4 ms·
This class analysis seems overcomplicated. What makes Musk's leadership "entrepreneurial capitalism" as opposed to managerialism? Musk is a member of the PMC! Y
by Apocryphon 4y ago
This class analysis seems overcomplicated. What makes Musk's leadership "entrepreneurial capitalism" as opposed to managerialism? Musk is a member of the PMC! You may consider him a more competent, assertive, and unorthodox manager, at best, but he is still a manager. And as his control solidifies, is he going to make all of the management decisions still? No, he will institute likely handpicked managers who he entrusts. Who are ultimately still members of the managerial class.
When HN preaches the benefits of founder-led companies, it does not claim that founders are a different class from other types of CEOs. More hands-on and with more personally invested, sure. But are all founders truly different from the managerial class? That seems to be more of a management style than anything. And founder-led companies are often less than successful- just ask Dorsey himself. Was he PMC? Was he not an entrepreneur capitalist when he was CEO of Twitter the second time around? This is all a lot of half-baked analysis to claim that one set of presumably more able management and an older ossified set of management are two entirely different classes of people.
- darawk 4y agoThe essential difference between PMC and Entrepreneur is skin in the game. Musk is the manage and primary equity owner, whereas the PMC is managerial only. Whether that's good, bad or indifferent is up to you, but the whole point of the article is this distinction.
- Apocryphon 4y agoPerhaps then this article should have highlighted the importance of Musk taking Twitter private, and the current equity situation with the company. The graphic included shows him taking on 9% of shares, which seems substantial... but is far from a majority? So maybe this article should explain how Musk's current position is substantially different from Dorsey's second tenure, which ended in November 2021. Was Dorsey no longer entrepreneur, but a PMC? But this article quotes Musk bemoaning his departure? Did entrepreneurial capitalism really disappear from Twitter in the past twelve months without Dorsey? This essay is making a lot of assumptions without quantitative analysis.
- hotelmaz 4y agoMusk isn't PMC, he's an owner of multiple companies. That puts him squarely in the capitalist class.
- Apocryphon 4y agoHe owns 9% of Twitter, according to the article. Is that sufficient, or does it still fall prey to the "split between ownership and control" that managerial capitalism has, as this article puts it? How much less ownership did Parag Agrawal have? How much did Jack Dorsey have- he didn't leave until a year ago! If the fault of Twitter is a PMC-driven culture, why wasn't having Dorsey, a founder-capitalist himself and also the owner of multiple companies, enough to staunch it?
- 331c8c71 4y agoHe owned 9% of Twitter in April - that's what represented in the chart - the dates are clearly stated there.
- Apocryphon 4y agoSo how much does he own now? Does he own more than previous Twitter CEOs did?
- oceanplexian 4y agoAnyone can start a corporation and own multiple of them. I do, and they cost me between $40-100 each. To my surprise when I mailed my documents to the Secretary of State they didn’t check my “Capitalist Class” ID card.