3 ms·

Yes, he is innovating and by far the most inspirational living entrepreneur in the tech world. But he's not even close to the most successful from a financial

Yes, he is innovating and by far the most inspirational living entrepreneur in the tech world. But he's not even close to the most successful from a financial P&L standpoint yet. That honor would have to go to Larry Page.

bpchaps 11y ago
And here lies the problem.. edit: By problem, I mean the strong push for P&L over Making Shit Better.
- maratd 11y ago
  > And here lies the problem.. What problem? Google is something that helps billions of people every day in substantial ways. No, it isn't revolutionary and exciting, but things that make the greatest impact rarely are. You either want to help people or you want to do flashy things that grab peoples' attention. Linus had a great TED about this today. http://www.ted.com/talks/linus_torvalds_the_mind_behind_linux#t-911069 http://www.ted.com/talks/linus_torvalds_the_mind_behind_linu... BTW, Linus has done more for humanity than Musk ever will. Teslas run on Linux and I would be surprised if his rocket didn't use it in some way as well. But yes, we all love Elon Musk.
  - bpchaps 11y ago
    Yeah... I should've been more clear. I mean to say that the poster I responded to is focused more on money rather than, "Holy shit, we landed a fucking rocket from the sky on a fucking barge in middle of the ocean. Fuck yeah!" p&l is a silly goal when it comes to "Fuck yeah, progress!"
    - jaxomlotus 11y ago
      Not when you are an investor in Musk's projects (which I am). If investors don't see a return on "Fuck yeah, progress" type investments, they will stop making those investments and opportunities for progress to succeed will diminish.
    - maratd 11y ago
      > p&l is a silly goal when it comes to "Fuck yeah, progress!" Is it though? We don't throw money at people for building useless shit. If you make a lot of money, it's because you helped a lot of people.
      - bpchaps 11y ago
        You throw money at these sorts of companies to build knowledge and skill. You're investing in the future's economy and not the now's. It's selfish to think otherwise. Why does making money have to be intrinsic to helping people? Ugh. Ugh, I say.
- stcredzero 11y ago
  I doubt you can concretely define this "problem." And that is the actual problem!
- gozur88 11y ago
  Not unless you're an investor. And you're probably not an investor in SpaceX, since it's a private company.
- jaxomlotus 11y ago
  A good entrepreneur needs to do both.
sixQuarks 11y ago
I don't think you should be downvoted. It's true, perhaps entrepreneur is the wrong word to use here because the goal of most companies is to maximize profits/shareholder value. how about "most inspiring entrepreneur"? The two people that come closest in recent times, in my opinion, are Steve Jobs and Howard Hughes.
- noir_lord 11y ago
  Jobs wouldn't even make my top 3. Manoj Bhargava for example is way more inspiring (to me) than Jobs ever was, the other two are Bill Gates and Elon Musk.
  - wlesieutre 11y ago
    (Manoj Bhargava being best known for "5-Hour Energy" and pledging 99% of his wealth to philanthropic causes)
    - noir_lord 11y ago
      That and he is investing a lot of money into projects that will have a real world impact using technology we have now to solve problems. For example a state of the art desalination plant that can be mass manufactured.

bpchaps 11y ago

And here lies the problem.. edit: By problem, I mean the strong push for P&L over Making Shit Better.

maratd 11y ago
> And here lies the problem.. What problem? Google is something that helps billions of people every day in substantial ways. No, it isn't revolutionary and exciting, but things that make the greatest impact rarely are. You either want to help people or you want to do flashy things that grab peoples' attention. Linus had a great TED about this today. http://www.ted.com/talks/linus_torvalds_the_mind_behind_linux#t-911069 http://www.ted.com/talks/linus_torvalds_the_mind_behind_linu... BTW, Linus has done more for humanity than Musk ever will. Teslas run on Linux and I would be surprised if his rocket didn't use it in some way as well. But yes, we all love Elon Musk.
- bpchaps 11y ago
  Yeah... I should've been more clear. I mean to say that the poster I responded to is focused more on money rather than, "Holy shit, we landed a fucking rocket from the sky on a fucking barge in middle of the ocean. Fuck yeah!" p&l is a silly goal when it comes to "Fuck yeah, progress!"
  - jaxomlotus 11y ago
    Not when you are an investor in Musk's projects (which I am). If investors don't see a return on "Fuck yeah, progress" type investments, they will stop making those investments and opportunities for progress to succeed will diminish.
  - maratd 11y ago
    > p&l is a silly goal when it comes to "Fuck yeah, progress!" Is it though? We don't throw money at people for building useless shit. If you make a lot of money, it's because you helped a lot of people.
    - bpchaps 11y ago
      You throw money at these sorts of companies to build knowledge and skill. You're investing in the future's economy and not the now's. It's selfish to think otherwise. Why does making money have to be intrinsic to helping people? Ugh. Ugh, I say.
stcredzero 11y ago
I doubt you can concretely define this "problem." And that is the actual problem!
gozur88 11y ago
Not unless you're an investor. And you're probably not an investor in SpaceX, since it's a private company.
jaxomlotus 11y ago
A good entrepreneur needs to do both.

sixQuarks 11y ago

I don't think you should be downvoted. It's true, perhaps entrepreneur is the wrong word to use here because the goal of most companies is to maximize profits/shareholder value. how about "most inspiring entrepreneur"? The two people that come closest in recent times, in my opinion, are Steve Jobs and Howard Hughes.

noir_lord 11y ago
Jobs wouldn't even make my top 3. Manoj Bhargava for example is way more inspiring (to me) than Jobs ever was, the other two are Bill Gates and Elon Musk.
- wlesieutre 11y ago
  (Manoj Bhargava being best known for "5-Hour Energy" and pledging 99% of his wealth to philanthropic causes)
  - noir_lord 11y ago
    That and he is investing a lot of money into projects that will have a real world impact using technology we have now to solve problems. For example a state of the art desalination plant that can be mass manufactured.