6 ms·

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 n

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.
    - ohbleek 9y ago
      I see your point but you're falling into circular logic, with PR becoming the answer to any question concerning his success. It's likely the case that great PR resulted from extraordinary products and those products succeeded from both solvIng problems and well, great PR.
    - NotSammyHagar 9y ago
      Musk actually builds things that no one else is, over and over again. It gets written about because he's accomplishing results - it's different than just having ideas. I have ideas, but I never built them out in the world.
      - babyrainbow 9y ago
        Yes. Non one has built an electric car. A rocket engine. and a payment gateway. Paypal was not even built by Elon Musk...By the way. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confinity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confinity
        hn_throwaway_99 9y ago
        I think that totally misses the point. Yes, there have been other electric cars. There have been no other electric cars that have integrated such great functionality in such a desirable body. Musk proved electric cars could be cool. Same thing goes for private spaceflight. There are other private spaceflight companies, but no others are doing as much to advance the reduction of launch costs. Again, it's similar to the argument some people make that the iPod was just another MP3 player, or the iPhone was just another phone.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]

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.
  - ohbleek 9y ago
    I see your point but you're falling into circular logic, with PR becoming the answer to any question concerning his success. It's likely the case that great PR resulted from extraordinary products and those products succeeded from both solvIng problems and well, great PR.
  - NotSammyHagar 9y ago
    Musk actually builds things that no one else is, over and over again. It gets written about because he's accomplishing results - it's different than just having ideas. I have ideas, but I never built them out in the world.
    - babyrainbow 9y ago
      Yes. Non one has built an electric car. A rocket engine. and a payment gateway. Paypal was not even built by Elon Musk...By the way. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confinity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confinity
      - hn_throwaway_99 9y ago
        I think that totally misses the point. Yes, there have been other electric cars. There have been no other electric cars that have integrated such great functionality in such a desirable body. Musk proved electric cars could be cool. Same thing goes for private spaceflight. There are other private spaceflight companies, but no others are doing as much to advance the reduction of launch costs. Again, it's similar to the argument some people make that the iPod was just another MP3 player, or the iPhone was just another phone.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]