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He didn't start Tesla, he was their lead Series A investor and gradually took over. https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2014/12/29/how-much-equity-did-elon-musk

by phonon 1y ago

He didn't start Tesla, he was their lead Series A investor and gradually took over. https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2014/12/29/how-much-equity-did-elon-musk-get-from-investing-in-teslas-series-a/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2014/12/29/how-much-equit...

oskarkk 1y ago
At that point Tesla was 3 guys with an idea and no money. They got $7.5M of investment, of which $6.5M was Musk's money (and he became chairman). I count that as "starting Tesla", as without his money nothing would happen (first big money from other investors came 2 years later).
- inemesitaffia 1y ago
  Those people also had the cash to invest. They had more cash than Musk put in. They didn't even have the right to the name. Had to buy it from some Euro company
  - oskarkk 1y ago
    They surely had some cash, but I think it was a small contribution compared to Musk's. Given that Musk was $6.5M out of $7.5M series A, and something like $9-10M out of $13M series B, I think it's not possible they contributed more than Musk, unless they put big money into it right at the start (unlikely). I count find any concrete information about how much money the two actual founders contributed (which I consider as evidence that it wasn't much). Do you have some sources on how much they invested?
    - inemesitaffia 1y ago
      I'm not saying they put in more cash. I'm saying they had more cash but left it in the bank rather than investing
      - oskarkk 1y ago
        Ah, okay. So it was 3 guys that didn't want to put much of their money into Tesla, and Musk who did.
        inemesitaffia 1y ago
        Yup. That's the skin in the game that matters. Even more than giving up productive effort elsewhere
93po 1y ago
This is a super tired, wrong talking point. Tesla was basically nothing when Elon bought it. He effectively just bought the name. It's also a tired talking point because even if there was some meaningfully well-developed product he was buying at the time, he still grew the company from basically non-existent to one of the best car manufacturers in the world, which is 99.9% of what matters. If we're going to criticize people I wish we'd stick to real things to criticize, because there are plenty with Elon. Making stuff up like this just makes anti-Elon people look ridiculous.

by phonon 1y ago

oskarkk 1y ago

At that point Tesla was 3 guys with an idea and no money. They got $7.5M of investment, of which $6.5M was Musk's money (and he became chairman). I count that as "starting Tesla", as without his money nothing would happen (first big money from other investors came 2 years later).

inemesitaffia 1y ago
Those people also had the cash to invest. They had more cash than Musk put in. They didn't even have the right to the name. Had to buy it from some Euro company
- oskarkk 1y ago
  They surely had some cash, but I think it was a small contribution compared to Musk's. Given that Musk was $6.5M out of $7.5M series A, and something like $9-10M out of $13M series B, I think it's not possible they contributed more than Musk, unless they put big money into it right at the start (unlikely). I count find any concrete information about how much money the two actual founders contributed (which I consider as evidence that it wasn't much). Do you have some sources on how much they invested?
  - inemesitaffia 1y ago
    I'm not saying they put in more cash. I'm saying they had more cash but left it in the bank rather than investing
    - oskarkk 1y ago
      Ah, okay. So it was 3 guys that didn't want to put much of their money into Tesla, and Musk who did.
      - inemesitaffia 1y ago
        Yup. That's the skin in the game that matters. Even more than giving up productive effort elsewhere

93po 1y ago

This is a super tired, wrong talking point. Tesla was basically nothing when Elon bought it. He effectively just bought the name. It's also a tired talking point because even if there was some meaningfully well-developed product he was buying at the time, he still grew the company from basically non-existent to one of the best car manufacturers in the world, which is 99.9% of what matters. If we're going to criticize people I wish we'd stick to real things to criticize, because there are plenty with Elon. Making stuff up like this just makes anti-Elon people look ridiculous.