When Steve Riabov started his Silicon Valley construction company six years ago, his hero was another business entrepreneur: Elon Musk.
Riabov thought if he modeled his home kitchen and bathroom remodeling business after the “bold, adventurous, and daring” tech leader, it would help his company blossom into a multi-million-dollar home-building enterprise. So he named his firm Musk Construction. But in recent months, Riabov, 35, has become disillusioned with his idol, who has metaphorically and literally taken a chainsaw to the federal government as head of President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency. Riabov, a native of Ukraine, was also deeply upset by Musk’s recent comments about his home country. So, he’s now committed to purging Musk from Musk Construction ‒ even though it will cost him between $15,000 and $20,000 to get a new company trademark and permits. And he’s already removed the Musk Construction logo from the company’s red Tesla vehicles, along with the vanity plates, “MUSK UP” and “MUSK INC.”