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https://www.reuters.com/technology/spacex-employees-denounce-ceo-musk-distraction-letter-2022-06-16/ https://www.reuters.com/technology/spacex-employees-denounc

https://www.reuters.com/technology/spacex-employees-denounce-ceo-musk-distraction-letter-2022-06-16/ https://www.reuters.com/technology/spacex-employees-denounce... https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-employees-elon-musk-focus-twitter-ceo-2023-1 https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-employees-elon-musk-f... >SpaceX employees say they are relieved Elon Musk is focused on Twitter because there is a calmer work environment at the rocket company He sounds like that kind of boss we have all had where you actively avoid interacting with him because his ideas will be stupid and get your project off track. I think SpaceX succeeds despite having to deal with current Elon.

seizethecheese 2y ago
Having read the Isaacson biography, Elon’s management style is essentially to be hands off then show up in “surges” of extreme work. It makes sense that most people would be happy when surges end. There’s also essentially zero chance his organizations succeed in spite of him. This is just wishful ignorance.
- larkost 2y ago
  What evidence do you offer that there is no chance of SpaceX succeeding in spite of Elon Musk? I really don't have enough detailed knowledge about his actual contributions to the various companies he runs. But given the sheer number of projects at the companies he runs I don't find it hard to believe that he is largely not responsible for the technical successes. Again, I have no evidence for it, but it would not be hard to believe. Do you have anything other than faith for that statement?
  - throw4950sh06 2y ago
    There are plenty of very respected people confirming that Elon is extremely hands on and key to Starship development. Also SpaceX engineers who worked directly with him on Reddit - take a look, it's interesting to read.
  - dotnet00 2y ago
    The fact that none of the other space startups prior to SpaceX, which had access to more resources, succeeded? Same goes with Tesla. You have to really stretch believability to argue that the one factor in common between two companies which broke into extremely hard to break into industries and ushered in paradigm shifts, happened to do so for no reason related to that common factor, let alone arguing that they did so in-spite of that common factor. We also have pretty detailed books on the history of SpaceX, written from employee interviews, which also indicate that Musk is fairly hands on. There's also this tweet from the designer of the Merlin rocket engine that is usually thrown around when these kinds of claims are made: https://old.reddit.com/r/SpaceXMasterrace/comments/15am9pl/the_most_assured_i_can_assure_you_in_internet/ https://old.reddit.com/r/SpaceXMasterrace/comments/15am9pl/t...
    - sealeck 2y ago
      > Same goes with Tesla. Isn't BYD a success?
      - kortilla 2y ago
        Yes, 15 years later
        sealeck 2y ago
        BYD was founded in 1995 and BYD Auto was founded in January 2003 (Tesla in July 2023).
        kortilla 2y ago
        It was not a success until long after Tesla. Was not talking about founding dates
  - MangoCoffee 2y ago
    >What evidence do you offer that there is no chance of SpaceX succeeding in spite of Elon Musk? Jeff Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000, after revolutionizing e-commerce with Amazon. Two years later, Elon Musk launched SpaceX in 2002, which has since surged ahead of Blue Origin. Is that enough evidence?
  - tagami 2y ago
    Thank Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX COO
  - tlrobinson 2y ago
    > not responsible for the technical successes He's not doing the nitty gritty engineering day-to-day, but he understands enough to ask the right questions, give his teams permission to try ideas that seem crazy at first, and sometimes come up with those ideas himself (e.x. supposedly catching Starship with "chopsticks" was his idea).
MaxHoppersGhost 2y ago
So you think Tesla, PayPal, SpaceX and whatever else succeeded in spite of Elon?
- blonder 2y ago
  Tesla in 2024 is certainly succeeding in spite of Elon. From firing the supercharging team because he had some kind of mental break to the tens of millions of dollars and engineering hours wasted on the cybertruck instead of another practical vehicle he clearly isn't contributing much to what is at this point a matured company that doesn't need a maniac (for better or worse) at the helm.
  - skellington 2y ago
    Watching stupid people criticize brilliant people is pure popcorn fun! You have no idea what the future of Tesla is and it isn't cars....
  - averageRoyalty 2y ago
    What you say makes sense, but this isn't the first time he's acted this way at any of his companies and they're all still going well. At some point you have to admit either his methods work or there's more to him than what you the general public see.
  - DennisP 2y ago
    Electric pickup trucks aren't all that popular yet, but the cybertruck is selling better than any of the others. https://qz.com/tesla-cybertruck-ford-f150-lightning-electric-trucks-1851596485 https://qz.com/tesla-cybertruck-ford-f150-lightning-electric...
- aweiland 2y ago
  Elon was fired from Paypal. He didn't know the platform, didn't really bring much to the table, and just pissed off the board. He got rich because he got to keep his stock. So I'd say yes, Paypal succeeded in spite of him. SpaceX is doing well because of Gwynne Shotwell the COO. She's been able to keep Elon out of the weeds and basically at arms length. Let's not forget Tom Mueller who basically created the entire propulsion platform. When Elon gets involved he makes silly things like the Cybertruck. Completely useless, poorly engineered, and overpriced garbage.

seizethecheese 2y ago

Having read the Isaacson biography, Elon’s management style is essentially to be hands off then show up in “surges” of extreme work. It makes sense that most people would be happy when surges end. There’s also essentially zero chance his organizations succeed in spite of him. This is just wishful ignorance.

larkost 2y ago
What evidence do you offer that there is no chance of SpaceX succeeding in spite of Elon Musk? I really don't have enough detailed knowledge about his actual contributions to the various companies he runs. But given the sheer number of projects at the companies he runs I don't find it hard to believe that he is largely not responsible for the technical successes. Again, I have no evidence for it, but it would not be hard to believe. Do you have anything other than faith for that statement?
- throw4950sh06 2y ago
  There are plenty of very respected people confirming that Elon is extremely hands on and key to Starship development. Also SpaceX engineers who worked directly with him on Reddit - take a look, it's interesting to read.
- dotnet00 2y ago
  The fact that none of the other space startups prior to SpaceX, which had access to more resources, succeeded? Same goes with Tesla. You have to really stretch believability to argue that the one factor in common between two companies which broke into extremely hard to break into industries and ushered in paradigm shifts, happened to do so for no reason related to that common factor, let alone arguing that they did so in-spite of that common factor. We also have pretty detailed books on the history of SpaceX, written from employee interviews, which also indicate that Musk is fairly hands on. There's also this tweet from the designer of the Merlin rocket engine that is usually thrown around when these kinds of claims are made: https://old.reddit.com/r/SpaceXMasterrace/comments/15am9pl/the_most_assured_i_can_assure_you_in_internet/ https://old.reddit.com/r/SpaceXMasterrace/comments/15am9pl/t...
  - sealeck 2y ago
    > Same goes with Tesla. Isn't BYD a success?
    - kortilla 2y ago
      Yes, 15 years later
      - sealeck 2y ago
        BYD was founded in 1995 and BYD Auto was founded in January 2003 (Tesla in July 2023).
        kortilla 2y ago
        It was not a success until long after Tesla. Was not talking about founding dates
- MangoCoffee 2y ago
  >What evidence do you offer that there is no chance of SpaceX succeeding in spite of Elon Musk? Jeff Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000, after revolutionizing e-commerce with Amazon. Two years later, Elon Musk launched SpaceX in 2002, which has since surged ahead of Blue Origin. Is that enough evidence?
- tagami 2y ago
  Thank Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX COO
- tlrobinson 2y ago
  > not responsible for the technical successes He's not doing the nitty gritty engineering day-to-day, but he understands enough to ask the right questions, give his teams permission to try ideas that seem crazy at first, and sometimes come up with those ideas himself (e.x. supposedly catching Starship with "chopsticks" was his idea).

MaxHoppersGhost 2y ago

So you think Tesla, PayPal, SpaceX and whatever else succeeded in spite of Elon?

blonder 2y ago
Tesla in 2024 is certainly succeeding in spite of Elon. From firing the supercharging team because he had some kind of mental break to the tens of millions of dollars and engineering hours wasted on the cybertruck instead of another practical vehicle he clearly isn't contributing much to what is at this point a matured company that doesn't need a maniac (for better or worse) at the helm.
- skellington 2y ago
  Watching stupid people criticize brilliant people is pure popcorn fun! You have no idea what the future of Tesla is and it isn't cars....
- averageRoyalty 2y ago
  What you say makes sense, but this isn't the first time he's acted this way at any of his companies and they're all still going well. At some point you have to admit either his methods work or there's more to him than what you the general public see.
- DennisP 2y ago
  Electric pickup trucks aren't all that popular yet, but the cybertruck is selling better than any of the others. https://qz.com/tesla-cybertruck-ford-f150-lightning-electric-trucks-1851596485 https://qz.com/tesla-cybertruck-ford-f150-lightning-electric...
aweiland 2y ago
Elon was fired from Paypal. He didn't know the platform, didn't really bring much to the table, and just pissed off the board. He got rich because he got to keep his stock. So I'd say yes, Paypal succeeded in spite of him. SpaceX is doing well because of Gwynne Shotwell the COO. She's been able to keep Elon out of the weeds and basically at arms length. Let's not forget Tom Mueller who basically created the entire propulsion platform. When Elon gets involved he makes silly things like the Cybertruck. Completely useless, poorly engineered, and overpriced garbage.