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This is hogwash. Dramatic exits after successful acquisitions are common. You have to earn “failures” like that. That created SpaceX’s seed capital. (You can

This is hogwash. Dramatic exits after successful acquisitions are common. You have to earn “failures” like that. That created SpaceX’s seed capital. (You can’t have it both ways. If he had convinced the US to bankroll him, that would have been serious business acumen.) Minor success on hard problems, with a shoe string budget, and an attractive business plan (vertical integration, fast-failure iteration, reusability) got investment capital flowing. More successes, more capital. Result: They changed the economics of space launches & save money for all their customers, including NASA & the military. No resemblance to nepo operations or results. See Boeing, Lockheed, etc. $ billions of dollars burn with each SLS launch. Massive delays & cost plus overruns. For now.

cess11 2y ago
Thiel put him aside before the IPO, which was before Ebay bought them. There's been a lot of reporting about how SpaceX is keeping Musk's influence at a minimum. If you go looking you'll also find video from interviews with Musk in that role where he isn't talking from a script and comes across as a clueless high schooler. Why are you taking hits for him? Does he somehow pay your bills?
- Nevermark 2y ago
  > Why are you taking hits for him? Does he somehow pay your bills? I don’t like one-sided trolls who are insecure that some other people are exceptional? Is that really the kind of conversation we want to have? — More productively: I don’t have an axe to grind either way, other than giving credit where it is due, and vice versa. My original comment reflected both. He has done some truly incredible work. He earned his success. Lately, he is a mess with completely different priorities. I imagine many employees in all his companies are happier when he is not around these days. And would be happy if he stopped posting opinions, given the downstream impact to their brands.
  - cess11 2y ago
    Do I come across as insecure? What "success"? The stuff that other people have made happen that he takes credit for?
    - Nevermark 2y ago
      > Why are you taking hits for him? Does he somehow pay your bills? I responded to your pointless, inaccurate and rude conjecture with an equally pointless, rude, and what I assumed was an equally inaccurate conjecture to suggest that perhaps we keep our conversation substantive. If the sense in that still isn’t clear, you might check out the guidelines on this site for keeping discussion constructive. > What "success"? The stuff that other people have made happen that he takes credit for? I don’t know how “success” could be any more evident. But if you believe you see shortcuts that were taken, then perhaps take your insight and do something comparable? Good luck!
      - FredPret 2y ago
        We've seen an explosion in time spent looking at second-hand information online in recent decades - social media & news. I think a healthier way is to get information direct from the source, and from going and doing things. I think some people responded to the deluge of slop by clutching out their connection to reality and relying solely on a couple of third parties for their worldview. There's no point in arguing with someone who looks at Elon Musk and cannot see success because they can only look at him through a thick lens of ideology and tribalism. Five, ten years ago, some these same people probably thought he was in their tribe and idolized him then. Ten years ago, they probably liked Trump and his shows too.
        cess11 2y ago
        I think it's the other way around. My interlocutor above has a "thick lens of ideology and tribalism". This is why they're being very unspecific and arguing like a child from a position of conviction, "this is the most evident thing there ever was". I've never had a keen eye to people that ride on the labour of other people and take credit for their work. Gossip magazines just don't work on me, and I don't trust the rich when they say they're "progressive" or whatever, like Musk did before. If they meant what they say, they'd get rid of their riches and return to society.

cess11 2y ago

Thiel put him aside before the IPO, which was before Ebay bought them. There's been a lot of reporting about how SpaceX is keeping Musk's influence at a minimum. If you go looking you'll also find video from interviews with Musk in that role where he isn't talking from a script and comes across as a clueless high schooler. Why are you taking hits for him? Does he somehow pay your bills?

Nevermark 2y ago
> Why are you taking hits for him? Does he somehow pay your bills? I don’t like one-sided trolls who are insecure that some other people are exceptional? Is that really the kind of conversation we want to have? — More productively: I don’t have an axe to grind either way, other than giving credit where it is due, and vice versa. My original comment reflected both. He has done some truly incredible work. He earned his success. Lately, he is a mess with completely different priorities. I imagine many employees in all his companies are happier when he is not around these days. And would be happy if he stopped posting opinions, given the downstream impact to their brands.
- cess11 2y ago
  Do I come across as insecure? What "success"? The stuff that other people have made happen that he takes credit for?
  - Nevermark 2y ago
    > Why are you taking hits for him? Does he somehow pay your bills? I responded to your pointless, inaccurate and rude conjecture with an equally pointless, rude, and what I assumed was an equally inaccurate conjecture to suggest that perhaps we keep our conversation substantive. If the sense in that still isn’t clear, you might check out the guidelines on this site for keeping discussion constructive. > What "success"? The stuff that other people have made happen that he takes credit for? I don’t know how “success” could be any more evident. But if you believe you see shortcuts that were taken, then perhaps take your insight and do something comparable? Good luck!
    - FredPret 2y ago
      We've seen an explosion in time spent looking at second-hand information online in recent decades - social media & news. I think a healthier way is to get information direct from the source, and from going and doing things. I think some people responded to the deluge of slop by clutching out their connection to reality and relying solely on a couple of third parties for their worldview. There's no point in arguing with someone who looks at Elon Musk and cannot see success because they can only look at him through a thick lens of ideology and tribalism. Five, ten years ago, some these same people probably thought he was in their tribe and idolized him then. Ten years ago, they probably liked Trump and his shows too.
      - cess11 2y ago
        I think it's the other way around. My interlocutor above has a "thick lens of ideology and tribalism". This is why they're being very unspecific and arguing like a child from a position of conviction, "this is the most evident thing there ever was". I've never had a keen eye to people that ride on the labour of other people and take credit for their work. Gossip magazines just don't work on me, and I don't trust the rich when they say they're "progressive" or whatever, like Musk did before. If they meant what they say, they'd get rid of their riches and return to society.