Elon’s Élan - Slate.com article

[claytorj]

Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk has a knack for getting others to fund his ventures.

 

[30seconds]

breaking news - not all startups are cash flow positive!

 

[MikeC]

Seriously, does the author expect him to have 100% self-financed three giant corporations? Clearly, Elon is an intelligent business man who makes good business decisions. I don't hear any of his investors complaining.

 

[EarlyAdopter]

Shocking! A car company that requires a deposit for a factory order?? An aerospace contractor that gets awarded milestone payments?? A leasing company that packages up and sells bonds?? Wow, like, no one else in these industries does that... except for everyone that is.

 

[doctorwho]

I didn't read the article as being attacking, rather that it showed why it takes more than good ideas and good products to be successful

 

[Doug_G]

Shocking! A car company that requires a deposit for a factory order?? An aerospace contractor that gets awarded milestone payments?? A leasing company that packages up and sells bonds?? Wow, like, no one else in these industries does that... except for everyone that is.

Yeah, I think the guy came up with his "hook" then cherry-picked facts to fit his story. I was wondering at times while reading if it was a hit piece, but apparently not. I think it is merely dumb. Elon put all his eggs in the basket at one point. You certainly can't claim that he did everything with someone else's money. He risked plenty.

 

[Objective1]

Gross could have at least mentioned that besides being scarce, the Tesla cars have been EXCELLENT!!! Fisker cars were scarce, too, but excellent? Not so much. And therein lies the heart of the tale.

 

[Ludus]

I think the article is correct in pointing out that a lot of Musk's genius is in finance, publicity and areas outside engineering. Tesla the company's namesake lacked this, but it could also be said of Henry Ford. It is combined though with real genius in engineering. As Objective1 points out, there are lots of examples of creative publicity and finance that don't produce excellent products like Fisker and it just doesn't work. Musk is to technology companies what Warren Buffet is to investment. His performance is consistently better than anyone would think was even possible before he showed it could be done.