So.
An Occasional Reader (OR) accuses me of being “an Elon fanboy” And think, but don't say “Yes! yes I am!”. I acknowledge im a fanboy. I’m proud to be a fanboy.
Then the OR goes on to say “he’s just a marketer”. And I think, but don’t say: “sure, he’s a marketing guy. But he’s not just a marketing guy”. He’s so much more than that, which is why I’m a fanboy.
I’ve read all the major biographies of Elon Musk. The best is undoubtably Walter Isaacson’s “Elon Musk” and that’s what I’ll be quoting here.
First quote, from 1999:
“Elon was astonished when the check arrived at his apartment. ‘My bank account when from, like, $5,000 to $22,005,000.’” [p66].
That was just after he’d sold Zip2 to AltaVista -- his share: $US 22 million for him at 27.
Zip2 was his own creation, “a searchable directory of businesses online... with map software that would give users directions to them”. [p61]. Kind of like today’s Google, but 24 years ago. This was Elon using his skills in computer software and coding, at which he’d been best in the country in his teenage years. So, already, not a marketing guy.
That feeling, his astonishment, clicked with me. Because I remember the same feeling in 2007, when we sold our business and our local Bank rang us, because I’d not alerted them, and there had been a “substantial deposit” and could I come over to the Bank to let them know what’s what. What was what was that we’d sold our business and the settlement was in US dollars cash to our account. Astonishing!
So, we know the feeling, Elon! It’s weird. Also Nice, for sure. But also weird. And memorable.
Now, next thing.
Since then, we’ve managed that cash payment by converting it to property, equities and some bonds. We’ve done fine in the 15 years since, about 8% annual growth.
What has Elon done with his cash payment? Answer: He’s increased his $22 million stake to Net Wealth of $260 Billion. That’s a 12,000 TIMES his initial stake. That’s 49% annual growth.
My point: you don’t multiply your wealth by 12,000 times by being just a marketer.
Yes, he’s a marketing guy. But also:
He’s a visionary:
He has a two-fold vision. (1) To save this planet. And (2) To become interplanetary. The first of these he’s achieving via Tesla. Electric Vehicles and huge battery factories. It’s his company that is forcing change in both areas and driving innovation. Tesla is not the biggest EV company in the world, selling more than all other EV companies combined. One of the Tesla models, the model S, is the biggest selling car in the United States full stop.
Become interplatnetary vision he’s pushing through his SpaceX. Which makes him...
He’s a rocket scientist
He needed rockets. He went to Russia to buy them. The Russians tried to rip him off. So he decided to build them himself. He now has the world’s largest space company, sending more cargo to space than all other space companies in the world combined. All who work with him say that he knows as much as anyone in any room, about rocketry. You can tell this from his video showing a rocket scientist around his factory, here.
All that’s an aside to the ultimate aim of getting to Mars. And part of that has been to build out Starlink Internet satellite system that has brought the internet to more people in the world than any other internet company.. That’s now making money, but was initially just an aside tot he rocket company. Again, not the markings of a guy who is “just” a marketer.
He’s a green entrepreneur and green engineer
Musk invested in the fledgling company Tesla, in 2004. The two founders had vision but no money. Musk had both. “... Musk focused on the importance of the mission rather than the business” [p129]. The vision being to have a sustainable future.
To make it work, he became involved not just as an investor, but in all aspects:
“One of the most important decision that Elon Musk made about Tesla. That it should make its own key components, rather than piecing together a car with components from independent suppliers”. [p132]
“Especially when it cam to engineering decisions, he became increasingly involved/“ [p134]
His question were technical:
“[Musk was] probing into the details of the battery pack, motor and materials.” [p134]
Musk has said: you can make a prototype in six months it takes six years to get to manufacturing. That was the difference between those who’d developed the early prototype and Musk, who had the drive to get it to production. Without him, Tesla would not exist today. That seems clear.
He’s an industrial designer
“Although Musk’s expertise was computer software, not industrial design, he began putting a lot of time into the aesthetics of the Roadster.... He was later honored by the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena for his work on the Roadster.” [p135]
He’s a brain surgeon:
Neuralink is his company set up to understand what is happening in the Artificial Intelligence area and to interface the human brain with computers. He aims for Neuralink to help fix brain damage, including fixing quadriplegia.
Shivon Zilis said of him:
“I noticed that I learned more unique lessons from Elon per minute than any other human I’ve ever met. It would be dumb not to spend some of your life with such a person.” [p401]
He’s an obsessive
He talks of being “hardcore”. His staff are expected to be hardcore. He is himself, often sleeping on the factory floor.
There’s a lot more in the book about how hardcore he is, and how frightening he can be. So much so that people burn out quickly. But that’s zip to do with his overall capabilities, which are extensive.
He’s a ruthless cost cutter:
When he bought Twitter, his first actions were to cut staff by 80%. That’s right: 80%. And it works as fine as ever. That’s the first step to profitability, Twitter never having been profitable before. The next is to add functions to it, like payments systems and an AI engine called Grok.
Again: not the actions of a persons who is just a marking guy.
But of course he is also a marketing guy:
He shot a Tesla car up in one of his SpaceX rockets. He put the new name of Twitter, X, on the roof of his company, without permission and the San Francisco city council demand that he take it down only increased his visibility. On X he posts often, often to the annoyment of folks on the Left. But the result has been more demand for his products. When he went on stage with Alan Sorkin and told advertisers that were trying to force X to change its ways, he said “Go.Fuck.Yourself”. Result: even more people said they wanted to buy a Tesla.
The new Cybertruck is a major new product and also a marketing tool. Huge numbers are prsold and the reactions around the country are leading to massive new visibility.
And I haven’t even got to his Robots, the Optimus program. Or his underground tunnel company, the Boring Co. Or his involvement in early AI like ChatGPT. There’s not room enough for all the doings of this man.
So, there we have it.
If the Occasional Reader would like to respond and make that case that Elon Musk is “just a marketer”, I’m happy to post their views here, without any editing. But it’s a hard case to make.
And that’s also why I’m an Elon Musk fanboy. We are lucky to be living at the same time as the world’s best businessman. A genius the likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Mozart, Newton. More than For, more than Jobs. This man is a man for the agers, and to do him down is to not understand him.
Q.E.D. and I rest my case.
