4 ms·

Tesla’s Founder Sues Tesla’s CEO

34 points by ph0rque 17y ago

gizmo 17y ago
When you have a billionaire founder in your board of directors, one who is completely obsessive in whatever he does (Paypal/Space X)... how can you be surprised that you get kicked out when you don't do things his way? And I don't blame Musk either. If you invest $70 million in a company you should get to say who the CEO is.
- zandorg 17y ago
  Not a billionaire yet (I think the NASA deal with SpaceX will help): Elon Musk — Net Worth: $328 Million According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk - More sources »
  - gizmo 17y ago
    Ah, but then he probably used to be. Source: the opening line in this interview claims that he's a billionaire. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Onajosm9PWo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Onajosm9PWo
smakz 17y ago
Eberhard nearly destroyed Tesla. Musk did what anyone who invested 70 million dollars would have done. A perfect example of Eberhard's arrogance is the whole 2 speed transmission debacle. Eberhard absolutely insisted on having a 2 speed transmission to achieve the performance numbers that he advertised way too early, Magma warned them very early on that was a bad decision but he didn't listen. It almost cost them launching the production model at all (luckily Musk had the idea to launch with a temporary transmission which was upgraded later). Notice the Model S uses a 1 speed transmission. In my opinion, the only reason Eberhard was so insistent on the 2 speed transmission was because he DIDN'T have 70 million of his own money invested. Musk saved the company as far as I'm concerned. Also, isn't it unreal how this company was paying the founder 200K a year with no revenues and a balance sheet that would make most start up founders sick to their stomachs?
- menloparkbum 17y ago
  Also, isn't it unreal how this company was paying the founder 200K a year with no revenue This is par for the course for venture funded startups. There's a whole class of people in Silicon Valley who make a career out of being the overpaid execs at startups after the first round or two of funding. They typically get paid more than they would ever make if they tried to get a position that matched their skill level at an established company like Apple or Yahoo!. After they do one, they have "Startup CTO" on their resume and then keep bouncing around from startup to startup. What they are doing is financially very low risk (they are making $150K-$200K a year), yet they usually take pride in their entrepreneurial spirit. I would wager that 9 times out of 10 they are hopeless and drive the companies they latch onto into the ground. Their existence is one of the lamer aspects of SV culture that rarely gets mentioned. Note that the guy in the article was actually the founder, not one of the people I just described. It may or may not be unreasonable, but I certainly don't think it is uncommon for him to take the same salary as the other executives brought in from outside.
  - ja2ke 17y ago
    "Their existence is one of the lamer aspects of SV culture that rarely gets mentioned." On the contrary, I think that that's one of laymen's first assumptions about C-level positions at startups. I think that most people hear "tech startup" and still think "~2000 era dotcom, doing nothing but living on a cushion of imaginary or scammed cash." When I tell non tech people I work at a tech related startup, I am almost always given a look or a remark which requires me to say "oh ho ho, its not what you think! It's not like that!" almost a decade later. (The other time I get that sort of look/remark is when I mention that it's also a video game company, but no ho ho, we don't make games where you endlessly decapitate hookers.)
    - vaksel 17y ago
      that game would probably be a huge success. Duke Nukem? Winner Grand Theft Auto Series? Winner
      - 17y ago

34 points by ph0rque 17y ago

gizmo 17y ago

When you have a billionaire founder in your board of directors, one who is completely obsessive in whatever he does (Paypal/Space X)... how can you be surprised that you get kicked out when you don't do things his way? And I don't blame Musk either. If you invest $70 million in a company you should get to say who the CEO is.

zandorg 17y ago
Not a billionaire yet (I think the NASA deal with SpaceX will help): Elon Musk — Net Worth: $328 Million According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk - More sources »
- gizmo 17y ago
  Ah, but then he probably used to be. Source: the opening line in this interview claims that he's a billionaire. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Onajosm9PWo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Onajosm9PWo

smakz 17y ago

Eberhard nearly destroyed Tesla. Musk did what anyone who invested 70 million dollars would have done. A perfect example of Eberhard's arrogance is the whole 2 speed transmission debacle. Eberhard absolutely insisted on having a 2 speed transmission to achieve the performance numbers that he advertised way too early, Magma warned them very early on that was a bad decision but he didn't listen. It almost cost them launching the production model at all (luckily Musk had the idea to launch with a temporary transmission which was upgraded later). Notice the Model S uses a 1 speed transmission. In my opinion, the only reason Eberhard was so insistent on the 2 speed transmission was because he DIDN'T have 70 million of his own money invested. Musk saved the company as far as I'm concerned. Also, isn't it unreal how this company was paying the founder 200K a year with no revenues and a balance sheet that would make most start up founders sick to their stomachs?

menloparkbum 17y ago
Also, isn't it unreal how this company was paying the founder 200K a year with no revenue This is par for the course for venture funded startups. There's a whole class of people in Silicon Valley who make a career out of being the overpaid execs at startups after the first round or two of funding. They typically get paid more than they would ever make if they tried to get a position that matched their skill level at an established company like Apple or Yahoo!. After they do one, they have "Startup CTO" on their resume and then keep bouncing around from startup to startup. What they are doing is financially very low risk (they are making $150K-$200K a year), yet they usually take pride in their entrepreneurial spirit. I would wager that 9 times out of 10 they are hopeless and drive the companies they latch onto into the ground. Their existence is one of the lamer aspects of SV culture that rarely gets mentioned. Note that the guy in the article was actually the founder, not one of the people I just described. It may or may not be unreasonable, but I certainly don't think it is uncommon for him to take the same salary as the other executives brought in from outside.
- ja2ke 17y ago
  "Their existence is one of the lamer aspects of SV culture that rarely gets mentioned." On the contrary, I think that that's one of laymen's first assumptions about C-level positions at startups. I think that most people hear "tech startup" and still think "~2000 era dotcom, doing nothing but living on a cushion of imaginary or scammed cash." When I tell non tech people I work at a tech related startup, I am almost always given a look or a remark which requires me to say "oh ho ho, its not what you think! It's not like that!" almost a decade later. (The other time I get that sort of look/remark is when I mention that it's also a video game company, but no ho ho, we don't make games where you endlessly decapitate hookers.)
  - vaksel 17y ago
    that game would probably be a huge success. Duke Nukem? Winner Grand Theft Auto Series? Winner
    - 17y ago