
Tesla co-founder and CTO JB Straubel stepping down - dionmanu
https://techcrunch.com/2019/07/24/tesla-co-founder-and-cto-jb-straubel-stepping-down/
======
randomsearch
Why do some many people hate Tesla and want them to fail? Do they also want
SpaceX to fail?

Elon can be an asshat sometimes, and he oversells and is over-optimistic. But
even if the short sellers are right and Tesla will go bankrupt (which, btw,
does not equal failure in many ways), why are so many people excited about
that?

Most tech giants of recent times have done things I would consider to have
made the world a much worse place. Why is Tesla, which has done a lot for
humanity and is a key advancement in tackling climate change, hated so much?
Why not save your hate for companies damaging democracy or workers rights,
which seem like more serious charges?

~~~
thomersch_
For me it's because they do damage their workers' rights and their fans are so
insufferable: The denial that they have quality issues, the repeated lies ("we
are going to build a factory in weeks", while everyone knows that it will take
years), the massive overvaluation. It's either you are on team Tesla and
celebrating every of Elon's brainfarts or you are "big oil" that is trying to
destroy them: Just look what happens when countries try to introduce
standardised charing cables.

I just wish they would be frank about what they can and cannot do.

EDIT: And by the way about that pathetic "climate change" argument. Right,
they are now selling Fiat their CO2 certificates thus enabling them to do
wonderful green washing.

~~~
adim86
To be honest it really disturbs why people hate Tesla so much. Citing your
reason for them being over-optimistic or over-promising, how else do people
change the world? I don't mean this message as an attack but something to
think about. These guys are working on something No one has EVER done in the
history of mankind and we require them to stick to timetables and if they
don't the punishment is we wish them failure and celebrate it? If Tesla is to
succeed all our lives will be better for it, why are their mistakes and
obstacles celebrated? Why do we care if the company is overvalued? This is the
same sentiment towards Apple when the iPhone first came out till it no longer
could be ignored. Tesla is far from a perfect company, but their mission is
true and the real question we should be asking ourselves rather than if we
like Elon, or if the company is overvalued or if they over promise and under
deliver. the real question is, Is this company really trying to fulfill its
mission statement, If yes, would we want such a mission to succeed?

~~~
hyperbovine
All that is great. I just wish they could do it without lying through their
teeth. Elon is still claiming with a straight face that fully autonomous, L5
Teslas are coming next year. This is a lie. Everyone knows it is a lie. Why is
this necessary? Couldn't he change the world without engaging in that sort of
behavior?

~~~
ck425
Lying is perhaps the wrong word here. Sharing self-delusion is probably a more
accurate way of describing it. He genuinely believes many of his own
exaggerations. But to be fair without a big dose of self delusion no one would
be crazy enough to try these things in the first place.

I take his claims with a massive pinch of salt, while also appreciating that
trait is somewhat necessary to solve the problems he's trying to solve.

~~~
hyperbovine
> He genuinely believes many of his own exaggerations.

Either a) he is lying, or b) the CEO of multiple companies worth a combined
~$100b is delusional to the point of being unable to recognize basic facts.
Pick your poison.

~~~
Faark
He is CEO of those companies exactly because of his above average ability to
make those delusions reality, no matter how impossible people considered e.g.
landing rocket stages. I'd prefer him to project more of a visionary image
with less harmful/psychotic aspects, but you can only get humans as a complete
package and I'd have a hard time coming up with people to replace him.

------
sschueller
"Eberhard and Tarpenning were the original founders and incorporated Tesla,
while Musk, Straubel and Wright joined in a Series A round later on. A lawsuit
settlement agreed to by Eberhard and Tesla in September 2009 allows all five
to call themselves founders.]"

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla,_Inc.#cite_note-
founders...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla,_Inc.#cite_note-founders-3)

~~~
oska
And the 2009 news article properly referenced by that wikipedia article:

[https://www.cnet.com/news/tesla-motors-founders-now-there-
ar...](https://www.cnet.com/news/tesla-motors-founders-now-there-are-five/)

------
iknowstuff
I'm going to miss his detailed, technical answers to questions during Q&As.
He's been with Tesla since the beginning, for 15 years, and seems to be
departing on good terms though.

------
AlphaWeaver
> His departure is the latest in a long string of high-profile executives to
> leave Tesla in the past year, most recently Steve McManus, a vice president
> in charge of engineering for car interiors and exteriors at Tesla, who
> joined Apple. Two other former Tesla executives, Michael Schwekutsch, and
> chief engineer Doug Field, have also left to join Apple.

Not to understate the significance of Tesla losing Straubel, but TechCrunch's
claim that Tesla is losing lots of "high-profile executives" seems like a
little bit of a stretch. Steve McManus was a vice president in charge of "car
interiors." It seems strange to place him on the same level of significance of
their CTO.

~~~
jaimex2
BMW's CEO stepped down 2 weeks ago. Ford has had 4 CEOs in the last four
years... not a sound from the media.

The janitor at Tesla quits and its a top story about a company in turmoil.

~~~
camillomiller
Even more: the BMW CEO quit basically for being completely unable to deliver
on the EV roadmap and squandering the huge advantage BMW had in the field.

~~~
starik36
I don't think BMW ever had any kind of advantage in this field, never mind
huge.

~~~
codeulike
The i3 was reasonably good for its time, then they disbanded the team and lost
their way

------
mikorym
To me the question is whether 1) the people who are leaving are the best in
their field 2) they are the best for Tesla's long term plan and 3) whether
this is normal / not normal for a high profile company or a disruptive tech
company in 2019.

------
jonplackett
"His role cannot be understated"

Is this a typo or another think you crazy Americans do backwards, like "I can
hardly wait"

~~~
neogodless
If his role is important, this should read, "his role cannot be overstated."

Just like people they don't care at all should be saying "I couldn't care
less."

It annoys me, too!

~~~
breakintheweb
I would argue that overstated would be wrong because you could surely
overstate his role. "He was the only reason Tesla existed, would be
overstating his role.

I think "his role shouldn't be understated" would be the correct phrase given
the context.

~~~
neogodless
I agree with you. Can I blame "first thing in the morning" posting on my
error? Either way, I was incorrect and you have corrected me.

------
bitL
I am wondering how much Andrej Karpathy changed; from a happy Stanford
lecturer to somebody whose immature tech killed/maimed a few people already
due to managerial pressure from Elon...

~~~
dang
Personal attacks are not ok on HN, regardless of whom you're attacking. Please
don't do this again.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

------
utopian3
The fonts are so wacky on this webpage, that it looks like they copy/pasted
from elsewhere

------
narnianal
You can't really blame people for looking out for themselves in the short run,
but still I think it's a little weak to leave one of the biggest tech
endeavours to do something else. Honestly, if I would work in a key role in
Tesla I would rather take a demotion to non-C-level before I accept to leave
that company.

And if you don't think just short term, it's also the biggest financial
opportunity, even if Tesla loses. All the knowledge, connections etc that you
can build in that time will pay off in the end. There is not a single company
in that size where losing for the company necessarily also means a loss for
its ambitious talent.

Think about how America and the Arabs hired the biggest Nazi talent after
second world war. Even losing and being clearly labelled as the devil is not
enough to stop talent from being successful. Always keep fighting!

