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> you're not going to be able to give the focus a solo CEO is How the fuck does Elon do it then? The mf has like four concurrent organizations under his helm.

> you're not going to be able to give the focus a solo CEO is How the fuck does Elon do it then? The mf has like four concurrent organizations under his helm. > I think the bigger issue is who gets to replace him: will it be someone with smart ideas or someone to serve as a puppet of activist investors? The rising stock price implies yes. Elliot MG has been desperate to make twitter the next mega app. Expect payment options, return of VIne as a tiktok clone, etc Engagement is key, afterall. Good bye to text, I guess.

dang 5y ago
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29380373 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29380373.
toomuchtodo 5y ago
> How the fuck does Elon do it then? The mf has like four concurrent organizations under his helm. Tesla = primary concern | SpaceX = Gwynne Shotwell (Prez & COO) | Boring Company/Neuralink ["Labs" projects] = funsies
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- datameta 5y ago
  Every company he starts/runs is to enable viable Mars civilization. SpaceX = get us there. Tesla = cash cow for SpaceX + Mars ground transportation. SolarCity = energy infra for a Mars colony. Boring = radiation protection for Mars habitats. Neuralink = moonshot cash cow, advancement of neural medicine for Mars colony. Trying to advance/safeguard humanity is the most funsies thing one can do.
  - capitalsigma 5y ago
    If you definition of "X is for Mars" is so broad as to include "brain-computer interfaces just like on Earth, but done on Mars" then yeah I suppose pretty much everything is done in the service of Mars. For example, Google is working on having the best search engine available to use for search on Mars. Facebook wants to build the best social network, for Mars. Etc.
    - datameta 5y ago
      The reason an advanced Neuralink could be invaluable on Mars is because all the complex machinery required for diagnosis of brain-related ailments will be prohibitively difficult to set up on a Mars colony for a good while. The brain is the least understood ogran in our body - Elon is trying to accelerate development and generate awareness in the field by giving it an honest go with his own company. A BMI like Neuralink would also be a multiplier of human effort when there is a limit to how many colonists we can ferry per unit time. Neuralink aside, you seem to not have mentioned the other companies - I wonder what you think of my theory regarding them?
  - officeplant 5y ago
    I'll take two of whatever you're smoking because I want on this ride.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
V__ 5y ago
> How the fuck does Elon do it then? The mf has like four concurrent organizations under his helm. There is SpaceX (mostly run by Gwynne Shotwell) and Tesla. DeepMind/Boring Company are mostly just marketing schemes.
- mulcahey 5y ago
  He has nothing to do with DeepMind. Maybe you're thinking of Neuralink? I wouldn't demote them to "marketing schemes" -- he actually wants to bring these technologies to market (unlike Hyperloop) -- but they're pretty slow burn / almost hobby projects compared to SpaceX & Tesla. Both have started posting job reqs for Austin.
  - V__ 5y ago
    You're right it's Neuralink. Oh, I kinda believe he wants to make it work but it will be overpromised and underdelivered as always.
samwillis 5y ago
Only one of Elon's companies is public and there are regular calls for him to be removed, but its stock price has been on a trajectory that makes that impossible without him "canceling himself". Elon is just very good at hiring exceptionally good people to run stuff for him with a small amount of oversight and steering. Jack is CEO of two public companies and one is arguably underperforming, that's an untenable situation.
- zaat 5y ago
  > Elon is just very good at hiring exceptionally good people to run stuff for him with a small amount of oversight and steering Isn't this the major part of the definition of excellent manager?
  - Cthulhu_ 5y ago
    Exactly. If your responsibilities are limited to calling some shots and coming up with some wild ideas here and there, and having the money to make it happen, you don't need to focus on things as much. Anyway the guy's a wreck and wrecking ball, I wouldn't be surprised if he disappears or takes a step back for a while soonish. Tesla's stonks will crash, etc.
    - datameta 5y ago
      He's gonna run his body into the ground before he even thinks about leaving SpaceX for anything else. It is his life's mission, that much is obvious to those who have seen enough candid interviews. He doesn't talk about anything else with the same level of importance.
      - samwillis 5y ago
        Same reason SpaceX won't go public if he can help it (and why Starlink is critical for a revenue stream). He needs to maintain complete control in order to put people on Mars.
        5y ago
kranke155 5y ago
Elon is not CEO of SpaceX as many here have already pointed out. edit this is wrong, he is CEO. Ms. Shotwell is COO and President. Outside of Tesla the other companies are not viable yet.
- ryzvonusef 5y ago
  > Elon is not CEO of SpaceX Elon is most definitely the CEO of SpaceX (and Chief Engineer, for whatever that's worth) if you are thinking of Ms. Shotwell (what an appropriate name for a rocket scientist!) She's the COO.
  - kranke155 5y ago
    Darn, not sure why I got confused. She's COO and President.
  - Isinlor 5y ago
    Elon actually makes major decisions on engineering too e.g. switch from carbon to steel. Or pushing the idea of catching payload fairing and now boosters. Especially catching boosters is the type of crazy stuff that only Elon would have stomach to try.
  - bitwize 5y ago
    Shot very well by reputation!
AbsoluteNonce8 5y ago
1 point by AbsoluteNonce8 0 minutes ago | root | parent | next | edit | delete [–] I think the secret is having some really stellar #2’s. Gwynne Shotwell Does wonders for space-x giving Elon the space to focus on the non-boring next-gen stuff. Jack had the same with Sarah Friar at Square but she left for Nextdoor. He also used to have Anthony Noto doing the company building at Twitter but he left for Square? But honestly, Elon’s probably an anomaly and no one else could match that ethic and sprawl
perardi 5y ago
I was under the impression that, at SpaceX, Musk is the “vision guy”, and Gwynne Shotwell is doing the nitty-gritty day-to-day operations. https://www.wired.com/story/how-elon-musk-gwynne-shotwell-join-spacex/ https://www.wired.com/story/how-elon-musk-gwynne-shotwell-jo... As for Neuralink and The Boring Company…well, I am typing this, not using my brain-machine interface, and my friend took the Blue Line from O’Hare this morning, and not some underground supertrain. https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-elon-musk-hyperloop-las-vegas-20201014-asq4yai5qvdkhlhxfzyahq6sm4-story.html https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-elon-musk-hyp...
- ziddoap 5y ago
  >As for Neuralink and The Boring Company…well, I am typing this, not using my brain-machine interface, and my friend took the Blue Line from O’Hare this morning, and not some underground supertrain. I'm not sure what point you intended to get across with this take. I don't own any Lenovo products, is Lenovo defunct? Edit: Yikes. My analogy isn't perfect, sorry folks.
  - viro 5y ago
    it would be closer to if Lenovo had no products.
  - tenpies 5y ago
    > I don't own any Lenovo products Exactly. Lenovo has viable and desirable products that you could purchase if you were so inclined. That's not the case for Boring and Neuralink. Boring makes a D-grade tourist attraction and offers no viable solution to the problem they claim to be solving. Neuralink's biggest success has been in bringing attention to the field, but has made no actual progress of its own. And that's not to say they won't bring viable products/solutions some day, but it's clear where Musk shines (e.g. bringing in money, hype, PR) and where he's atrocious (e.g. executing, planning, people). Shotwell is a fantastic example of a CEO using Musk where he shines, and keeping him away from where he's bad. What Tesla, Boring, and Neuralink all need are their own respective Shotwells.
rohit89 5y ago
From what I see, his system seems to be about focusing on one company, one problem at a time. Neuralink and Boring are side projects. And I believe he definitely doesn't recommend running two companies at a time.
itsoktocry 5y ago
>How the fuck does Elon do it then? Outside of his role as a visionary and promoter, I think his affect on the day-to-day of his companies might be questionable to negative.

dang 5y ago

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29380373 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29380373.

toomuchtodo 5y ago

> How the fuck does Elon do it then? The mf has like four concurrent organizations under his helm. Tesla = primary concern | SpaceX = Gwynne Shotwell (Prez & COO) | Boring Company/Neuralink ["Labs" projects] = funsies

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
datameta 5y ago
Every company he starts/runs is to enable viable Mars civilization. SpaceX = get us there. Tesla = cash cow for SpaceX + Mars ground transportation. SolarCity = energy infra for a Mars colony. Boring = radiation protection for Mars habitats. Neuralink = moonshot cash cow, advancement of neural medicine for Mars colony. Trying to advance/safeguard humanity is the most funsies thing one can do.
- capitalsigma 5y ago
  If you definition of "X is for Mars" is so broad as to include "brain-computer interfaces just like on Earth, but done on Mars" then yeah I suppose pretty much everything is done in the service of Mars. For example, Google is working on having the best search engine available to use for search on Mars. Facebook wants to build the best social network, for Mars. Etc.
  - datameta 5y ago
    The reason an advanced Neuralink could be invaluable on Mars is because all the complex machinery required for diagnosis of brain-related ailments will be prohibitively difficult to set up on a Mars colony for a good while. The brain is the least understood ogran in our body - Elon is trying to accelerate development and generate awareness in the field by giving it an honest go with his own company. A BMI like Neuralink would also be a multiplier of human effort when there is a limit to how many colonists we can ferry per unit time. Neuralink aside, you seem to not have mentioned the other companies - I wonder what you think of my theory regarding them?
- officeplant 5y ago
  I'll take two of whatever you're smoking because I want on this ride.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]

V__ 5y ago

> How the fuck does Elon do it then? The mf has like four concurrent organizations under his helm. There is SpaceX (mostly run by Gwynne Shotwell) and Tesla. DeepMind/Boring Company are mostly just marketing schemes.

mulcahey 5y ago
He has nothing to do with DeepMind. Maybe you're thinking of Neuralink? I wouldn't demote them to "marketing schemes" -- he actually wants to bring these technologies to market (unlike Hyperloop) -- but they're pretty slow burn / almost hobby projects compared to SpaceX & Tesla. Both have started posting job reqs for Austin.
- V__ 5y ago
  You're right it's Neuralink. Oh, I kinda believe he wants to make it work but it will be overpromised and underdelivered as always.

samwillis 5y ago

Only one of Elon's companies is public and there are regular calls for him to be removed, but its stock price has been on a trajectory that makes that impossible without him "canceling himself". Elon is just very good at hiring exceptionally good people to run stuff for him with a small amount of oversight and steering. Jack is CEO of two public companies and one is arguably underperforming, that's an untenable situation.

zaat 5y ago
> Elon is just very good at hiring exceptionally good people to run stuff for him with a small amount of oversight and steering Isn't this the major part of the definition of excellent manager?
- Cthulhu_ 5y ago
  Exactly. If your responsibilities are limited to calling some shots and coming up with some wild ideas here and there, and having the money to make it happen, you don't need to focus on things as much. Anyway the guy's a wreck and wrecking ball, I wouldn't be surprised if he disappears or takes a step back for a while soonish. Tesla's stonks will crash, etc.
  - datameta 5y ago
    He's gonna run his body into the ground before he even thinks about leaving SpaceX for anything else. It is his life's mission, that much is obvious to those who have seen enough candid interviews. He doesn't talk about anything else with the same level of importance.
    - samwillis 5y ago
      Same reason SpaceX won't go public if he can help it (and why Starlink is critical for a revenue stream). He needs to maintain complete control in order to put people on Mars.
      - 5y ago

kranke155 5y ago

Elon is not CEO of SpaceX as many here have already pointed out. edit this is wrong, he is CEO. Ms. Shotwell is COO and President. Outside of Tesla the other companies are not viable yet.

ryzvonusef 5y ago
> Elon is not CEO of SpaceX Elon is most definitely the CEO of SpaceX (and Chief Engineer, for whatever that's worth) if you are thinking of Ms. Shotwell (what an appropriate name for a rocket scientist!) She's the COO.
- kranke155 5y ago
  Darn, not sure why I got confused. She's COO and President.
- Isinlor 5y ago
  Elon actually makes major decisions on engineering too e.g. switch from carbon to steel. Or pushing the idea of catching payload fairing and now boosters. Especially catching boosters is the type of crazy stuff that only Elon would have stomach to try.
- bitwize 5y ago
  Shot very well by reputation!

AbsoluteNonce8 5y ago

1 point by AbsoluteNonce8 0 minutes ago | root | parent | next | edit | delete [–] I think the secret is having some really stellar #2’s. Gwynne Shotwell Does wonders for space-x giving Elon the space to focus on the non-boring next-gen stuff. Jack had the same with Sarah Friar at Square but she left for Nextdoor. He also used to have Anthony Noto doing the company building at Twitter but he left for Square? But honestly, Elon’s probably an anomaly and no one else could match that ethic and sprawl

perardi 5y ago

I was under the impression that, at SpaceX, Musk is the “vision guy”, and Gwynne Shotwell is doing the nitty-gritty day-to-day operations. https://www.wired.com/story/how-elon-musk-gwynne-shotwell-join-spacex/ https://www.wired.com/story/how-elon-musk-gwynne-shotwell-jo... As for Neuralink and The Boring Company…well, I am typing this, not using my brain-machine interface, and my friend took the Blue Line from O’Hare this morning, and not some underground supertrain. https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-elon-musk-hyperloop-las-vegas-20201014-asq4yai5qvdkhlhxfzyahq6sm4-story.html https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-elon-musk-hyp...

ziddoap 5y ago
>As for Neuralink and The Boring Company…well, I am typing this, not using my brain-machine interface, and my friend took the Blue Line from O’Hare this morning, and not some underground supertrain. I'm not sure what point you intended to get across with this take. I don't own any Lenovo products, is Lenovo defunct? Edit: Yikes. My analogy isn't perfect, sorry folks.
- viro 5y ago
  it would be closer to if Lenovo had no products.
- tenpies 5y ago
  > I don't own any Lenovo products Exactly. Lenovo has viable and desirable products that you could purchase if you were so inclined. That's not the case for Boring and Neuralink. Boring makes a D-grade tourist attraction and offers no viable solution to the problem they claim to be solving. Neuralink's biggest success has been in bringing attention to the field, but has made no actual progress of its own. And that's not to say they won't bring viable products/solutions some day, but it's clear where Musk shines (e.g. bringing in money, hype, PR) and where he's atrocious (e.g. executing, planning, people). Shotwell is a fantastic example of a CEO using Musk where he shines, and keeping him away from where he's bad. What Tesla, Boring, and Neuralink all need are their own respective Shotwells.

rohit89 5y ago

From what I see, his system seems to be about focusing on one company, one problem at a time. Neuralink and Boring are side projects. And I believe he definitely doesn't recommend running two companies at a time.

itsoktocry 5y ago

>How the fuck does Elon do it then? Outside of his role as a visionary and promoter, I think his affect on the day-to-day of his companies might be questionable to negative.