Musk has also said SpaceX will likely spin out and IPO Starlink. I think he also said he intends to use his wealth from Tesla, and therefore likely Starlink too, to fund his Mars ambitions.
There’s also quite a lot of opportunity of Starship is successfully “fully and rapidly reusable”. Point to point transport of cargo and potentially even humans, etc.
Yes starship will open up a lot of opportunities, however the market is not large enough unless spaceX creates it themselves.
Falcon 9 already launches more than 50% of all Payload sent to orbit today.
They will have the launch airline or cargo service company too not just build starship and get regulatory approvals, promote, sell tickets/capacity and provide customer service etc.
All risky steps in a possible side use case for the starship program. Realistically none of this happening before mars missions start likely 2030s.
There’s also quite a lot of opportunity of Starship is successfully “fully and rapidly reusable”. Point to point transport of cargo and potentially even humans, etc.