Ask HN: Could any talented and creative engineer become Elon Musk if given $10B? - 0xff00ffee
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CyberFonic
Elon's superlative talent is as a salesperson and as an inspiring leader. Very
few engineers would come even close. Elon has probably never done much hands
on engineering work himself. Instead he has hundreds of very talented
engineers working for him.

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api
This is usually the case with executives but not for him, at least from
several first and second hand stories I've heard. Musk doesn't do much long
hours in front of a CAD program type work but he is definitely very involved
in the engineering process and not just in a hiring and sales capacity. He is
not just doing the "stone soup" trick. (I have yet to see stone soup actually
work. I think its bullshit.)

I personally don't find him that charismatic in the salesman sense, at least
in his presentations. He may be different in person. I do think he has some
marketing talent but I think most of it comes from his legend, and that legend
has resulted from a history of shipping very impressive stuff. He does not
strike me as having a lot of the type of charisma that would work minus his
reputation factor. Keep in mind that he was very rich when he started SpaceX
and took over the skeleton of Tesla, so he had the capital to prove himself
before having to seriously raise and sell.

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api
Yes provided they are very very talented (Musk is an amazing engineer), a
polymath, and extremely driven to the point that the money won't make them
slack off. The thing about Musk is that he has a sense of mission beyond just
money.

So yeah, I think there are a decent number of people walking around who could
do the sort of thing he does... maybe 1%-2% of the engineering profession if I
had to guess.

Why are there not more actual Musks? Because the skills and interests that get
you rich are typically not these. They are skills like charisma, charm, social
networking ability, etc.

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0xff00ffee
And luck.

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photawe
Probably not. If you're that smart, you'll make that money on your own anyway

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AskerINVESTOR
I can do this e-car better, cheaper. HVR some costs blocking any way to do
this.

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mikst
I believe DNA guarantees a "no".

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AskerINVESTOR
I belive CIA : )

