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  1. skybrian
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    This is a broad, abstract historical argument based on pattern-matching. To show that it’s true, we would need a lot of historical detail. What do the people around Musk really believe? What...

    This is a broad, abstract historical argument based on pattern-matching. To show that it’s true, we would need a lot of historical detail. What do the people around Musk really believe? What evidence do we have of their beliefs?

    I can supply a little bit of detail. At one time I knew the founders of Tesla (not Musk), since I worked for them at a previous startup. They weren’t in it because they liked Musk. They had a vision about building electric cars. There was a blog laying out their vision, which isn’t on Tesla’s website anymore, but maybe someone can find an archive?

    Musk was already rich and funded it, presumably because because he shared that vision. He had a big ego even then and I heard about some stupid arguments. There was a time when Tesla was doing badly (this was a high risk endeavor) and Musk eventually fired the CEO and took over.

    Based on this, I don’t think people were joining those companies because they really liked Musk, but because they believed in the mission. Tesla attracted frustrated car guys who wanted to do something more inspiring than they could in Detroit. SpaceX most likely attracted frustrated space fans. The pitch is: would you rather work on the same old stuff at Lockheed or build something better? Some people are willing to put up with a lot (in terms of bad work-life balance) to build something better.

    Sure, there were a lot of Musk fans later, but I think that was based on the accomplishments of his companies after they started showing success. (And built on the accomplishments of all those car guys and space fans.)

    So one problem with the charismatic leader argument is that prophets don’t have money. Partnering with Musk was attractive because he was a weird guy with money who was willing to fund weird, risky things that people wanted to do, often when such funding was hard to find. It’s also clear that he’s willing to bet the company on building technically interesting things, when someone more sane about financial risk would play it safe. And that’s reason enough to put up with some eccentricity.

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