Elon Musk on the Early Days of Tesla: Interview Part 1

> Tesla existed before Musk. So I've watched the Eberhard interview [1] and the Musk counter-interview [2] and I'm still not decided on this. Did Eberhard do a bunch of useful early-day heavy-lifting only to get elbowed out by Musk once things were ticking along and it was time to take credit? Or was he incompetent and un-invested, forcing Musk to reluctantly take back the reins? I'd love to hear an insider opinion, but I'm not going to go digging. I've already spent far too much time today litigating other peoples' bullshit founder drama, lol. [1] link [2] ▶ this video

Also you weren't wrong about Tesla. Elon did basically create Tesla (as well as Straubel). Quick summary: Originally "Tesla" the brand, was started by Martin and Marc, but all they had was a brand and a vision but no physical product nor prototype. At around the same time, Elon wanted to build an electric car based off the tzero by AC Propulsion. He was introduced to Martin and Marc who had a similar vision, and basically Elon invested money into Tesla Motors. It wasn't until Elon put in money, that the first prototype was built (the tesla roadster). Arguably, if Elon didn't join the team and bring on Straubel, Tesla wouldn't be what it is today. Likely wouldn't even have a launched consumer product. Even Elon was the one that managed to get the trademark "Tesla Motors" which wasn't even owned by Martin or Marc originally. Lengthy source: ▶ this video Granted it's out of Elon's mouth but there's tons of other sources that corroborates with that story. source: link source: link source: link source: link

I think his original plan was to have around $40 million left over even if tesla and spacex failed, but when they both ran into difficulties in 2008-9 IIRC, I think he put the rest of his money into both companies to keep them going ▶ this video [EDIT: in this interview he talks about the fact he had “no money” and had to borrow money for rent around that time]