
NYU Professor Scott Galloway Puts Tesla and Lyft in the Same Category as WeWork - muzz
https://www.businessinsider.com/scott-galloway-puts-tesla-lyft-in-same-category-as-wework-2019-10
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itcrowd
Original URL (business insider simply copy / pasted):
[https://www.profgalloway.com/mdma](https://www.profgalloway.com/mdma)

Tiny previous discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21163923](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21163923)

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solidasparagus
While Galloway is always interesting, I felt like this was not one of his
better posts - the thinking feels quite shallow.

\- Those graphs seem poor. He took a small sample size and drew the trend line
that fit his narrative even though the data sure doesn't look to me like it
can be fit with a linear trend line.

\- I don't think any analysis of Vision 1's success or failure can be judged
solely on short-term returns given Son's described long-term vision. NVIDIA
and Uber are shown as failed investments in this piece, but, while I'm
certainly no expert in the area, it seems like both companies are quite well
positioned for long-term success as dominant leaders in their industries.

\- The Vision Fund is sure fun to shit on, but I'm not 100% sure what they've
done to deserve being described as criminals.

\- That is definitely not the right definition of addiction.

\- I'd be curious to hear more about his evaluation of Robinhood. I've used
both Schwab and Robinhood for quite a while and in my mind Robinhood's
advantage has been less about the fees and more about Robinhood being a tech-
focused company that makes interacting with the stock market so much more
convenient than Schwab does.

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pmart123
They already dumped Nvidia for a loss I believe:

[https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/06/softbank-vision-fund-
sells-n...](https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/06/softbank-vision-fund-sells-nvidia-
stake.html)

~~~
solidasparagus
Interesting, thanks for sharing.

That seems like a very shortsighted time to cut and run from NVIDIA, but they
probably spent more time thinking about it than I have.

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buboard
Tesla is a good way to fund research for spaceX thou

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mamon
Company that loses money every quarter cannot fund anything.

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buboard
their battery and motor research are used in spaceX too. I 'm not saying they
re making profits, but they have large market cap

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jmpman
Lyft, sure. Tesla? Maybe he hasn’t driven one? It’s just a better car than a
BMW 3-Series. If the Tesla truck is better than an F-150....

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vmurthy
I think the Prof covers it here

"...Yes, he is a genius, Tesla has changed the world for the better (I believe
this). And … Tesla doesn’t have the scale to compete in a well-run, low-margin
business — auto."

I'd love to hear counter-arguments..

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MarkMc
Low-margin yes, but is the motor vehicle industry really so well run? GM was
the biggest auto company in the world for decades, then it basically went
bankrupt. Toyota has been blindsided by both electric and self-driving
technology. When will a Volkswagen car get 'sentry mode' which can identify
the person who keys it?

The incumbents have enormous corporate inertia which has allowed the smaller
Tesla to develop a better car. And by the time the big guys catch up, Tesla
will have the scale needed to compete

~~~
SideburnsOfDoom
> but is the motor vehicle industry really so well run?

Is Volkswagen well run?

Judge for yourself:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_emissions_scandal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_emissions_scandal)

[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47578888](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47578888)

[https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/sep/30/volkswagen-...](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/sep/30/volkswagen-
emissions-scandal-mass-lawsuit-opens-in-germany)

~~~
SideburnsOfDoom
To give my opinion: The Dieselgate scandal shows that Volkswagen (and other
implicated companies) are not well run.

You could make the argument that this kind of cheating is a form of optimising
for profit and therefor doing it well is "well run". But I find that argument
sociopathic and short-term.

And it opens the can of worms of the broader context of the industry: Are you
doing something, well or not, that you shouldn't be doing at all (in this
case, producing engines that turn fossil fuels into pollution)

But, make your own mind up.

