Status Updates From Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, a...

“On July 1, 2003, Eberhard and Tarpenning Incorporated their new company. While at Disneyland a few months earlier on a date with his wife, Eberhard had come up with the name Tesla Motors, both to pay homage to the inventor and electric motor pioneer Nikola Tesla and because it sounded cool.”

“It was never ‘if we fail, we are done for.’ He was very optimistic."

“Years later, a number of SpaceX’s executives still agonize over the way Hollman and his team were treated. “They were our best guys, and they kind of got blamed to get an answer out to the world," Mueller said.”

"The treatment of staff was not good for long stretches of this era," said one engineer. “Many good engineers, who everyone besides ‘management’ felt were assets to the company, were forced out or simply fired outright after being blamed for things they hadn’t done. The kiss of death was proving Elon wrong about something."

“He vented about this in the factory one night, unaware that Musk stood nearby and could hear everything. Two hours later, Mary Beth Brown appeared with an appointment card to see Lasik eye surgery specialist. When Hollman visited the doctor he discovered that Musk had already agreed to pay for the surgery. "Elon can be very demanding, but he'll make sure the obstacles in your way are removed.”

“There were plans for a giant inflatable rabbit that would be used to plug oil spills.”
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