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I agree – I'm just wondering what the draw is. Maybe Tesla has gone into maintenance mode with refinements to their cars, and these folks are fundamentally buil

by atonse 7y ago

I agree – I'm just wondering what the draw is. Maybe Tesla has gone into maintenance mode with refinements to their cars, and these folks are fundamentally builders and want to build something radically different. But when you look at it, they're building another Model S.

rhacker 7y ago
From my point of view that means it's either pay or people issues. Personally I don't like starting over on APIs etc.. if you ever switched from a company that has a foundation to one that doesn't you end up with employees that say things like - oh darn we actually had a really good X at company Y. At least they can start over and build with fewer mistakes, but hitting the same tasks again is often annoying.
- gibolt 7y ago
  I'd guess it is the opposite. Some people like startups because nothing is defined, everything is new. Having the option to build something you liked is better than being forced to use what is already used 'because it exists'.
deleted 7y ago
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ForHackernews 7y ago
Tesla is renowned for having lousy labor conditions. I'm not sure how much that filters up to upper management, but I could see it being a factor if you want more work/life balance at your job.
karthikb 7y ago
Probably more like a natural time to leave - Model 3 is past the initial hell and shipping more regularly, etc. And in this process have learned how to take a vehicle from end to end. So instead of working on a brand new car inside of Tesla, why not do the same thing on their own with a greater ownership stake? Not always the best decision, but usually the kind of thought process one goes though.
- semi-extrinsic 7y ago
  Could also be that despite being past Model 3 production hell, they are still not profitable ($700M loss in Q1 '19), and they are betting the farm on autonomous somehow turning that into a profit? Color me skeptical, but if I was an engineer at Tesla I'd be looking for an exit as well.
  - jsight 7y ago
    OTOH, FCF has turned positive for at least the trailing 12 months, and they are guiding for it to remain positive for the remainder of the year. For sure, there are many struggles that continue for Tesla, but I'm not sure that a new startup building cars from scratch is a way out of that. It looks like jumping out of the pot and into an inferno to me. But the sorts of people doing this seem to be the ones that might enjoy the challenge involved.

by atonse 7y ago

rhacker 7y ago

From my point of view that means it's either pay or people issues. Personally I don't like starting over on APIs etc.. if you ever switched from a company that has a foundation to one that doesn't you end up with employees that say things like - oh darn we actually had a really good X at company Y. At least they can start over and build with fewer mistakes, but hitting the same tasks again is often annoying.

gibolt 7y ago
I'd guess it is the opposite. Some people like startups because nothing is defined, everything is new. Having the option to build something you liked is better than being forced to use what is already used 'because it exists'.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

ForHackernews 7y ago

Tesla is renowned for having lousy labor conditions. I'm not sure how much that filters up to upper management, but I could see it being a factor if you want more work/life balance at your job.

karthikb 7y ago

Probably more like a natural time to leave - Model 3 is past the initial hell and shipping more regularly, etc. And in this process have learned how to take a vehicle from end to end. So instead of working on a brand new car inside of Tesla, why not do the same thing on their own with a greater ownership stake? Not always the best decision, but usually the kind of thought process one goes though.

semi-extrinsic 7y ago
Could also be that despite being past Model 3 production hell, they are still not profitable ($700M loss in Q1 '19), and they are betting the farm on autonomous somehow turning that into a profit? Color me skeptical, but if I was an engineer at Tesla I'd be looking for an exit as well.
- jsight 7y ago
  OTOH, FCF has turned positive for at least the trailing 12 months, and they are guiding for it to remain positive for the remainder of the year. For sure, there are many struggles that continue for Tesla, but I'm not sure that a new startup building cars from scratch is a way out of that. It looks like jumping out of the pot and into an inferno to me. But the sorts of people doing this seem to be the ones that might enjoy the challenge involved.