8 ms·

Honestly, Elon's presentations are some of the most impressive, inspiring I've ever seen. And the way he just stumbles out words and sentences that are complete

by Osmium 9y ago

Honestly, Elon's presentations are some of the most impressive, inspiring I've ever seen. And the way he just stumbles out words and sentences that are completely revolutionary... casually dropping these absurd, incredible statements. I find it incredible. If anyone else was saying this, was showing these graphics, you'd think it was just wish fulfillment; a fantasy. And I'm sure their timeline is a bit aggressive. But I fully believe the SpaceX team can do this. This has made me feel inspired for the future almost more than anything else has in recent memory. (For context, and to the doubters, I've been following SpaceX for a long time, through their many failures, and they've already revolutionized the space industry. They have a drive and a vision and they're just going for it. This isn't about profits for them, it's about pushing humanity forwards -- and if that sounds grand, it's because it is.)

Diederich 9y ago
"You want to be inspired by things. You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great. That's what being a spacefaring civilization is all about. It's about believing in the future and believing the future will be better than the past. And I can't think of anything more exciting than being out there among the stars. "
- losteric 9y ago
  We need people like this running for office. Not Elon specifically, politics would only get in his way, but inspiring yet pragmatic visionaries... willing to make mistakes, challenge common beliefs, and build the future.
  - Diederich 9y ago
    For sure. The problem....the ancient problem...is that the kinds of mental makeup that would be very good at running large organizations tend to also not WANT to do such things.
spike021 9y ago
His presentation style usually seems to be pretty raw, in a good way. It's not as crisp/polished as Jobs' presentations were, or in fact others. As in, it's not as marketable. It's doesn't seem like it's been a style of preparation for a pure sales/marketing kind of pitch. Kind of interesting, in my opinion.
- Osmium 9y ago
  > His presentation style usually seems to be pretty raw, in a good way. Completely agreed that it's raw in a good way -- you can tell he really has technical detail down too, I noticed one of the times when a slide left too early he still knew the numbers that had been on it. Also he has an understated sense of humor ("mountain"). I also sometimes got the sense he genuinely was in awe at what he was seeing. Like it still took him by surprise. It was interesting to watch. > It's not as crisp/polished as Jobs' presentations were All this said, I wish there were a Jobs-like figure to sell SpaceX. I'm sure there are people who'd disagree with me on this, but I can only imagine how popular/well-known SpaceX would be if they had someone who could pitch to the general public. SpaceX keynotes could be tune-in television with the right person, but it'd have to be someone really tied to the company, I don't think you could hire someone to do this. It'd have to be authentic.
- piyush_soni 9y ago
  Honestly, I'd cringe if he started doing Jobs' style presentations. It's good the way it is!
- DrBazza 9y ago
  Interesting that you mention Jobs in that Musk said, just like Jobs did, that he's reducing the product line to one thing, to increase economies of scale.
sidcool 9y ago
The best one was: "It's 2017 and there's no lunar base, come on"
kornish 9y ago
There was a thread on HN about Flexport the other day, and about how branding as "unsexy" was actually a selling point because customers appreciated the authenticity – they'd rather you be reliable than sexy as a logistics company. I think a lot of people feel the same way about Elon. He's not overpolished, rehearsed, or manipulative...it's just honest and unapologetic.
- ucontrol 9y ago
  This is very well said and accurately describes my impressions of Elon's speeches. I'm sure that I'm not the only one who appreciates his down-to-earth, authentic delivery, and it wouldn't be surprising if Elon and those around him are aware of the attractiveness of this approach themselves.
evanlivingston 9y ago
I would be really excited about a future where everyone had access to clean water. Going to space is fun and exciting. The future of space travel is going to be interesting, but it essential that when we imagine the future that we do so while recognizing the glaring problems of today.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- bicubic 9y ago
  The lack of access to clean water and most of the bad stuff happening around the world is not an engineering problem, it's a political problem. Elon Musk's passion lies in engineering, not in politics. So while your sentiment is fine in a vacuum, I don't think it fits on this thread, and it's certainly not a sound criticism against advancing space colonization. In fact, there's a sizable sentiment that this planet is beyond saving due to political failures, and colonizing other planets is the only way for our species to survive.
  - evanlivingston 9y ago
    I don't mean to antagonize Elon Musk himself. What I wanted to point out is that the future doesn't exist in a vacuum. While some people are jumping around on mars others will be unable to put food on their table. It saddens me to see that things that make people most excited about the future are the development of technologies that don't address issues of inequality. Why would our political failures not follow us to other planets that we colonize?
    - olau 9y ago
      I think it's a harsh view of human nature that doesn't allow for individuals to have individual motivations.
    - solveinequality 9y ago
      what technology will change inequality? genetic engineering to turn the entire human race into sex-free clones?
deepGem 9y ago
This is how I've always felt about presentations, not just by Musk but anyone who presents candidly. Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, Bill Gates also present more or less similar characteristics. They don't prepare/rehearse for the talk. They are thinking on the fly, but they are still confident. This natural behavior is what makes listening and watching to these people so gratifying.
- jonnybgood 9y ago
  > They don't prepare/rehearse for the talk. How do you know that?
  - deepGem 9y ago
    They all have publicly stated that they don't prepare for talks or presentations.
nickik 9y ago
Usually I agree about his presentation. However this one was quite a bit worse then most of them. The slides were not in sync confusing the audience. Not knowing when to clap, made it really uncomfortable. He seemed to just drop stuff randomly without a narrative thread. When he showed the BFR/ITS for the first time, he had a much clear threwline, even while rambling in between.
- bluthru 9y ago
  I don't get the sense that Elon values rehearsal time, but someone should convince him that it's really important.
  - edo 9y ago
    I'd rather he put his time into building and designing than rehearsing speeches.
    - krapp 9y ago
      He's a CEO - he doesn't build and design, he has people build and design for him. He owns an entire company of builders and designers. Giving speeches is more appropriate for his actual job.
      - nickik 9y ago
        Do you know Elon Musk? He absolutely builds and designs. He is CEO and Chief Engineer at SpaceX and that is not just a title. He knows more about the rocket then probably anybody else. He said that he spends about 80% of his SpaceX time as and engineer.
        Inconel 9y ago
        Just to add a small anecdote, I have no involvement on the design side of the house but there isn't a rocket that leaves Hawthorne without touching my hands at some point, and I've always been impressed with Musk and some of the other more senior engineers, Tom Mueller deserves to be called out in particular, for how much they know about the low level technical things that go on here. I'm very, very, very low on the hierarchy here but I've escalated things to Musk and other VP's in the past when I felt it was necessary and they always took the time to respond to me. Also, and this was particularly true when we where in much more cramped quarters on the production side, I would run in Musk on occasion in my area and he knew way more about the intricacies of my work, and the equipment I was using, or complaining about, than I would have assumed considering all the things he's responsible for.
igravious 9y ago
“It's 2017. We should have a lunar base by now. What the hell's going on?”

by Osmium 9y ago

Diederich 9y ago

"You want to be inspired by things. You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great. That's what being a spacefaring civilization is all about. It's about believing in the future and believing the future will be better than the past. And I can't think of anything more exciting than being out there among the stars. "

losteric 9y ago
We need people like this running for office. Not Elon specifically, politics would only get in his way, but inspiring yet pragmatic visionaries... willing to make mistakes, challenge common beliefs, and build the future.
- Diederich 9y ago
  For sure. The problem....the ancient problem...is that the kinds of mental makeup that would be very good at running large organizations tend to also not WANT to do such things.

spike021 9y ago

His presentation style usually seems to be pretty raw, in a good way. It's not as crisp/polished as Jobs' presentations were, or in fact others. As in, it's not as marketable. It's doesn't seem like it's been a style of preparation for a pure sales/marketing kind of pitch. Kind of interesting, in my opinion.

Osmium 9y ago
> His presentation style usually seems to be pretty raw, in a good way. Completely agreed that it's raw in a good way -- you can tell he really has technical detail down too, I noticed one of the times when a slide left too early he still knew the numbers that had been on it. Also he has an understated sense of humor ("mountain"). I also sometimes got the sense he genuinely was in awe at what he was seeing. Like it still took him by surprise. It was interesting to watch. > It's not as crisp/polished as Jobs' presentations were All this said, I wish there were a Jobs-like figure to sell SpaceX. I'm sure there are people who'd disagree with me on this, but I can only imagine how popular/well-known SpaceX would be if they had someone who could pitch to the general public. SpaceX keynotes could be tune-in television with the right person, but it'd have to be someone really tied to the company, I don't think you could hire someone to do this. It'd have to be authentic.
piyush_soni 9y ago
Honestly, I'd cringe if he started doing Jobs' style presentations. It's good the way it is!
DrBazza 9y ago
Interesting that you mention Jobs in that Musk said, just like Jobs did, that he's reducing the product line to one thing, to increase economies of scale.

sidcool 9y ago

The best one was: "It's 2017 and there's no lunar base, come on"

kornish 9y ago

There was a thread on HN about Flexport the other day, and about how branding as "unsexy" was actually a selling point because customers appreciated the authenticity – they'd rather you be reliable than sexy as a logistics company. I think a lot of people feel the same way about Elon. He's not overpolished, rehearsed, or manipulative...it's just honest and unapologetic.

ucontrol 9y ago
This is very well said and accurately describes my impressions of Elon's speeches. I'm sure that I'm not the only one who appreciates his down-to-earth, authentic delivery, and it wouldn't be surprising if Elon and those around him are aware of the attractiveness of this approach themselves.

evanlivingston 9y ago

I would be really excited about a future where everyone had access to clean water. Going to space is fun and exciting. The future of space travel is going to be interesting, but it essential that when we imagine the future that we do so while recognizing the glaring problems of today.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
bicubic 9y ago
The lack of access to clean water and most of the bad stuff happening around the world is not an engineering problem, it's a political problem. Elon Musk's passion lies in engineering, not in politics. So while your sentiment is fine in a vacuum, I don't think it fits on this thread, and it's certainly not a sound criticism against advancing space colonization. In fact, there's a sizable sentiment that this planet is beyond saving due to political failures, and colonizing other planets is the only way for our species to survive.
- evanlivingston 9y ago
  I don't mean to antagonize Elon Musk himself. What I wanted to point out is that the future doesn't exist in a vacuum. While some people are jumping around on mars others will be unable to put food on their table. It saddens me to see that things that make people most excited about the future are the development of technologies that don't address issues of inequality. Why would our political failures not follow us to other planets that we colonize?
  - olau 9y ago
    I think it's a harsh view of human nature that doesn't allow for individuals to have individual motivations.
  - solveinequality 9y ago
    what technology will change inequality? genetic engineering to turn the entire human race into sex-free clones?

deepGem 9y ago

This is how I've always felt about presentations, not just by Musk but anyone who presents candidly. Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, Bill Gates also present more or less similar characteristics. They don't prepare/rehearse for the talk. They are thinking on the fly, but they are still confident. This natural behavior is what makes listening and watching to these people so gratifying.

jonnybgood 9y ago
> They don't prepare/rehearse for the talk. How do you know that?
- deepGem 9y ago
  They all have publicly stated that they don't prepare for talks or presentations.

nickik 9y ago

Usually I agree about his presentation. However this one was quite a bit worse then most of them. The slides were not in sync confusing the audience. Not knowing when to clap, made it really uncomfortable. He seemed to just drop stuff randomly without a narrative thread. When he showed the BFR/ITS for the first time, he had a much clear threwline, even while rambling in between.

bluthru 9y ago
I don't get the sense that Elon values rehearsal time, but someone should convince him that it's really important.
- edo 9y ago
  I'd rather he put his time into building and designing than rehearsing speeches.
  - krapp 9y ago
    He's a CEO - he doesn't build and design, he has people build and design for him. He owns an entire company of builders and designers. Giving speeches is more appropriate for his actual job.
    - nickik 9y ago
      Do you know Elon Musk? He absolutely builds and designs. He is CEO and Chief Engineer at SpaceX and that is not just a title. He knows more about the rocket then probably anybody else. He said that he spends about 80% of his SpaceX time as and engineer.
      - Inconel 9y ago
        Just to add a small anecdote, I have no involvement on the design side of the house but there isn't a rocket that leaves Hawthorne without touching my hands at some point, and I've always been impressed with Musk and some of the other more senior engineers, Tom Mueller deserves to be called out in particular, for how much they know about the low level technical things that go on here. I'm very, very, very low on the hierarchy here but I've escalated things to Musk and other VP's in the past when I felt it was necessary and they always took the time to respond to me. Also, and this was particularly true when we where in much more cramped quarters on the production side, I would run in Musk on occasion in my area and he knew way more about the intricacies of my work, and the equipment I was using, or complaining about, than I would have assumed considering all the things he's responsible for.

igravious 9y ago

“It's 2017. We should have a lunar base by now. What the hell's going on?”