Summary: - A company called "AC Propulsion" built a zippy electric sports car called the tzero on top of a kit car. - The original Tesla Motor founders (Eberh

Summary: - A company called "AC Propulsion" built a zippy electric sports car called the tzero on top of a kit car. - The original Tesla Motor founders (Eberhard and Tarpenning) invested in that and then decided to start their own electric sports car company. They built the prototype on top of a British Lotus Elise. - AC Propulsion pitches Musk, he turns them down. Tesla pitched Musk, he invests $7.5MM and became chairman of the board. The executive summary of the original Tesla business plan, shown in the article, pitches a profitable electric sports car called the Roadster. - The co-founder of Ideo puts the vision to a design. ("OK, let's consider this axis, from retro to futuristic," Moggridge said..."Here's another axis, masculine to feminine"...) - Musk leads the Series A, B, and co-leads the C ($55m of personal funds) and reviews/steers the product design. - Complications in getting the product out delay the release of the Roadster from feb 2006 to 2008. - Eberhard floats the idea of bringing in a new CEO, to sort out company's financial picture and ERP software. They pitch the board to get in a new CEO so Eberhard can focus on the Sedan. - Musk has a board meeting without Eberhard and replaces him with another CEO. Eberhard is off everything but troubleshooting and tending to peripheral issues. Suits and countersuits are filed. They settle. - Two CEO's later, in 2008 Musk takes over as CEO and fires a quarter of Teslas employees. In 2014 they unveil the model D. "Three settings: normal, sport, and insane."