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All of them started with money and connections, do you think that these things would not exist without these individuals? or perhaps they just happened to be th

by lumost 5y ago

All of them started with money and connections, do you think that these things would not exist without these individuals? or perhaps they just happened to be there first in a winner takes all market. In at least Bill Gates case he wasn't first, just better connected (having a Vice President at IBM for an uncle certainly helps!)

s1artibartfast 5y ago
>do you think that these things would not exist without these individuals? In the case of Elon, no. The technology foundation for SpaceX had been around for decades, with no traction. I'm less familiar with Tesla and EVs, but several people seem to think Tesla advanced the EV industry 5-10 years relative to where it would be in a world without Musk
flavius29663 5y ago
None of them "invented" the thing that made them rich, but that thing didn't become a worldwide sensation until they did it! Smartphones were built by Nokia and Microsoft in the 2000s. Computers were thing way before MS, but still it needed Bill Gates' genius to make them ubiquitous. EVs were along for 100+ years...Modern EVs were just ridiculous: ugly and small, nobody wanted to buy them. Musk made the EVs sexy and desirable, and mainstream now. There were many many people with money and connections, yet only some changed the world and became billionaires in the process, don't you think that deserves the recognition? I personally don't like either of the people I talked about, but you must give credit where credit is due.
- lumost 5y ago
  Credit? Sure, they can take 100x the value of the median engineer who worked on the project. Smartphones failed for a bunch of reasons in the 2000s, recognizing the convergence of touch screens, and mobile broadband was pretty smart. It likely would have happened within 6-12 months of when it did, if an engineer/pm failed to convince Steve jobs that the iPhone was a good idea.
  - flavius29663 5y ago
    But you see, they provide much bigger value than just 100 engineers put together. All the engineering was already in place for smartphones, yet it didn't happen until Jobs made it so. No amount of regular engineers would have made it happen. No amount of bureocrats either. Packing the idea and selling it, gaining momentum in appstore, needed a revolutionary vision, not a mere 100x person.

by lumost 5y ago

s1artibartfast 5y ago

>do you think that these things would not exist without these individuals? In the case of Elon, no. The technology foundation for SpaceX had been around for decades, with no traction. I'm less familiar with Tesla and EVs, but several people seem to think Tesla advanced the EV industry 5-10 years relative to where it would be in a world without Musk

flavius29663 5y ago

None of them "invented" the thing that made them rich, but that thing didn't become a worldwide sensation until they did it! Smartphones were built by Nokia and Microsoft in the 2000s. Computers were thing way before MS, but still it needed Bill Gates' genius to make them ubiquitous. EVs were along for 100+ years...Modern EVs were just ridiculous: ugly and small, nobody wanted to buy them. Musk made the EVs sexy and desirable, and mainstream now. There were many many people with money and connections, yet only some changed the world and became billionaires in the process, don't you think that deserves the recognition? I personally don't like either of the people I talked about, but you must give credit where credit is due.

lumost 5y ago
Credit? Sure, they can take 100x the value of the median engineer who worked on the project. Smartphones failed for a bunch of reasons in the 2000s, recognizing the convergence of touch screens, and mobile broadband was pretty smart. It likely would have happened within 6-12 months of when it did, if an engineer/pm failed to convince Steve jobs that the iPhone was a good idea.
- flavius29663 5y ago
  But you see, they provide much bigger value than just 100 engineers put together. All the engineering was already in place for smartphones, yet it didn't happen until Jobs made it so. No amount of regular engineers would have made it happen. No amount of bureocrats either. Packing the idea and selling it, gaining momentum in appstore, needed a revolutionary vision, not a mere 100x person.