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Honest question... idea was based on Elon Musk's papers, who pre-engineer the thing and even gave it a name. How come he couldn't found it? Last I checked Musk

Honest question... idea was based on Elon Musk's papers, who pre-engineer the thing and even gave it a name. How come he couldn't found it? Last I checked Musk is worth north of $22 Billion dollars, did the Arrivo management try to talk him into investment ??

smt88 8y ago
Someone might have an idea they think is “good” without wanting to invest in it. “Good idea” is only one part of the recipe. Timing is another huge part. So is having access to the right talent, the right geographical area, etc. I think it’s unrealistic to expect Musk to invest in any hyperloop startup without considering the timing and the team involved.
sqrut 8y ago
His net worth of $22 billion is in the shares of SpaceX and Tesla he owns, not cash lying around that he can invest. He actually takes loans against his shares to pay for his living expenses.
- macspoofing 8y ago
  >He actually takes loans against his shares to pay for his living expenses. That's how you want to do it, and that's how everyone with the level of net worth of Musk does it. You don't think, for example, Zuckerberg, sells his FB shares everytime he buys a house in Hawaii.
Robotbeat 8y ago
His net worth is entirely wrapped up in Tesla and SpaceX. And it's leveraged, too. The exception is now The Boring Company, which long-term is going to try doing Hyperloop.
_ph_ 8y ago
Elon Musk never just invests money into other peoples business. If he were to do hyperloop, he would run the engineering himsef - and does he really need another project to drive? That said, there was some talk about Musk looking into Hyperloop himself in the context of one of the Boring companys projects, so we will see.
philwelch 8y ago
A few reasons. For one, Elon Musk has a tendency of overextending himself. Right now he's the CEO of at least three companies. Maybe that makes it even a better question why he didn't look into building this himself. The Hyperloop tubes could run underground, and if there is some sort of revolution in the cost-efficiency of tunnel boring, that would make it an even better option. Which is probably one of the reasons that Elon Musk founded The Boring Company. Also, Hyperloop was floated as an alternative to the California high speed rail project--partly out of frustration that the California high speed rail line would be both the most expensive high speed rail line in the world and the lowest speed high speed rail line in the world, but also partly because Elon Musk owns a car company and has a vested interest in discouraging future investment in other forms of transportation. What's the best way to torpedo public support for building rail right here and now? Promising something even better, that no one will actually fund and build because it's a huge unknown. The thing about Tesla is that Tesla's success relies upon long term growth and success, and the biggest risk to that strategy is a long-term decline in car ownership and usage. And Musk is famously defensive about Tesla. Most of Musk's wild flights of fancy, if they do succeed, go through multiple stages of revision before an actual product emerges. With Hyperloop, Musk basically dumped the first draft of one of his flights of fancy on the world and said, "I'm too busy building electric cars and going to Mars to do this myself". And that's perfectly fair by itself! But the first stage of revision for Musk tends to be taking an obvious, cost-effective if not profitable first step. Launching satellites and resupplying ISS was the obvious first step to going to Mars, and licensing a Lotus roadster body and building an electric supercar with it was the obvious first step to electrifying the automobile industry. Maybe Musk thinks The Boring Company is a good first step towards building Hyperloop.

smt88 8y ago

Someone might have an idea they think is “good” without wanting to invest in it. “Good idea” is only one part of the recipe. Timing is another huge part. So is having access to the right talent, the right geographical area, etc. I think it’s unrealistic to expect Musk to invest in any hyperloop startup without considering the timing and the team involved.

sqrut 8y ago

His net worth of $22 billion is in the shares of SpaceX and Tesla he owns, not cash lying around that he can invest. He actually takes loans against his shares to pay for his living expenses.

macspoofing 8y ago
>He actually takes loans against his shares to pay for his living expenses. That's how you want to do it, and that's how everyone with the level of net worth of Musk does it. You don't think, for example, Zuckerberg, sells his FB shares everytime he buys a house in Hawaii.

Robotbeat 8y ago

His net worth is entirely wrapped up in Tesla and SpaceX. And it's leveraged, too. The exception is now The Boring Company, which long-term is going to try doing Hyperloop.

_ph_ 8y ago

Elon Musk never just invests money into other peoples business. If he were to do hyperloop, he would run the engineering himsef - and does he really need another project to drive? That said, there was some talk about Musk looking into Hyperloop himself in the context of one of the Boring companys projects, so we will see.

philwelch 8y ago

A few reasons. For one, Elon Musk has a tendency of overextending himself. Right now he's the CEO of at least three companies. Maybe that makes it even a better question why he didn't look into building this himself. The Hyperloop tubes could run underground, and if there is some sort of revolution in the cost-efficiency of tunnel boring, that would make it an even better option. Which is probably one of the reasons that Elon Musk founded The Boring Company. Also, Hyperloop was floated as an alternative to the California high speed rail project--partly out of frustration that the California high speed rail line would be both the most expensive high speed rail line in the world and the lowest speed high speed rail line in the world, but also partly because Elon Musk owns a car company and has a vested interest in discouraging future investment in other forms of transportation. What's the best way to torpedo public support for building rail right here and now? Promising something even better, that no one will actually fund and build because it's a huge unknown. The thing about Tesla is that Tesla's success relies upon long term growth and success, and the biggest risk to that strategy is a long-term decline in car ownership and usage. And Musk is famously defensive about Tesla. Most of Musk's wild flights of fancy, if they do succeed, go through multiple stages of revision before an actual product emerges. With Hyperloop, Musk basically dumped the first draft of one of his flights of fancy on the world and said, "I'm too busy building electric cars and going to Mars to do this myself". And that's perfectly fair by itself! But the first stage of revision for Musk tends to be taking an obvious, cost-effective if not profitable first step. Launching satellites and resupplying ISS was the obvious first step to going to Mars, and licensing a Lotus roadster body and building an electric supercar with it was the obvious first step to electrifying the automobile industry. Maybe Musk thinks The Boring Company is a good first step towards building Hyperloop.