Together, we accomplished more than I thought humanly possible. They all tell me the same thing: “Working for Elon was amazing.

I have spoken with quite a number of people who worked for Elon at one of his companies. This formula allows Elon to get away with being one of the worst people managers in history. Thousands of great engineers signed up to be a part of SpaceX’s quest. People didn’t think private spaceflight was economically possible Elon realized that he could use modern technology to build reusable rockets. Thousands of great engineers signed up to be a part of Tesla’s quest. People didn’t think electric cars would work Elon realized he could use a massive number of laptop batteries, and ride someone else’s cost curve down. The Elon Musk formula is simple: Apply first-principles engineering to an inspiring quest that no one else will tackle because it is believed to be impossible. Elon Musk’s achievements depend on a very specific formula, and his ventures outside this formula are unlikely to succeed. However, being a genius does not mean being omniscient/omnipotent. We should be grateful to him for revolutionizing at least two different important industries (Tesla/automobiles and SpaceX/space) and for tackling many others (Starlink/telecommunications, Hyperloop/transportation). He has a remarkable ability to defy conventional wisdom and do what others consider impossible.

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