Andrea James interview 8/8/16

[RobStark]

A new question: Will you go out on a date with Austin EV?

Her husband might have a small issue with that?

 

[daxz]

How did the online forums influence your analysis of TSLA or other stocks?

 

[Cosmacelf]

Has it started yet? Haven't seen the video start yet...

 

[Cosmacelf]

Dave I'm fairly certain I can answer the last one for you. She has only driven the Model X. I repeat, only driven the Model X. I'm basing this on her Youtube channel video of her test drive.

She just said on the live feed that she test drove a Roadster in early days...

 

[surfside]

I've never joined one of these live, but I can't seem to figure out how to get it to work either...

Some help would be appreciated if it is already live...

 

[Cosmacelf]

It is live. It just started for me out of the blue. Keep trying.

BTW, she also test drove a Model S early. The fast acceleration actually induced her labor that night, no lie.

 

[tlo]

Awesome! Thanks for doing this, Andrea and Dave!

 

[techmaven]

Wow, that was great! Thanks so much to Dave for setting this up and to Andrea James for giving us the time and letting us peak behind the curtain.

I must say, as a retail investor, it does feel like we don't quite get the same access. For example, I've never gotten any response from Tesla IR.

I would definitely sign up for an Andrea James TSLA newsletter.

 

[Fallenone]

Thanks for organizing this Dave!

 

[mrdoubleb]

This was awesome Dave, thanks for making this happen! We always knew she was super smart, but learning she has an econ/physics background and understanding the depth of her research with those fascinating details (calling the bar accross the street from the factory LOL) really explains a lot.

 

[surfside]

I'm going to need to get a tutorial on how to get these hang outs to work live. Lol. Feeling super technologically challenged here.

DaveT, could you post the chat as a YouTube similar to what you did for the Q2 earnings discussion?

EDIT: just checked your YouTube channel and saw it is already posted. Thanks Dave!

 

[fallen888]

Any chance to get a transcript of the interview?

 

[Cosmacelf]

I'm going to need to get a tutorial on how to get these hang outs to work live. Lol. Feeling super technologically challenged here.

DaveT, could you post the chat as a YouTube similar to what you did for the Q2 earnings discussion?

EDIT: just checked your YouTube channel and saw it is already posted. Thanks Dave!

Could you post a link to the YouTube video? Thanks.

 

[MitchJi]

I've never joined one of these live, but I can't seem to figure out how to get it to work either...

Some help would be appreciated if it is already live...

I finally got it to work by installing Chrome (worked immediately) on our Mac.

Wow, that was great! Thanks so much to Dave for setting this up and to Andrea James for giving us the time and letting us peak behind the curtain.

I must say, as a retail investor, it does feel like we don't quite get the same access. For example, I've never gotten any response from Tesla IR.

We definitely don't get the same access. I sent the following email last year to Tesla IR (Ron Baron visits 3 or 4 times per year):

I am extremely enthusiastic about the changes that Tesla is making in the world, and about my investments in Tesla.

I am also a member of the Tesla Motors Club Forum:
(Tesla Motors Club).

The following article was very useful to me, in my investment decisions in Tesla.

We were encouraged to see Tesla's new body line (called Body Line 2) beginning to pilot Model X shells, and we view this as a good sign toward the company being able to launch the vehicle "on time." Compared to Body Line 1, the sheer size and greater number of production robots (we'd estimate 3x to 4x) was evident, and we couldn't help but notice several buses worth of new employees receiving training for the new line. To say the mood in the factory is one of "gearing up" would be an understatement, said Erickson...

So I would really like to arrange some regular tours, something like 3-5 times a year, either for myself, or a few individual stockholders/forum members who could make periodic reports (if that is ok with you) to the forum.

I am hoping to gain regular access to the type of information in the article above. I am not trying to obtain any information beyond what it is okay to disseminate to the general public, but if you do convey anything that Tesla wants kept confidential I will sign and keep an NDA.

Thank You!

Best Wishes,

Mitch

I received this reply:

I wish we had the bandwidth for this but we don’t and we’d rather hire another engineer than another IR person.

This is probably legal, but it's not ethical IMO and definitely not a good way to treat members of the Tesla family. Maybe if we approached Tesla as a group we could sign NDA's, and get permission to make video's of tours and distribute them to the group?

I think I could find buyers on the forum, and get permission to go on their tours, but my health has deteriorated to the point where I'm to weak to go on tours. About the same time I posted that we should try to find an employee to give us that kind of information (Andrea mentioned having a source on the factory floor) and the responses basically accused me of being an unethical sleaze ("please don't do that").

I would definitely sign up for an Andrea James TSLA newsletter.

And pay $40k for it?

 

[SteveG3]

thanks Dave and Andrea, that was entertaining, and very very interesting.

great job by Dave, and Andrea, it was really generous and helpful of you to share your well studied front seat perspective on Tesla

 

[austinEV]

Piling on to say great talk! Thanks to Dave to setting it up and to Andrea for offering her time. I watched it delayed so couldn't vote/comment live.

The thing I got out of it is I want her spreadsheet.... Surely she isn't using it any more? Maybe dumbed down. Honestly, if you look at us and our "crowdsourcing" we have gotten lax on the actual modeling. I think it would be neat if we had an official model that we all worked from and debated the inputs and assumptions.

Dave, sweet talk her maybe?

 

[tinm]

Missed this but hoping to watch tonight. Is there a YouTube video?

 

[techmaven]

Piling on to say great talk! Thanks to Dave to setting it up and to Andrea for offering her time. I watched it delayed so couldn't vote/comment live.

The thing I got out of it is I want her spreadsheet.... Surely she isn't using it any more? Maybe dumbed down. Honestly, if you look at us and our "crowdsourcing" we have gotten lax on the actual modeling. I think it would be neat if we had an official model that we all worked from and debated the inputs and assumptions.

Dave, sweet talk her maybe?

My feeling on intensive modeling is that Tesla is further and further away from "normal" making our ability to model all sorts of costs increasingly more difficult. I wouldn't mind it as a starting point, but I do wonder about the intellectual property rights of it.

 

[DaveT]

 

[AlMc]

Thanks Dave and Andrea. I put a link on the ST thread Dave.

Most revealing for me is that the analysts get private calls after the CC No wonder we retail investors are at a disadvantage