5 ms·

Elon Musk is the greatest PR savant of our generation. I mean, he's an absolutely outstanding entrepreneur, genius engineer and fascinating technologist. But, w

Elon Musk is the greatest PR savant of our generation. I mean, he's an absolutely outstanding entrepreneur, genius engineer and fascinating technologist. But, wow. His personal brand carries so much weight, I'm definitely interested in learning about the PR people and / or firms behind his success. Buying a single-letter domain is impressive, to say the least. But a whole TechCrunch article, headlining with your face and name, because you tweeted about a domain name purchase for sentimental value is really next level. How did he manage to build such an impressive cognitive footprint in a world that's constantly fighting for your attention and ad revenue? (... but then again, in the world of domain name purchases, I'm sure we'd all share a laugh if Sean Parker and / or Justin Timberlake bought "thefacebook.com" from Facebook.)

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
amenghra 9y ago
thefacebook.com is/was the web mail portal: https://mail.thefacebook.com/ https://mail.thefacebook.com/
- smachiz 9y ago
  Are they really running Exchange 2010?
  - kchoudhu 9y ago
    Wouldn't be surprising. As it turns out, lots of businesses run on Microsoft technologies.
    - hrrsn 9y ago
      I think the poster was questioning why they weren't running a more recent version of Exchange such as 2013/2016
      - kchoudhu 9y ago
        My company uses 2010 as well. It's regularly patched and supported for another two or three years. Why fix what's not broken? (Yes, I know Clinton used 2010. Her admin was a dumbass though).
  - astrodust 9y ago
    That's both disturbing and sad.
    - jhall1468 9y ago
      So does Amazon and most major tech firms not named Google. There's literally no better alternative for a large enterprises.
      - astrodust 9y ago
        I mean that it's seven years out of date. That part. It would also be nice if there was an enterprise alternative to Exchange that isn't Google Apps, but hey, dreams.
  - cbhl 9y ago
    What were you expecting? GMail?
    - NDT 9y ago
      Actually, yes
  - wfunction 9y ago
    Yeah, they do. Turns out the product actually works, who knew!
- GauntletWizard 9y ago
  That's fb.com's exchange server; I know, because my credentials auto filled. Not related to whatever used to be there.
- skinnymuch 9y ago
  They sure won't ever be using Google Suites
heydonovan 9y ago
Who else is creating exciting companies such as Tesla, OpenAI, Neuralink, and SpaceX? I can't think of anyone else who has started such exciting companies. No need for a PR firm at that point.
- keithwhor 9y ago
  Literally thousands of researchers, professors, entrepreneurs and engineers. You know of those four (and can't think of anyone else!) because Elon Musk sold his vision to investors, employees, and the public through impressive salesmanship and an obscene amount of both grit and persistence. He aggregated resources and did what you do when you accumulate wealth for business purposes; he spent it to forward his goals. Some of which went towards impressive PR stunts and people wrangling.
  - yeahsure 9y ago
    I'm guessing he meant who's creating all those kind of companies at the same time. There's definitely thousands of peoples/companies working on those same problems/markets.
  - hn_throwaway_99 9y ago
    I'm going to call bullshit on the PR sotext of it. Musk had THE most successful internet finance company originally with PayPal, then parlayed that into extremely risky, potentially world-changing bets with SpaceX, Tesla, SolarCity, and others. Musk gets such great PR because the stuff he's done is actually an order of magnitude more impressing than others who have done "similar" things. It's pretty analogous to people saying Steve Jobs had "amazing PR". It's easy to have amazing PR when you have amazing products, and so many of Apple's products (the Mac, iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad) really were game changers in terms of functionality and usability.
    - keithwhor 9y ago
      PR isn't something you "get", it's something you actively work for. Conference appearances, press releases, interviews, television spots, documentary participation... these all take time, energy and planning. Yes, as you get more and more well-known these opportunities appear spontaneously, but it doesn't make them any less time-consuming - I would argue the opposite, they become an increasingly important commitment. Elon undoubtedly hustled for a lot of this stuff on his own, but I would be extremely surprised if he hasn't been supported by at least tens of individuals (and / or firms) over the years just for his personal brand alone (not including company-specific PR that's run by internal marketing teams). The thing is; the entire point of his PR, no matter who helps perpetuate it, is built to craft the very opinion you have: Elon is amazing, and he can do it all on his own. While that's probably true to a large extent, it's not the only "truth" and reality. I, personally, am interested in the stories of the people who have helped him along the way - however few or many there may be.
rl3 9y ago
It helps that his name sounds cool as hell, or at the very least it's quite different. Of course, being awesome enough to have Robert Downey Jr. model his portrayal of Tony Stark in Iron Man after you accounts for most of it.
- gordon_freeman 9y ago
  isn't it more like Richard Branson or Larry Ellison. I mean I can't imagine Elon spending so much money on such poor things like Yacht or private island. :)
  - rl3 9y ago
    Buying expensive toys isn't the point, it's primarily the voracious intellectual nature of the character that makes Tony Stark. “But Robert Downey, when we were prepping ‘Iron Man,’ said, ‘There’s somebody we should sit down and talk with.’” “[He] said, ‘This is a guy who can give us some insight into what it’d really be like to be Tony Stark.’”[0] [0] https://www.recode.net/2016/10/12/13259344/elon-musk-iron-man-jon-favreau-tony-stark-spacex-recode-podcast https://www.recode.net/2016/10/12/13259344/elon-musk-iron-ma...
  - skinnymuch 9y ago
    That's stuff he did on the side. A major part of Iron Man and RDJ in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is his intense work ethic and intelligence with building the suit among other edgy tech stuff. Elon seems best suited.
skinnymuch 9y ago
I love Elon Musk. Calling me a fanboy is an understatement. But yeah agree with what you say. His PR and brand are top notch. The article is indeed not really needed. He feels like the individual equivalent to Google in the 00s and early parts of this decade when they were close to being infallible in the eyes of the general public and especially to the tech community. Impressive job by the both of them!
- Theodores 9y ago
  He also has what I imagine to be 'Howard Hughes' heroic-visionary-craziness (from before the pain relief medication turned Howard Hughes actually crazy). Like most people here I was not around when Howard Hughes was, however, having an Elon Musk around on planet earth right now does make you wonder what times must have been like at the start of aviation or motoring when there were apparently more popular visionary geniuses around getting stuff done. I also think Elon Musk is reminiscent of the early railway pioneers - Brunel and Stephenson's son spring to mind.
babyrainbow 9y ago
Elon Musk is the Christopher Nolan of Tech.
joelrunyon 9y ago
That'd be extra weird considering Justin Timberlake was a major investor in Myspace...

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

amenghra 9y ago

thefacebook.com is/was the web mail portal: https://mail.thefacebook.com/ https://mail.thefacebook.com/

smachiz 9y ago
Are they really running Exchange 2010?
- kchoudhu 9y ago
  Wouldn't be surprising. As it turns out, lots of businesses run on Microsoft technologies.
  - hrrsn 9y ago
    I think the poster was questioning why they weren't running a more recent version of Exchange such as 2013/2016
    - kchoudhu 9y ago
      My company uses 2010 as well. It's regularly patched and supported for another two or three years. Why fix what's not broken? (Yes, I know Clinton used 2010. Her admin was a dumbass though).
- astrodust 9y ago
  That's both disturbing and sad.
  - jhall1468 9y ago
    So does Amazon and most major tech firms not named Google. There's literally no better alternative for a large enterprises.
    - astrodust 9y ago
      I mean that it's seven years out of date. That part. It would also be nice if there was an enterprise alternative to Exchange that isn't Google Apps, but hey, dreams.
- cbhl 9y ago
  What were you expecting? GMail?
  - NDT 9y ago
    Actually, yes
- wfunction 9y ago
  Yeah, they do. Turns out the product actually works, who knew!
GauntletWizard 9y ago
That's fb.com's exchange server; I know, because my credentials auto filled. Not related to whatever used to be there.
skinnymuch 9y ago
They sure won't ever be using Google Suites

heydonovan 9y ago

Who else is creating exciting companies such as Tesla, OpenAI, Neuralink, and SpaceX? I can't think of anyone else who has started such exciting companies. No need for a PR firm at that point.

keithwhor 9y ago
Literally thousands of researchers, professors, entrepreneurs and engineers. You know of those four (and can't think of anyone else!) because Elon Musk sold his vision to investors, employees, and the public through impressive salesmanship and an obscene amount of both grit and persistence. He aggregated resources and did what you do when you accumulate wealth for business purposes; he spent it to forward his goals. Some of which went towards impressive PR stunts and people wrangling.
- yeahsure 9y ago
  I'm guessing he meant who's creating all those kind of companies at the same time. There's definitely thousands of peoples/companies working on those same problems/markets.
- hn_throwaway_99 9y ago
  I'm going to call bullshit on the PR sotext of it. Musk had THE most successful internet finance company originally with PayPal, then parlayed that into extremely risky, potentially world-changing bets with SpaceX, Tesla, SolarCity, and others. Musk gets such great PR because the stuff he's done is actually an order of magnitude more impressing than others who have done "similar" things. It's pretty analogous to people saying Steve Jobs had "amazing PR". It's easy to have amazing PR when you have amazing products, and so many of Apple's products (the Mac, iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad) really were game changers in terms of functionality and usability.
  - keithwhor 9y ago
    PR isn't something you "get", it's something you actively work for. Conference appearances, press releases, interviews, television spots, documentary participation... these all take time, energy and planning. Yes, as you get more and more well-known these opportunities appear spontaneously, but it doesn't make them any less time-consuming - I would argue the opposite, they become an increasingly important commitment. Elon undoubtedly hustled for a lot of this stuff on his own, but I would be extremely surprised if he hasn't been supported by at least tens of individuals (and / or firms) over the years just for his personal brand alone (not including company-specific PR that's run by internal marketing teams). The thing is; the entire point of his PR, no matter who helps perpetuate it, is built to craft the very opinion you have: Elon is amazing, and he can do it all on his own. While that's probably true to a large extent, it's not the only "truth" and reality. I, personally, am interested in the stories of the people who have helped him along the way - however few or many there may be.

rl3 9y ago

It helps that his name sounds cool as hell, or at the very least it's quite different. Of course, being awesome enough to have Robert Downey Jr. model his portrayal of Tony Stark in Iron Man after you accounts for most of it.

gordon_freeman 9y ago
isn't it more like Richard Branson or Larry Ellison. I mean I can't imagine Elon spending so much money on such poor things like Yacht or private island. :)
- rl3 9y ago
  Buying expensive toys isn't the point, it's primarily the voracious intellectual nature of the character that makes Tony Stark. “But Robert Downey, when we were prepping ‘Iron Man,’ said, ‘There’s somebody we should sit down and talk with.’” “[He] said, ‘This is a guy who can give us some insight into what it’d really be like to be Tony Stark.’”[0] [0] https://www.recode.net/2016/10/12/13259344/elon-musk-iron-man-jon-favreau-tony-stark-spacex-recode-podcast https://www.recode.net/2016/10/12/13259344/elon-musk-iron-ma...
- skinnymuch 9y ago
  That's stuff he did on the side. A major part of Iron Man and RDJ in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is his intense work ethic and intelligence with building the suit among other edgy tech stuff. Elon seems best suited.

skinnymuch 9y ago

I love Elon Musk. Calling me a fanboy is an understatement. But yeah agree with what you say. His PR and brand are top notch. The article is indeed not really needed. He feels like the individual equivalent to Google in the 00s and early parts of this decade when they were close to being infallible in the eyes of the general public and especially to the tech community. Impressive job by the both of them!

Theodores 9y ago
He also has what I imagine to be 'Howard Hughes' heroic-visionary-craziness (from before the pain relief medication turned Howard Hughes actually crazy). Like most people here I was not around when Howard Hughes was, however, having an Elon Musk around on planet earth right now does make you wonder what times must have been like at the start of aviation or motoring when there were apparently more popular visionary geniuses around getting stuff done. I also think Elon Musk is reminiscent of the early railway pioneers - Brunel and Stephenson's son spring to mind.

babyrainbow 9y ago

Elon Musk is the Christopher Nolan of Tech.

joelrunyon 9y ago

That'd be extra weird considering Justin Timberlake was a major investor in Myspace...