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Heartbreaking is how it feels. I’m going to admit that I have been an Elon fanboy since he launched SpaceX. He seemed to be the purest incarnation of the entrep

Heartbreaking is how it feels. I’m going to admit that I have been an Elon fanboy since he launched SpaceX. He seemed to be the purest incarnation of the entrepreneurs of the last century (Edison, Westinghouse, etc.) especially compared with the bluster of the non-tech-tech people that really just did Web (or CS on a good day). Now, he has turned into Howard Hughes with a megaphone, and it is not pretty. There are no excuses for idolizing humans, the folly is my own, he is just a man after all..

skinnymuch 4y ago
How did you come to terms with how he failed upward with X.com and Paypal? He tried to ruin Paypal but was rewarded with $180M. SpaceX and Tesla being Elon’s wouldn’t be a thing.
- lokimedes 4y ago
  I think it’s basically my internal valuations of the endeavors. Building a payment facilitator seems like a side hustle compared to the space/energy initiatives. That said, X/PayPal certainly helped a good number of people bootstrap more ambitious companies.
  - pwinnski 4y ago
    The emphasis in that comment was on Musk's failure with X; he was kicked out of PayPal and only collected the money after he was long gone.
- tim333 4y ago
  That's a bit unfair - he had shares in the combined X.com and Paypal which did well and so he made money when it was sold. Fair enough he was replaced as CEO after a brief stint but it doesn't really matter that much.
  - jacquesm 4y ago
    I'll be happy to bet that there were quite a few ordinary employees of Paypal that had more of a positive effect on that outcome than Elon but that were compensated to a very small fraction for their efforts.
  - skinnymuch 4y ago
    Capitalism is more than a bit unfair. Having the most stake in PayPal because he merged a different entity with its parent company while being lucky enough to be fired before he could ruin the company doesn’t seem like it deserves positive recognition.
MrDresden 4y ago
Lets never idolise humans, but we can still be proud of the achievements that companies like SpaceX have achieved on behalf of humanity, despite their management's behaviour. And you can feel better in knowing that he is not the brain behind any of the technology that SpaceX has created. I have worked at companies that had a similar personality to Elmo's (though not to his level) working in a C-suit role. They are the hype machines that land contracts for the companies, or attract investors, nothing more.

skinnymuch 4y ago

How did you come to terms with how he failed upward with X.com and Paypal? He tried to ruin Paypal but was rewarded with $180M. SpaceX and Tesla being Elon’s wouldn’t be a thing.

lokimedes 4y ago
I think it’s basically my internal valuations of the endeavors. Building a payment facilitator seems like a side hustle compared to the space/energy initiatives. That said, X/PayPal certainly helped a good number of people bootstrap more ambitious companies.
- pwinnski 4y ago
  The emphasis in that comment was on Musk's failure with X; he was kicked out of PayPal and only collected the money after he was long gone.
tim333 4y ago
That's a bit unfair - he had shares in the combined X.com and Paypal which did well and so he made money when it was sold. Fair enough he was replaced as CEO after a brief stint but it doesn't really matter that much.
- jacquesm 4y ago
  I'll be happy to bet that there were quite a few ordinary employees of Paypal that had more of a positive effect on that outcome than Elon but that were compensated to a very small fraction for their efforts.
- skinnymuch 4y ago
  Capitalism is more than a bit unfair. Having the most stake in PayPal because he merged a different entity with its parent company while being lucky enough to be fired before he could ruin the company doesn’t seem like it deserves positive recognition.

MrDresden 4y ago

Lets never idolise humans, but we can still be proud of the achievements that companies like SpaceX have achieved on behalf of humanity, despite their management's behaviour. And you can feel better in knowing that he is not the brain behind any of the technology that SpaceX has created. I have worked at companies that had a similar personality to Elmo's (though not to his level) working in a C-suit role. They are the hype machines that land contracts for the companies, or attract investors, nothing more.