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> "In 2005, at age 19,[9] Altman co-founded and became CEO of Loopt,[10] a location-based social networking mobile application. After raising more than $30M in

> "In 2005, at age 19,[9] Altman co-founded and became CEO of Loopt,[10] a location-based social networking mobile application. After raising more than $30M in venture capital, Loopt was shut down in 2012 after failing to get traction. It was acquired by the Green Dot Corporation for $43.4 million." What a great success...create tons of hype, run the company into the ground and offload overpriced equity onto a bigger fool. The American dream. No wonder he likes Musk so much. It's basically the same modus operandi. Title suggestion for next blog-post: "How to fail upwards" also "How to play poker with chips payed for with teachers pensions funds"

inglor_cz 4y ago
"No wonder he likes Musk so much. It's basically the same modus operandi." Both SpaceX and Tesla got helluva lot of traction. The US now depends on the Falcon/Dragon combo to get American astronauts into the orbit, a task which Boeing so far failed to accomplish. And the Ukrainian artillery is pounding Russian targets to pulp with use of Starlink How this is basically the same as Loopt, I cannot see.
- Bubble_Pop_22 4y ago
  Musk has been at the helm of Tesla for 20 years and in that timeframe he didn't even manage to get to 1% of total vehicles sold globally. In FY21 Tesla still accounted for 0.9% of vehicles sold globally. And it was a slow year for the global auto industry. That's basically after billions of tax breaks and subsidies at the County, State and Federal level, which were showered on Tesla during the last 20 years, not even mentioning the blind eye that regulators turned on Tesla and Musk personally because they all bought into the narrative that he was Phoney Stark. Again not even 1% in 20 years. SpaceX is totally dependant upon the goodwill of taxpayers, the moment they lose interest in space, then down goes SpaceX. The only traction that a person anchored in reality sees is the cult of personality and techo-utopianism that mr. Musk managed to create around himself.
  - inglor_cz 4y ago
    Your space argument is extremely misleading. Space industry in general is dependent on government orders, this is not a unique problem of SpaceX / Musk. How long do you think that Boeing or Morton Thiokol space facilities would survive if the US space program were shuttered? Unless you consider the entire space activity of humanity a kind of cult/scam/hype, you have to admit that SpaceX technology is competitive.
    - Bubble_Pop_22 4y ago

inglor_cz 4y ago

"No wonder he likes Musk so much. It's basically the same modus operandi." Both SpaceX and Tesla got helluva lot of traction. The US now depends on the Falcon/Dragon combo to get American astronauts into the orbit, a task which Boeing so far failed to accomplish. And the Ukrainian artillery is pounding Russian targets to pulp with use of Starlink How this is basically the same as Loopt, I cannot see.

Bubble_Pop_22 4y ago
Musk has been at the helm of Tesla for 20 years and in that timeframe he didn't even manage to get to 1% of total vehicles sold globally. In FY21 Tesla still accounted for 0.9% of vehicles sold globally. And it was a slow year for the global auto industry. That's basically after billions of tax breaks and subsidies at the County, State and Federal level, which were showered on Tesla during the last 20 years, not even mentioning the blind eye that regulators turned on Tesla and Musk personally because they all bought into the narrative that he was Phoney Stark. Again not even 1% in 20 years. SpaceX is totally dependant upon the goodwill of taxpayers, the moment they lose interest in space, then down goes SpaceX. The only traction that a person anchored in reality sees is the cult of personality and techo-utopianism that mr. Musk managed to create around himself.
- inglor_cz 4y ago
  Your space argument is extremely misleading. Space industry in general is dependent on government orders, this is not a unique problem of SpaceX / Musk. How long do you think that Boeing or Morton Thiokol space facilities would survive if the US space program were shuttered? Unless you consider the entire space activity of humanity a kind of cult/scam/hype, you have to admit that SpaceX technology is competitive.
  - Bubble_Pop_22 4y ago