Elon Musk is pushing the human race forward
1–10 of 57 posts
Re: Elon Musk is pushing the human race forward
#2I've been reading about intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation. I don't know if that's a bunch of pop-psychology but I would bet he has much of the former. I wish I could summon those kinds of energies.
Re: Elon Musk is pushing the human race forward
#3What I'm most looking forward to is Tesla's third and fourth generation platform. I'm really curious to see how low they can bring the prices and how high the driving range will be at those mainstream prices.
As for SpaceX, I think they're doing amazing work and it was about time the private sector got into this field with ambitious goals.
Re: Elon Musk is pushing the human race forward
#4Nissan and Chevy are already shipping electric cars. There are other private companies pursuing private space flight. Elon gets the love from the Valley because he's from here, but he's an entrepreneur just trying to make money on what's hot. There's nothing wrong with that, but let's hold off on the deification.
Re: Elon Musk is pushing the human race forward
#5Nissan and Chevy are already shipping electric cars. There are other private companies pursuing private space flight. Elon gets the love from the Valley because he's from here, but he's an entrepreneur just trying to make money on what's hot. There's nothing wrong with that, but let's hold off on the deification.
You are right. There are other companies working on the same problems as Elon Musk. However, what really impresses me about him is that he invested all the cash he made off of PayPal into the companies he's working on now. He could have stopped after PayPal, but he didn't.
Re: Elon Musk is pushing the human race forward
#6I think SpaceX's success had more to do with the military and space business needing a new public face. SpaceX's executive bios read like a who's who of the space industry. I think people seem to think that Musk reinvented rocketry in three years, which is unrealistic. It's a nice made for TV story, but most corporations probably couldn't swing hundreds of millions in fed contracts without some serious connections.
Re: Elon Musk is pushing the human race forward
#7Nissan and Chevy are already shipping electric cars. There are other private companies pursuing private space flight. Elon gets the love from the Valley because he's from here, but he's an entrepreneur just trying to make money on what's hot. There's nothing wrong with that, but let's hold off on the deification.
I'm in the space business, and there are no other organizations in the world doing space the way Elon is with SpaceX. The framework is entirely different, which is far more important than you might give credit. None of his competitors are doing business in a way that will credibly open up space as an entrepreneurial frontier like we have here in the valley.
Re: Elon Musk is pushing the human race forward
#8Nissan and Chevy are already shipping electric cars. There are other private companies pursuing private space flight. Elon gets the love from the Valley because he's from here, but he's an entrepreneur just trying to make money on what's hot. There's nothing wrong with that, but let's hold off on the deification.
You are right. There are other companies working on the same problems as Elon Musk. However, what really impresses me about him is that he invested all the cash he made off of PayPal into the companies he's working on now. He could have stopped after PayPal, but he didn't.
He could have stopped before PayPal after he sold Zip2 for over $300 million in 1999. Elon's incredible and the next 50 years will be amazing because of people like him.
Re: Elon Musk is pushing the human race forward
#9Nissan and Chevy are already shipping electric cars. There are other private companies pursuing private space flight. Elon gets the love from the Valley because he's from here, but he's an entrepreneur just trying to make money on what's hot. There's nothing wrong with that, but let's hold off on the deification.
SpaceX is far beyond the competition (Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic), with successful launches and signed contracts.
Tesla started less than a decade ago and has sold out of both the Roadster and the Model S. That's pretty incredible for such a young car company.
I don't think Elon is just "making money on what's hot." Building a car company isn't in fashion, and an energy revolution is a pretty clear vertical right now (see Khosla's invetments). Likewise, building a rocket company isn't very fashionable. If you look at his vision--he's playing a 20-year game--the true market for SpaceX doesn't even exist yet.
Re: Elon Musk is pushing the human race forward
#10I think SpaceX's success had more to do with the military and space business needing a new public face. SpaceX's executive bios read like a who's who of the space industry. I think people seem to think that Musk reinvented rocketry in three years, which is unrealistic. It's a nice made for TV story, but most corporations probably couldn't swing hundreds of millions in fed contracts without some serious connections.
He hasn't reinvented rocketry, he's reinvented rocket manufacturing.