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Elon Musk owns Twitter: The story so far

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Re: Elon Musk owns Twitter: The story so far

#591
post #585
post #571

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Class A players don't work for controlling managers who overload them with near impossible targets. Class A players have plenty of options in tech, and have no need to tolerate having their skills called into question or disrespected by pointy-haired middle managers. When Bill Coughran was asked how he was able to successfully manage so many famously high performers (engineers like Jeff Dean), Bill explained how that…

You're wrong. This is exactly how he runs things at Tesla and SpaceX. Class A players are well compensated and love working on challenges that are extreme and/or world relevant. They live and breath what they do. If you're that type of player, Musk will respect you and your opinion.

And all of my talented Stanford/MIT/FAANG/whatever pedigree friends quit Musk companies or would never touch one of his companies. I wonder why.

Re: Elon Musk owns Twitter: The story so far

#592
post #585
post #571

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Class A players don't work for controlling managers who overload them with near impossible targets. Class A players have plenty of options in tech, and have no need to tolerate having their skills called into question or disrespected by pointy-haired middle managers. When Bill Coughran was asked how he was able to successfully manage so many famously high performers (engineers like Jeff Dean), Bill explained how that…

You're wrong. This is exactly how he runs things at Tesla and SpaceX. Class A players are well compensated and love working on challenges that are extreme and/or world relevant. They live and breath what they do. If you're that type of player, Musk will respect you and your opinion.

Astronauts and physicists are separate categories of human. Obviously those who thrive on danger and those who thrive on puzzles are different. Though, it could be risky to present such an upfront contradiction to someone with an established worldview.

Re: Elon Musk owns Twitter: The story so far

#593

They need to re-free up the API. Early adopters and hackers really did some great work using the API until they walled-gardened it and rate limited it to make it unusable. They need to do this for goodwill at the very least, but I think it will spark the fire to make it popular with techies again. Based on the recently published discovery chats we will probably see: * High def video * Focus on music publication * The…

> They need to re-free up the API.

it's not easy to regain that trust once you lose it. how long would Twitter's API need to remain open until you decide they're not going to reverse course and that it's worth building on? 2 years, minimum? and even then there'd be a bitter taste when i do: it would always be in the back of my mind that "what i'm building is only temporary, they're going to take this away again at _some_ point".

Re: Elon Musk owns Twitter: The story so far

#594
post #547

Random thoughts. 1. I think any effort to figure out rational motives for this buy are in vain. It seems things just pop into his head and if considered a fun challenge, then why not? A child-like YOLO attitude. 2. Town square. The one thing that keeps Twitter standing is its cultural relevance. It is the town square for the elite (politicians, celebrities, experts). There isn't really anywhere else to go. An exodus…

> 3. Brain drain. I expect the exact opposite. This is the part where Musk thrives and also where he's at his cruelest. He will remove slackers and non-performers without mercy and surround himself with class A players only. Next he'll overload them with near impossible targets and you can't bullshit yourself out of it. You deliver or you're out. I would expect him to run this for a year or so and accomplish more tha…

You clearly don't know what an A player is. An A player does not have any work life balance.

And no, when you make hundreds of thousands of $ per year, you're not "exploited".

And yes, quite a few people would love to work for Musk just because he's Musk. Exciting things happen around him.

Re: Elon Musk owns Twitter: The story so far

#595
post #547

Random thoughts. 1. I think any effort to figure out rational motives for this buy are in vain. It seems things just pop into his head and if considered a fun challenge, then why not? A child-like YOLO attitude. 2. Town square. The one thing that keeps Twitter standing is its cultural relevance. It is the town square for the elite (politicians, celebrities, experts). There isn't really anywhere else to go. An exodus…

[deleted]

Re: Elon Musk owns Twitter: The story so far

#596
post #547

Random thoughts. 1. I think any effort to figure out rational motives for this buy are in vain. It seems things just pop into his head and if considered a fun challenge, then why not? A child-like YOLO attitude. 2. Town square. The one thing that keeps Twitter standing is its cultural relevance. It is the town square for the elite (politicians, celebrities, experts). There isn't really anywhere else to go. An exodus…

>Town square. The one thing that keeps Twitter standing is its cultural relevance. Social networks rise and fall. Twitter is no more the town square than MySpace, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, YouTube, TikTok, Mastadon, Snap, LinkedIn, etc. are, and the attempts to redefine them as such are only a means to political end. Musk cares more about making money than anything else - he didn't become a billionaire by being al…

False, none of those other platforms have the town square vibe. They're fragmented boxes of content and conversation.

Re: Elon Musk owns Twitter: The story so far

#597
post #585
post #571

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Class A players don't work for controlling managers who overload them with near impossible targets. Class A players have plenty of options in tech, and have no need to tolerate having their skills called into question or disrespected by pointy-haired middle managers. When Bill Coughran was asked how he was able to successfully manage so many famously high performers (engineers like Jeff Dean), Bill explained how that…

You're wrong. This is exactly how he runs things at Tesla and SpaceX. Class A players are well compensated and love working on challenges that are extreme and/or world relevant. They live and breath what they do. If you're that type of player, Musk will respect you and your opinion.

Everyone I know that worked at SpaceX left due to substandard compensation. I don't think it's a secret that you work at SpaceX for "the mission" versus "the money".

Re: Elon Musk owns Twitter: The story so far

#599
post #547

Random thoughts. 1. I think any effort to figure out rational motives for this buy are in vain. It seems things just pop into his head and if considered a fun challenge, then why not? A child-like YOLO attitude. 2. Town square. The one thing that keeps Twitter standing is its cultural relevance. It is the town square for the elite (politicians, celebrities, experts). There isn't really anywhere else to go. An exodus…

My belief is marketing. Toyota spends 1.3 billion in marketing world wide. Tesla has no marketing team but Elon himself is the marketing engine on Twitter.

With Elon owning Twitter he can automate the marketing for whatever companies he runs now and in the future. Also he can invisibly or visibly promote his own tweets. On top of that the company makes 5 billion a year.

I think Elon probably has a very techy view that marketing is bad. And if he has to do it, he will do it in his own weird way with 100% control of how it will be done.

Re: Elon Musk owns Twitter: The story so far

#600
post #547

Random thoughts. 1. I think any effort to figure out rational motives for this buy are in vain. It seems things just pop into his head and if considered a fun challenge, then why not? A child-like YOLO attitude. 2. Town square. The one thing that keeps Twitter standing is its cultural relevance. It is the town square for the elite (politicians, celebrities, experts). There isn't really anywhere else to go. An exodus…

I'd work for twitter if they were less driven by political ideology. Maybe I am wrong, but it looks from the outside that one would have to walk the thought line to succeed in many of these west coast companies.

Edit: If I am wrong (possible), help me understand why.

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