opened his own yogurt shop, "Mr. Yogato."
Mr. Yogato offered discounts to customers who could answer trivia questions, or ask "Seinfeld" trivia questions that Davis couldn't answer. Customers also got a discount for dressing as tennis player Bjorn Borg.
Davis ultimately held a Willy Wonka-style contest to select the new owner of Mr. Yogato and sold it for $1 to the new owner.
next slide will load in 15 secondsSkip AdSkip AdDavis founded and ran Mr. Yogato while simultaneously earning his Ph.D. in economics at George Mason University. The focus of his dissertation was US currency debasement.
After getting his Ph.D., Davis opened a bar in D.C. called Thomas Foolery, which was one the city's first establishments to accept Bitcoin payments.
Thomas Foolery offered "gimmick upon gimmick," according to the Washington Post. The bar offered "angry hour," when patrons could receive a discount for shouting their drink order. Visitors to the bar could also get discounts for things like dancing "the Carlton," a move from "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air."
Davis is reportedly a devoted fan of Ayn Rand and has quoted "Atlas Shrugged" during public events. He was also an extra in a 2012 "Atlas Shrugged" movie.
Musk hand-picked Davis to lead Boring Company. At an event announcing the company's tunnel plans, Davis joked that they would use bricks made from excavated dirt to build a pyramid in Musk's honor.