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Tesla Executive Leaves for Waymo
- matte_black 8y agoWhat on Earth is going on at this company?
- lbotos 8y ago~ Goes into Gossip Mode ~ Is Elon Musk like "doing too much"? Boring Company Tesla SpaceX Dating Grimes ~ ends gossip territory ~ I wonder if Google offer more pay or a "safer legacy"?
- TaylorAlexander 8y agoOr less stress. Or a mixture of all.
- falcon620 8y agoFiscal reality is catching up with them. When people on /r/teslamotors (it's normally a non-stop pep rally about Tesla, sort of like t_d is for Trump) are able to be upvoted for presenting critical thoughts about Tesla's financial state you know something is happening. Also: see https://www.reddit.com/r/RealTesla/ https://www.reddit.com/r/RealTesla/ It would be sad to see them go but at the same time it seems like they sorta did their job: they have ignited lust for electric vehicles in the general public. Car manufacturers have responded and are shifting their production plans accordingly.
- rightnow 8y agoRealTesla is just as unreal as /r/teslamotors everything is baised against tesla in that subreddit. You wont see tesla go any near the following two years if at all.
- ryanhuff 8y agoOr the person got a deal he couldn’t refuse. That happens in the tech space.
- falcon620 8y agoI did not write that because of this particular issue alone. Since they are a public company you can actually read their financials on the interwebs.
- jacques_chester 8y agoThe analogy "a deal he couldn't refuse" includes a threat as well as an incentive. Or at least it has since the 70s. https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/an-offer-he-cant-refuse.html https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/an-offer-he-cant-refuse....
- StaticRedux 8y ago> If you're interested in Tesla, but not looking for an echo chamber of circlejerkery, this is the place for you. From the subreddit rules. And yet, that send to be exactly what that subreddit is, just from the opposite perspective (negative). On the comments on the top several posts I saw, they are all speculation and shit talking. A top comment is adamant that Elon Musk is a scan artist who will leave nothing to the world except questions about how he managed up scan everyone for so long. Seriously? Renewed interest in electric vehicles and home battery technology? The first private company to revitalize the space industry? The first person to ever oversee the landing of first stage boosters and then also reuse them? All of that counts for nothing? That subreddit is worse than the Musk can do no won't crowd. The are annoying, but at least they are helping to publicize the amazing strides being made and not just crapping on who Musk takes to the Met Gala, like that even matters.
- rco8786 8y agoNothing. They’re just the focus of the media. Like shark attacks a few years back.
- rando444 8y agoAnyone else notice that it's also specifically the Wall Street Journal trying to run this angle?
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- falcon620 8y agoThat's funny, the Tesla fans keep hating on Bloomberg. Could it be that everyone who writes critical pieces on their financials are hostiles?
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- matte_black 8y agoWhere there’s smoke there’s fire.
- Natsu 8y agoTheir stock is highly shorted. I'm half tempted to start asking the authors of these pieces to declare any positions they have in the stock.
- pooya13 8y agoAre there statistics out there that show Tesla's retention rate is higher than other tech companies or is it just hyped more?
- akvadrako 8y agoThe number of high level executives that have left in the past year is definitely abnormal. Chief Accountant, Eric Branderiz CFO, Jason Wheeler Treasurer and VP of finance, Susan Repo Sales chief, Jon McNeill Musk’s cousins, Lyndon and Peter Rive Autopilot lead, Chris Lattner VP of Autopilot, Jim Keller Battery executive, Kurt Kelty Diarmuid O’Connell, VP of business Matthew Schwall, Director of field performance I'm not sure I got them all right - I put this list together quickly.
- organicmultiloc 8y agoIt's not exactly a secret that Elon is tough to work for. Think pointy haired boss who also happens to be a celebrity.
- dnautics 8y agoI think it's also likely a bit of a problem that, unlike pointy haired boss Elon isn't completely clueless. He knows enough to be very dangerous to his employees. As in he knows and (is correct about) what is physically possible, as well as "big picture business" possible. Whereas, he is not so good at the management aspects...
- asdsa5325 8y agoUnsurprising, Tesla is going downhill fast... If a recession occurs before they get their shit together, they will vanish.
- toomuchtodo 8y agoSurely they’re going downhill as their Model 3 production rate accelerates /s People leave companies, no news here. I can’t imagine it’ll be too hard to find someone to replace this role. Is Elon or JB Straubel dead? No? Carry on.
- gamblor956 8y agoA bunch of high-level executives leaving a company in a short span is always a bad sign. These executives were all privy to data that outsiders do not have access to, and it seems that they all decided that the data is bad enough to jump ship despite apparent signs that the ship is righting itself.
- plankers 8y agoIt could also mean that the project they were leading is transitioning into a phase that they're no longer interested in working on. Same thing happened as Waymo started ramping up a year or so ago and nobody was freaking out about that.
- gamblor956 8y agoSame thing happened to Theranos...time will tell whether Tesla is a Theranos or a Waymo.
- paulsutter 8y agoPersonally I wish Elon would focus on The Boring Company and SpaceX. Tesla just isn’t going to matter that much in the long run, it’s never going to solve our transportation problems in the way TBC can. I’d rather see 500,000 new homes in (or within 10 minutes of) San Francisco and cars just won’t make that possible.
- toomuchtodo 8y agoTesla does not exist to solve just transportation issues. It exists to drive down the cost of utility scale battery storage to allow for renewables alone to supply power to grids.
- paulcole 8y agoSo increasing Elon Musk’s wealth and power is just a nice side effect?
- toomuchtodo 8y agoPeople should be compensated for their results, no?
- paulcole 8y agoNever said he shouldn’t. The idea that Tesla’s purpose is primarily anything but a Musk power play is a testament to the brand and cult of personality he’s worked dutifully to create and maintain.
- dbasedweeb 8y agoPretty much every time I’ve tried to say anything negative about Musk someone comes along and tries to sell me a line about him not caring about money. Then I ask why he keeps demanding so much of it, and they claim he wants to live on Mars. Cult indeed. There’s faith that big rockets somehow are the missing link to living on Mars. Otherwise reasonable people hang up their skepticism in favor of ignoring the evidence that Musk craves money and power, in favor of believing that he has a master plan to save the world. It’s infuriating, and ironically in a few years they’ll be the first screaming bloody murder when he fails to live up to their impossible dreams. Of course by then he’ll have enough money that he won’t need to care, and rockets working LEO rather than Mars. I guess it’s easier praying that a billionaire has a vision to save us from ourselves without us having to make any sacrifices, than it is to do the hard work of saving ourselves.
- Nokinside 8y agoTesla has been losing executives. VP of finance, Chris Lattner (autopilot), Kelty (batteries).
- dandr01d 8y agoChris Lattner was at Tesla for the blink of an eye
- shanghaiaway 8y agoYep, couldn't stand it longer. Says something about how bad working for Musk is.
- HNthrow22 8y agosee the interview with his first wife: As we danced at our wedding reception, Elon told me, "I am the alpha in this relationship." I shrugged it off, just as I would later shrug off signing the postnuptial agreement, but as time went on, I learned that he was serious. ...the will to compete and dominate that made him so successful in business did not magically shut off when he came home. This, and the vast economic imbalance between us, meant that in the months following our wedding, a certain dynamic began to take hold. Elon's judgment overruled mine, and he was constantly remarking on the ways he found me lacking. "I am your wife," I told him repeatedly, "not your employee." "If you were my employee," he said just as often, "I would fire you." And no matter how many highlights I got, Elon pushed me to be blonder. "Go platinum," he kept saying, and I kept refusing. If that's how he managed his wife imagine what his execs deal with. *https://www.marieclaire.com/sex-love/a5380/millionaire-starter-wife/ https://www.marieclaire.com/sex-love/a5380/millionaire-start...
- JustSomeNobody 8y agoThat is a textbook abusive relationship. Pathetic.
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- make3 8y agothe departure of one pretty low level executive makes valid news now?
- wffurr 8y agoI will never understand why people care so much about execs. It's not like they are the ones actually building and testing stuff or developing the new technology.
- Retric 8y agoInvestors care because exec's have inside information and a mass exit is a bad sign. In the case of individuals it's mostly just noise, but investing is often trying to read tea leaves slightly better than the next guy.
- panic 8y agoIt's because that's where the focus is directed by the companies themselves. How would you even know who the real people doing the work are without the company sharing that information? I think the execs would prefer people to assume they come up with all the ideas themselves rather than share the credit (and have their competitors know who to poach). I agree, though -- it's a shame people give Elon so much credit for the hard work of his nameless employees.
- WisNorCan 8y agoThe bigger picture is that Waymo is now the most interesting company in self-driving technology. If you want to do real work that is the place to be. I hear that people are also leaving Uber's efforts. I expect them to absorb the best people in the industry and building a real business from here. Waymo has established a multi-year technology advantage over Uber. The best objections to Waymo winning are three-fold: 1) Google doesn't have the user-facing apps - The reality is that Google has a far larger surface area than Uber to consumers. They own Calendar, Maps, Assistant, Android, Gmail and each of these can be entry points into self-driving. "I see you have an appointment in 15 minutes, want me to order you a cab?" 2) Google doesn't have experience operating a physical business - This is something they will have to learn. Google has the choice of partnering/purchasing if needed to build fleet operations companies. There are some unorthodox acquisitions to consider here (Avis?). However, Uber and Lyft do not really have this experience either. 3) Google doesn't have a great track record of incubating new businesses - Amazon has a far stronger track record than Uber of bringing up new lines of business. With the mismanagement of Uber over the past years, Uber is at significant risk of missing the next technology wave, the way traditional taxi companies missed the last shift. Uber might be holding the equivalent of second-generation taxi medallions as the third generation takes off.
- czardoz 8y agoHow does Uber not have experience operating a physical business? They actually have customer support etc (Google has it for minimal products).
- WisNorCan 8y agoAnswering the phone is very different than operating a local physical products company. Mechanical failures, repairs, accidents, charging the vehicles, vandalism, etc. etc. Think about how hard it is for consumer companies to sell to enterprises. Microsoft is terrible at consumer. Google is terrible at enterprise. This is a much bigger leap than consumer -> enterprise. Uber and Waymo both have a lot to learn here. That’s why I think companies like Avis etc are potential unorthodox acquisitions that we will see.
- sebringj 8y agoWhen you work for very intelligent and driven people, they tend to be disgusted with incompetence or in my case lack of drive, which is the same thing, I noticed. It is completely counter to what they are. This happened to me when I did not have the same passion as one of my supervisors (as a remote contractor working for other clients as well) and did not want to put the same level of care/hours and extremism as this person had. The intelligence part was debatable but he has his skills etc but I know he was certainly obsessed with moving forward as fast as possible and was a standout in his company because of it. You cannot blame him for his drive as in the end it brings results and its who he is from the core. But of course, I disliked him and still do. Regardless, so what. He still is doing well I'm sure. Elon is probably the most amazing human being to ever have lived in terms of intellect/drive/passion/ability etc that I've heard maybe besides Ghengis Khan so of course he is going to be so much more like that to absolutely repel others not inline with his pace and vision. He could be no other way.
- hnaccy 8y agoNapoleon?
- xevb3k 8y agoWhat evidence can you provide that Elon is highly intelligent and skilled? Really appears to have quite mediocre ability to me. Has focused on some quite interesting problems, but mostly his ability seems like PR/marketing.
- coralreef 8y agoCofounded PayPal...started a reusable rocket company in SpaceX. Brought electric cars to the mainstream with Tesla...was in a PhD physics program at Stanford and dropped out. Like, those results don't qualify to you as someone who is intelligent and skilled?
- xevb3k 8y agoNot “most amazing human being to ever have lived” as the parent poster suggested, no. I guess this isn’t the place to suggest it, but really in success like PayPal there is a large element of luck at play. He maybe reasonably smart, but the way some people treat him like the most amazing person who has ever lived is ridiculous.
- god_bless_texas 8y agoIs working for Elon just awful? I heard SpaceX people flock to Virgin Galactic because of this.
- Robotbeat 8y agoIt's harder work, if that's what you're asking. People who wish for more work/life balance do tend to migrate to Virgin Galactic, etc. Of course, less lucrative stock options and less exciting work.
- SpecialistEMT 8y agoI think there's an added risk to the stock option from Tesla - the company's future is very volatile - bubble based on Musk's persona
- Robotbeat 8y agoHuge upside potential, too. Musk is really good at spotting opportunities and taking risks. The downside is he often doesn't know how to leave well enough alone and he takes risks. I think SpaceX does so well because Gwynne Shotwell helps balance Musk's risk taking. Tesla could go bankrupt (as GM and others have) or it could be worth a huge amount of money if they crack automation and scale (and there are good technical reasons why they might actually do that... traditional automakers have not exhausted the trade space).
- postmeta 8y agoWSJ uses Tesla articles to keep their old money media play alive, news at 11. Hackers need not attend.
- neonate 8y agohttp://archive.is/03Zon http://archive.is/03Zon, though there isn't much there.
- lawrenceyan 8y agoYou can see a clear correlation between the amount of Tesla stock being shorted and the number of negative Tesla press that shows up on sites like Hacker News / Reddit. It's surprising how blatant it is.
- dbasedweeb 8y agoI can’t believe it, but I guess “correlation doesn’t imply causation” needs to be said on a site that is nominally for hackers.
- coolgeek 8y agoAlso the possibility of confusing (reversing) cause and effect
- lawrenceyan 8y agoThe prior is assuming of course given the input that WSJ is biased towards negative press against Tesla in general along with the massive short amounts already, it would be in whoever's interest to try and ensure that they can bring as much volatility to the situation in order to make a profit.