The longer I live, the more often I learn that so called self-made geniuses like Bill Gates didn’t even do the thing they’re known for, and none of them did any of it alone.
Bill Gates at least can code. His contributions to Microsoft were mostly being a cutthroat businessman, but he can code, and did, in particular the MS Basic runtime. It’s all fuzzy but I’d put him at that stage where you can code, but look at your colleagues and realise that you probably shouldn’t. The not so fabled 1x developer. Not entirely rarely well-suited both as manager and QA because they understand enough to be helpful but, ego permitting, seeing they have no talent, don’t get their creative instincts tied up with actually writing code.
Elon Musk can also code - but I don’t know if he was actually any good. But supposedly he was quite fast and hardworking back when he worked on Zip2 (and perhaps also PayPal). But it was very likely spaghetti code.
Steve Jobs main claim was that visual design and walling people into marriage of software + hardware as a package was important. And based on the loyalty, profits, he seemed to have focused on the right thing.
As quick as Apple could, they went away from the kit Apple I into expensive unique-looking systems. The Lisa being US$9,995 (equivalent to well over $30,000 in 2023)… NeXT was pretty much the same high-end vision.
Bill Gates bailing out Apple so there could be two main companies like Pepsi and Coke, I really don’t get why people don’t criticize that. Microsoft was ahead in the Smartphone area long before the iPhone, if they had not bailed out Apple…
Bill Gates bailing out Apple so there could be two main companies like Pepsi and Coke, I really don’t get why people don’t criticize that.
Because in the late 90’s, the DoJ was going after Microsoft for anti-trust issues. Had Apple closed up, Microsoft would have been a monopoly with pre-existing anti-trust concerns, and there’s no way in hell that Microsoft wouldn’t have gotten split up.
A lof of the complaints that people had about Microsoft software - like how there wasn’t anything comparable to the iLife suite - came down to MS execs being unwilling to greenlight for fear of the DoJ splitting MS up. That’s why the Zune software was different from Windows Media Player, Photos wouldn’t backup to SkyDrive by default, and tons more that I can’t remember from 15 years ago.
This post is absolutely stupid, but keeps getting reposted because people have a hate boner for Elon Musk.
Tesla started in July 2003, Elon invested $6.5 Million in February 2004. That makes him a co-founder. Their first electric car was released in 2008 with Elon as CEO.(1)
You don’t get a startup to the seventh most valuable company by being lazy or lucky.(2)
How so? Was it producing the first mainstream electric car? Was it because that car traveled 200+mi? Was it because they created one of the quickest cars in the world? Was it because they made a massive charging network?
We do. Principal investors are often listed as cofounders in startups, if they take a significant role in company operations from early in the company lifespan
No, technically, he shouldn’t be listed as COO, which he is not.
I’d recommend looking into the responsibilities of various senior leadership (SVP to C-suite). A CEO, for instance, is largely responsible for fundraising, strategic acquisition planning, and board/investor relations instead of operations (which is a COO’s position).
The status of “founder” or “co-founder” denotes a historical fact about who was responsible for creating the business. As such, these are permanent titles that can’t be revoked later on.
Yes and if you read the article, you learn why someone could be made co-founder by actually getting the business moving.
If I start a business today, I don’t actually have to do anything except pay for a business license, and a co-founder could be the person who helps me get it off the ground.
This isn’t some obscure “gotcha” thing. There’s a reason he won his decision. Do you not realize you’re literally arguing against reality?
It’s weird as fuck because you could not manufacture a target as easy to make fun of as Musk, except possibly Trump himself. There’s already plenty, so you don’t need to make up new shit.
Everything the dude has done in like the last 5 years is just prime meme material, so idk why people keep reaching for this nonsensical shit.
I appreciate the information provided but It’s basically an honorary title that can be purchased. If you’re in the business world maybe that title holds some water but for common language purposes, people don’t consider a cofounder as someone who finances a company a year after it’s founded.
Yes an investor. Yet, Elon became the largest shareholder when he did invest and actively helped in development/decision-making of the first car. Take off your shit tinted glasses for a second and be rational.
He became chairman in 2004 are you saying that’s after Tesla was widely successful? When he won the Global Green for the roadster are you saying some random investor would get that?
Canadian here and I prefer the /s because there are too many morons out there. And sarcasm doesn’t translate over text unless you know said person. So just use /s. Is it really that hard?
Elon is a lot of things but Tesla wouldn’t have taken off with just these two. Elon is just the Steve Jobs of Tesla…and no amount of hate for the guy is going to change that. These two had no plans to mass market the car or build a company from it.
I think Woz would disagree with that, and from everything I’ve read about that time from him, he was genuinely having a great time. Jobs did screw Woz out of money from Atari, which he was hurt by when finding out, but they were collaborative in founding Apple.
Notably, Woz found out decades later, after Steve was dead already, when he was interviewed by someone who told him the whole story.
I like to think that if Jobs were alive today, the general public would see him as the Elon Musk type that he was. Instead, he died before his cult of personality could properly sour on him.
Yeah even in his final hours things started souring, with how he eschewed modern cancer medicine in favor of his weird all fruit diet. I imagine if he had actually beaten his cancer, it would have resulted in a huge ego boost, and further souring still.
In this case, Jobs didn’t invent the first Apple computer but largely contributed to its marketing success, and he was there from the beginning. He was still a bad person, but blame where blame is due.
I agree. Elon is what made the car known. These two struggled with getting a prototype done. They never had plans to mass build the cars. They didn’t even start off making cars. The prototype was to show their drive train. For all his flaws, Elon vision is what pushed Tesla forward. Otherwise, if these guys were the ones to do it. You think they’d have done it again but their other companies didn’t blow up. They’ve struggled. Good engineers are not always good at everything. They were good engineers. Strategy, marketing, etc that want their thing and nobody markets like Elon
Most things started after money came in. But that was always the plan.
So Elon brought money. Say that. Calling him a founder brings an idea that he brought the ideas, which he didn’t. He should be called a venture capitalist.
Can you point to where I called him a founder? I get Elon bad, but had he not shown up, there would be no Tesla.
He brought in billions of dollars to invest. Not all of it was his, of course, he talked his friends into investing as well.
I am a big fan of the Tesla car, I am not a fan of Elon but I respect he drove the electric car forward. While he has constantly over promised and under delivered, the car is a good car.
eta: I also think Tesla has outgrown Elon at this point. I think he does more harm than good for the company now.
I never called him a founder. Bum fighting over who’s the founder is a silly argument. Had the original founders stayed in charge. There would be no Tesla today.
Elon is the reason Tesla is a household name. Otherwise they would have been another failed startup. It’s why their other EV ventures never took off. They are great engineers but there is more to a product than engineering.
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