4 ms·

Just wanted to say, from the outside, John Krafcik seemed to me like a strong leader. I used to live in Mountain View and at one point I saw a few Waymo vans (

by tmsh 6y ago

Just wanted to say, from the outside, John Krafcik seemed to me like a strong leader. I used to live in Mountain View and at one point I saw a few Waymo vans (this was 3-4 years ago when they were more active) speeding on El Camino (just barely, and being manually driven at the time, but even though I work for a competitor I was concerned if an accident happened it'd be a bad publicity event; i.e., Waymo vehicles should always be extra, extra careful, etc.); and it just made me wonder what was going on. So I connected with him on LinkedIn; and then ended up reaching out to some QA folks I believe. Anyway, John was super responsive and I always appreciated that. From what I could see (just one anecdote), he was a CEO who dived deep into customer concerns. There's a lot to be said for that. My two cents is it's a very delicate space. One bad event and the whole industry can be set back. So it's an area (despite extremely cutting-edge tech; deep learning, etc.) that has to roll out gradually.

Traster 6y ago
I talked to someone who was working with BMW 5 years ago and they had a similar story- automotive companies hated Tesla because they all understood that one screw up on self driving probably meant he death of their brand in terms of safety and probably a massive set back for the entire industry. That’s something a start up can afford but for a large car manufacturer it’s an existential threat.
chambers 6y ago
From the outside, he doesn't seem like a strong leader at all. Besides him not leaving a clear successor[1][2], I think his communication is disingenuous. The kind of management-speak that aims to hide poor decision-making behind a facade of cheer and care. People are scared of "might makes right", but I've found "nice makes right" to be far more insidious and pernicious in our society. 1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26674228 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26674228 2. https://a16z.com/2013/07/03/shared-command-2/ https://a16z.com/2013/07/03/shared-command-2/

by tmsh 6y ago

Traster 6y ago

I talked to someone who was working with BMW 5 years ago and they had a similar story- automotive companies hated Tesla because they all understood that one screw up on self driving probably meant he death of their brand in terms of safety and probably a massive set back for the entire industry. That’s something a start up can afford but for a large car manufacturer it’s an existential threat.

chambers 6y ago

From the outside, he doesn't seem like a strong leader at all. Besides him not leaving a clear successor[1][2], I think his communication is disingenuous. The kind of management-speak that aims to hide poor decision-making behind a facade of cheer and care. People are scared of "might makes right", but I've found "nice makes right" to be far more insidious and pernicious in our society. 1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26674228 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26674228 2. https://a16z.com/2013/07/03/shared-command-2/ https://a16z.com/2013/07/03/shared-command-2/