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Starting off by catering to a tiny, rich elite in order to drum up excitement isn't a bad idea. Look at Tesla: they started with a $100k+ sportster model to cre

Starting off by catering to a tiny, rich elite in order to drum up excitement isn't a bad idea. Look at Tesla: they started with a $100k+ sportster model to create buzz, dispel myths about electric car performance, make it look sexy instead of focusing on environment benefits and cost-per-mile efficiencies. That generated revenue--and, more importantly--free advertising and buzz. Then they started making more affordable, less-sexy vehicles for the broader market. It was very much intentional. Musk could have repeated the pattern with SpaceX, but didn't have to, since he'd already proven himself and had a nice bankroll.

dundarious 5y ago
Musk was not the founder of Tesla nor the originator of the Roadster-buzz business model, but point taken.
- shkkmo 5y ago
  Musk was closely involved with the design of the Roadster and is officially a co-founder of Tesla. Do you have sources regarding who did develope the Roadster-buzz business model?
  - dundarious 5y ago
    Here the founders describe how their Roadster concept was integral to their pitch to Musk to become a Series A investor. https://youtu.be/eblPwXFb7TE https://youtu.be/eblPwXFb7TE
    - shkkmo 5y ago
      It sounds like Musk was already looking at investing in a different electric sports car company and thus it was more a case of a bunch of people having similar ideas amd working together. They also say that the buzz business model was something they sort of fell into. Edit: The other side of the story is here. I am sure both sides have bias, but given that a judge dismissed Eberhard's claim that there were only two co-founders, it the five co-founder settlement seems reasonable.
      - shkkmo 5y ago
        The link was left off my edit: https://web.archive.org/web/20090624221445/http://www.teslamotors.com/blog2/?p=73#more-73 https://web.archive.org/web/20090624221445/http://www.teslam...

dundarious 5y ago

Musk was not the founder of Tesla nor the originator of the Roadster-buzz business model, but point taken.

shkkmo 5y ago
Musk was closely involved with the design of the Roadster and is officially a co-founder of Tesla. Do you have sources regarding who did develope the Roadster-buzz business model?
- dundarious 5y ago
  Here the founders describe how their Roadster concept was integral to their pitch to Musk to become a Series A investor. https://youtu.be/eblPwXFb7TE https://youtu.be/eblPwXFb7TE
  - shkkmo 5y ago
    It sounds like Musk was already looking at investing in a different electric sports car company and thus it was more a case of a bunch of people having similar ideas amd working together. They also say that the buzz business model was something they sort of fell into. Edit: The other side of the story is here. I am sure both sides have bias, but given that a judge dismissed Eberhard's claim that there were only two co-founders, it the five co-founder settlement seems reasonable.
    - shkkmo 5y ago
      The link was left off my edit: https://web.archive.org/web/20090624221445/http://www.teslamotors.com/blog2/?p=73#more-73 https://web.archive.org/web/20090624221445/http://www.teslam...