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Tesla Plunges After a Conference Call

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Re: Tesla Plunges After a Conference Call

#401

Post by notheguyouthink »

nostrademons wrote: post #311
dragonwriter wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In the grand scheme of things figuring out how to make model3's faster than they can sell them is a boring problem for Musk It's the gateway problem to any of the ones he might find more interesting, and if he isn't willing to engage with that problem enough to satisfy investors, he should be “Chief Ivory Tower Visionary” and let someone else be CEO. Or, at least, get a COO and gracefully hand off boring operationa…

The CEO role is Chief Ivory Tower Visionary. As CEO, your #1 job is to set the vision and strategy for the company, and your #2 is to get the right people on the bus and the wrong people off, which is dramatically easier with a strong vision. He does desperately need a good COO though to make sure Tesla can actually deliver on its promises.

Lol, my old startup had a great Ivory tower CEO. We ran out of runway after he continually chased any shiny ball that the wind brought him. No monetary plans, no concept of what a usable product could be, just lots and lots of vision, and vague descriptions of implementations to the team.

That doesn't disqualify your statement, but it does highlight that - if that is correct, a COO is needed to put some sanity on the Ivory goals.

Then again, I was working for a startup. I guess that was a success (~25M funding before fizzling), as far as startups are concerned.. lol.

Re: Tesla Plunges After a Conference Call

#402

Post by refurb »

komali2 wrote: post #351
refurb wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a feeling that posts like this are going to be very entertaining to read in a year or so. Just like the "Dropbox is a stupid idea because..." everyone loves to quote.

Given how much content people post, we can just wait for any company to fail, then google their ticker on sites with comments, find some "idiots" talking about buying their stocks, and laugh at them.

True, but I think Tesla is unique in the quantity and enthusiasm deptartment.

Re: Tesla Plunges After a Conference Call

#403

Post by samstave »

stale2002 wrote: post #323
samstave wrote: post #162

One of the things I was really was going to happen with Tesla would have been a revival of the boutique auto industry - whereby, one could buy all the subcomponents of the Tesla - a full drive-train-chassis setup with all controls and then build custom bodies on top of them Like trucks and vans etc. Pipe-dream sure, but I was really hoping that this would happen. How hard would it be to extend the length of the chass…

Tesla is literally the opposite of that dream. Tesla is effectively the Apple of the car world. The whole thing is locked down, and if you make modifications to the car, they will brick it with software. You don't really "own" that Tesla.

Sadly, I know - thats why I said it was a pipe dream.

Re: Tesla Plunges After a Conference Call

#404

Post by Semirhage »

philwelch wrote: post #71
Semirhage wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He’s also getting away with it because it was a propane torch mounted in an airsoft gun, not a dangerous weapon. It’s a tool in a toy, so basically... who cares?

Also, actual flamethrowers are commercially available and completely unregulated in 48 states: https://throwflame.com

Oh my god, I didn’t know that and to be honest, I’m surprised. My first reaction was that must be a satirical site, but no it’s a real and claims of legality are accurate.

I don’t know what to say.

Re: Tesla Plunges After a Conference Call

#405

Post by 3pt14159 »

matwood wrote: post #183
3pt14159 wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I agree with you nodesocket. Musk comes off as focusing on the right things, not getting bogged down by a x% difference on capital outlay here or there.

> not getting bogged down by a x% difference on capital outlay here or there. People would not be after him so much if he hadn't missed almost every prediction he's made. The company is quickly approaching a cliff that the Musk cheerleaders cannot simply cheer him across. Timelines really start to matter when your runway is running out.

There is no fast approaching cliff or any such nonsense. Tesla's market cap is $50B. They can release stock and dilute current shareholders if they need to. Talking about whether it is a $4.4B capital outlay or $4.0B capital outlay doesn't matter.

What matters for Tesla is making sure that their core offering doesn't get overshadowed by an established automotive manufacturer before they can scale. What matters for Tesla is that petrol prices don't plummet due to some new unforeseen technology of economic downturn. What matters for Tesla is that their cars wear reliably so they don't tarnish their reputation.

Re: Tesla Plunges After a Conference Call

#406

Post by djrogers »

yread wrote: post #262
djrogers wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> While Tesla is still the "coolest" brand of car, there are better/cheaper electric cars from many non-Tesla companies already widely available today. No, there are a very small handful of cheaper electric cars that may be subjectively better for some uses but worse for many others. Bolt, i3, Leaf - that's about it for mass-produced cars being bought in any volume, and the manufactureres are taking a bath on them. G…

there is also Prius Prime, Clarity, Volt, Fusion, Ioniq, Outlander and more https://insideevs.com/april-2018-plug-in-electric-vehicle-sa...

You’re conflating plug-in hybrids with pure EVs here, and even then most of the ones you lost won’t ship 1000 cars per month, let alone 5k. Those are peanuts.

My point is, the needle is just barely starting to move toward EVs - it’s not pegged yet by any means.

Re: Tesla Plunges After a Conference Call

#408

Post by kentm »

manicdee wrote: post #372
kentm wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whether a problem is interesting is orthogonal to whether its important. This is an earnings call and scaling up production is actually an important issue to address for the company's long-term viability.

The question wasn’t about scaling up production. It was a very specific question about trees when Tesla doesn’t really know what the forest looks like yet.

If you're in the lumber business and giving estimates on how much wood you're going to deliver per month, then not knowing what the forest looks like might be considered something of an existential problem.

I get that Musk really enjoys thinking big and changing the world, and to such a person questions about capital expenditures might be dry and boring, but they're still important and need to be answered. If he doesn't want to do it then he should delegate.

Re: Tesla Plunges After a Conference Call

#409

Post by no-s »

Avshalom wrote: post #382
erikpukinskis wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When people are talking about SpaceX’s accomplishments, you can assume an implied “* from orbit” I guarantee you John Carmack would not say he did anything close to what Musk did.

Yeah but they 'didn't do anything close' to what SpaceX (not Musk) did, 12.5 years ago. That nobody bothered to do it in the (presumably) 20 years that it was viable is probably an indication that while aesthetically cool it's probably not all that economically practical.

i suspect the space industrial complex had built up a great deal of inefficiency, creating an economically practical exploitable opportunity for anyone with the gumption to face down the status quo. Heck, the heat shield on the dragon capsule is in the NASA database, practically free tech invented and tested in the 70's and dismissed by possibly dozens of programs except for a tiny few. SpaceX did a little appropriate tweaking and made it commercially viable and probably more suitable than everything else, despite industry groupthink...

Re: Tesla Plunges After a Conference Call

#410

Post by pooya13 »

pooya13 wrote: post #275
mephitix wrote: post #5

I was on this call. It was extremely cringey/embarrassing to hear Elon dismiss valid questions. At the same time, it was fantastic to see a young, smart, retail investor (Gali from Hyperchange) get to ask so many questions directly to the leadership team. I thought before the call that Gali would get to ask only one question, like the other analysts. He was able to ask almost 10! It was surreal. I was left feeling th…

If an investor's decision to buy or sell a stock is based on how "cringey" a conference call is and not the numbers then I think they are in the wrong business. I think Elon did the right thing. It would be better for Tesla in the long term if the day traders sell their stocks. Tesla fans such as myself would love to pick up some stocks at low prices and because we buy into the vision we will not sell it anytime soon…

To those who are down voting my comment without providing a rebuttal: https://www.barrons.com/articles/family-office-leaders-are-e...
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