Shareholder meeting. Four/five stars. Would recommend!
I'm short on time and sleep so this will be a bit of a brain dump as I don't have the time to write something beautiful just for some n00bs to downvote it for reasons beyond understanding.
This was a fantastic event and I'm glad that I inconvenienced my work and family for a couple days to make it down there. Austin was great all around and it was sweet to meet some new Tesla bulls at the various events. I even managed to sneak an ugly/silly selfie onto K10's phone, the real reason I went to Texas of course.
Yup, it's big baby. As I approached the factory the amount of Tesla related construction for miles all around was staggering. We haven't seen anything yet.
Every employee I engaged with appeared truly happy to be there, psyched to work for Tesla, and loved to talk about anything Tesla. They seemed to be genuinely curious about our thoughts on products. Truly, a spectacular team. Speaking of that team, after the event when most people were clearing out from the chairs and I was waiting to meet Rob Maurer, myself and a lady accidentally bumped into each other going around a pole. It was a mutual oops and we both smiled. Three brain cycles later I realized "holy sh!t that's Robyn Denholm I just bumped into". Apparently Elon gets all the security and the chair of the board is like whatever.
The truck. It truly looks great. I realized what's going on with the front and why sometimes it looks stunted. It's because of how curved the front is now. This only happens at certain angles. Most of the time it looks phenomenal but from the side the front end can appear stunted. I believe the tires said LT285/65R20 123/120H. I have hi-res images of every part of that thing so feel free to ask for specifics. The windshield wiper is no big deal, blends right in. The mirrors don't look bad and do appear to in fact be easily removable. Also, the "vault" was open and I was able to look in and up right through the roof. Either there was no cover on this truck or it does not go into the roof as some had speculated. I saw the OG Cybertruck in NY when Elon did SNL and this appears slightly less aggressive but a more finished product, as it should be. It was unfortunate that they kept it at such an distance, though, it did make for great photos and allow everyone to easily see it this way.
The Semi truck is super cool. Not sure what to say on it. The interior is out of this world and I can't wait until these things are everywhere not stinking up the air. I did get a photo of the charge port but Im sure that's public at this point.
The factory tour was a bit of a disappointment. They took us in groups of 20 and insisted we keep our phones in our pockets. Try as I might, I didn't see anything I would have even wanted to take a photo of. We primarily just saw the end of one of the Model Y lines from the ground and from the upper level. Cool to see for sure, but no battery stuff, castings, cybertruck, updates, nothing. The whole tour was maybe eight minutes. Happy I did it but definitely a bit of mehhh.
I'm sure you've all seen but they had a few other Teslas at the entrance. The Ultra Red on the Model S is absolutely stunning. I've seen it a few times now but this was my best look at it. Move over Mazda red. On the daily I considering trading my P3 in for an Ultra Red Plaid as it is simply stunning. This will definitely be the color I get my Roadster in in, what is it now, 2025? Sigh. I'm so happy that guy asked for an update but "hopefully starting production next year" sounds like I'd get the car 2025 at the earliest. I know "nice problem to have" but it's a bit of a downer. Hopefully the highland refresh gives us a faster P3 in the meantime. The dark cherry Y does nothing for me. It was way too dark, even in the blasting sun. While I wouldn't go for it, the new silver color looked very cool. Looked like liquid stainless steel...if that makes any sense.
Elon. It was fantastic to see him in person. He was energetic, cheerful, charming, etc. You all saw the broadcast but I will add that when he agreed to advertising the crowd went absolutely wild. He did mention being surprised by the reaction but, seriously, the crowd went nuts. At the end when he offered to take questions there immediately appeared three huge lines. Amazingly, he answered nearly everyone's question. It's just so awesome that the richest guy in the world who's a mega-genius is so humble, thoughtful, and giving with his time.
I saw David Faber who seemed very nice. I always liked him and I think his interview with Elon was a masterclass. I give David an A+ and Elon an A in that one. Good stuff.
I was very happy to see Rob Maurer and waited in line to shake his hand and say thank you for being awesome. Another dude who was humble and genuine to everyone he interacted with. I'm pretty sure I was the only person who didn't ask for a selfie after speaking to him. I love Rob but seriously why are all these people taking selfies with him. lol I met a lot of the "Tesla Twitter celebs" as if that's a thing. Everyone was very nice but the whole thing just seemed a little weird somehow. It often feels to me like some of these people, Meet Kevin for example, are more interested in pushing their own thing and riding the Tesla coattails than actual genuine love of the company. After the event he was doing some loud video with a mini crew talking to Sandy on FaceTime and it just felt off-putting to me. Maybe it's me. I grew up on Long Island and was a fan of the generally horrible Mets because the amazing Yankees had so many fans that somehow seemed like they didn't actually care about baseball. I know this is going to sound insane but a part of me wishes there's a stock crash and all the sideshow nonsense gets wiped out and there's not a new YouTube channel devoted to Tesla being made every hour. The true believers will hold and buy and then the company and the stock can continue while all the influencers can go talk about some other ARKK stocks. So yeah, just looking around that made it all still feel bubbly but then again I'm sure this was always the case with Apple which continued to essentially be the greatest stock of all time....for now. No biggie, just a side thought I had and wanted to share. Again, everyone was very nice.
My takeaway is don't sweat the small stuff. I'm a progressive from NY ["woke" in boomer parlance] and I've had my share of eye rolls the past twelve months, and twelve hours, but Elon is amazing and I hope he stays as CEO as long as he desires. Some of us overanalyze every little damn thing he says or does and then make all these predictions that don't happen and then get pissed then blame it on Twitter...etc..etc. It's nonsense. This company is absolutely kicking ass, is stronger than ever, is currently only selling vehicles that it developed years ago before it became a profitable global powerhouse. I can't imagine what's to come from Elon and the rest of the Tesla team. I've never been prouder to be a shareholder and I look forward to taking Elon's suggestion and buying the dip.
I took a ton of photos. If anyone is looking for anything specific please ask.
I'm short on time and sleep so this will be a bit of a brain dump as I don't have the time to write something beautiful just for some n00bs to downvote it for reasons beyond understanding.
This was a fantastic event and I'm glad that I inconvenienced my work and family for a couple days to make it down there. Austin was great all around and it was sweet to meet some new Tesla bulls at the various events. I even managed to sneak an ugly/silly selfie onto K10's phone, the real reason I went to Texas of course.
Yup, it's big baby. As I approached the factory the amount of Tesla related construction for miles all around was staggering. We haven't seen anything yet.
Every employee I engaged with appeared truly happy to be there, psyched to work for Tesla, and loved to talk about anything Tesla. They seemed to be genuinely curious about our thoughts on products. Truly, a spectacular team. Speaking of that team, after the event when most people were clearing out from the chairs and I was waiting to meet Rob Maurer, myself and a lady accidentally bumped into each other going around a pole. It was a mutual oops and we both smiled. Three brain cycles later I realized "holy sh!t that's Robyn Denholm I just bumped into". Apparently Elon gets all the security and the chair of the board is like whatever.
The truck. It truly looks great. I realized what's going on with the front and why sometimes it looks stunted. It's because of how curved the front is now. This only happens at certain angles. Most of the time it looks phenomenal but from the side the front end can appear stunted. I believe the tires said LT285/65R20 123/120H. I have hi-res images of every part of that thing so feel free to ask for specifics. The windshield wiper is no big deal, blends right in. The mirrors don't look bad and do appear to in fact be easily removable. Also, the "vault" was open and I was able to look in and up right through the roof. Either there was no cover on this truck or it does not go into the roof as some had speculated. I saw the OG Cybertruck in NY when Elon did SNL and this appears slightly less aggressive but a more finished product, as it should be. It was unfortunate that they kept it at such an distance, though, it did make for great photos and allow everyone to easily see it this way.
The Semi truck is super cool. Not sure what to say on it. The interior is out of this world and I can't wait until these things are everywhere not stinking up the air. I did get a photo of the charge port but Im sure that's public at this point.
The factory tour was a bit of a disappointment. They took us in groups of 20 and insisted we keep our phones in our pockets. Try as I might, I didn't see anything I would have even wanted to take a photo of. We primarily just saw the end of one of the Model Y lines from the ground and from the upper level. Cool to see for sure, but no battery stuff, castings, cybertruck, updates, nothing. The whole tour was maybe eight minutes. Happy I did it but definitely a bit of mehhh.
I'm sure you've all seen but they had a few other Teslas at the entrance. The Ultra Red on the Model S is absolutely stunning. I've seen it a few times now but this was my best look at it. Move over Mazda red. On the daily I considering trading my P3 in for an Ultra Red Plaid as it is simply stunning. This will definitely be the color I get my Roadster in in, what is it now, 2025? Sigh. I'm so happy that guy asked for an update but "hopefully starting production next year" sounds like I'd get the car 2025 at the earliest. I know "nice problem to have" but it's a bit of a downer. Hopefully the highland refresh gives us a faster P3 in the meantime. The dark cherry Y does nothing for me. It was way too dark, even in the blasting sun. While I wouldn't go for it, the new silver color looked very cool. Looked like liquid stainless steel...if that makes any sense.
Elon. It was fantastic to see him in person. He was energetic, cheerful, charming, etc. You all saw the broadcast but I will add that when he agreed to advertising the crowd went absolutely wild. He did mention being surprised by the reaction but, seriously, the crowd went nuts. At the end when he offered to take questions there immediately appeared three huge lines. Amazingly, he answered nearly everyone's question. It's just so awesome that the richest guy in the world who's a mega-genius is so humble, thoughtful, and giving with his time.
I saw David Faber who seemed very nice. I always liked him and I think his interview with Elon was a masterclass. I give David an A+ and Elon an A in that one. Good stuff.
I was very happy to see Rob Maurer and waited in line to shake his hand and say thank you for being awesome. Another dude who was humble and genuine to everyone he interacted with. I'm pretty sure I was the only person who didn't ask for a selfie after speaking to him. I love Rob but seriously why are all these people taking selfies with him. lol I met a lot of the "Tesla Twitter celebs" as if that's a thing. Everyone was very nice but the whole thing just seemed a little weird somehow. It often feels to me like some of these people, Meet Kevin for example, are more interested in pushing their own thing and riding the Tesla coattails than actual genuine love of the company. After the event he was doing some loud video with a mini crew talking to Sandy on FaceTime and it just felt off-putting to me. Maybe it's me. I grew up on Long Island and was a fan of the generally horrible Mets because the amazing Yankees had so many fans that somehow seemed like they didn't actually care about baseball. I know this is going to sound insane but a part of me wishes there's a stock crash and all the sideshow nonsense gets wiped out and there's not a new YouTube channel devoted to Tesla being made every hour. The true believers will hold and buy and then the company and the stock can continue while all the influencers can go talk about some other ARKK stocks. So yeah, just looking around that made it all still feel bubbly but then again I'm sure this was always the case with Apple which continued to essentially be the greatest stock of all time....for now. No biggie, just a side thought I had and wanted to share. Again, everyone was very nice.
My takeaway is don't sweat the small stuff. I'm a progressive from NY ["woke" in boomer parlance] and I've had my share of eye rolls the past twelve months, and twelve hours, but Elon is amazing and I hope he stays as CEO as long as he desires. Some of us overanalyze every little damn thing he says or does and then make all these predictions that don't happen and then get pissed then blame it on Twitter...etc..etc. It's nonsense. This company is absolutely kicking ass, is stronger than ever, is currently only selling vehicles that it developed years ago before it became a profitable global powerhouse. I can't imagine what's to come from Elon and the rest of the Tesla team. I've never been prouder to be a shareholder and I look forward to taking Elon's suggestion and buying the dip.
I took a ton of photos. If anyone is looking for anything specific please ask.
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