
Elon Musk Says He Got Into The Electric Car Business Because No One Else Would - DanielRibeiro
http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/29/elon-musk-d11/
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jonmrodriguez
This is one of the best reasons to start a startup: Because no mainstream
company believes in the product category yet, and you know that the product
category needs to become huge in order for civilization to advance in the
direction of self-sustaining and space-faring.

This is why I started a computer eyewear company <http://epiphanyeyewear.com>
(before Google Glass!). I have spoken with the world experts on Volumetric 3D
display tech (such as the amazing Dr. Kurt Akeley of Lytro), and it is evident
that a display as realistic as physical reality can be built with today's
technology. I am determined to make this happen, and I know it will
revolutionize education, human augmentation, and also energy-independence (we
will have to construct and transport fewer physical things when we live in a
virtual world).

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grannyg00se
Slick looking video camera you've got there. I was really excited for a second
thinking it was an HDMI display device.

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jonmrodriguez
Thanks! 2nd generation "in the lab" does video out, but in our user testing,
video recording/sharing/streaming has been the main use case, and since
manufacturing is always very very involved, we think the sane thing to do is
to ship MVP hardware with really slick software, then scale our customer base,
before shipping more hardware features later.

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grannyg00se
It'll be awesome if you can do HDMI video on that nice variable shading
sunglasses platform. Looking forward to 2nd-gen. Is there a mailing list I can
sign up for?

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jonmrodriguez
You can send us an email to dev@yougen.tv and we'll add you to the app
developer list. Cheers!

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skarmklart
Doesn't work.

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jonmrodriguez
Fixed now. Thank you very much for catching that.

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cdooh
Whether he founded it or just funded it the basic premise of what he says is
true: We can't expect science and technology to advance if we rely on
companies whose very business model depends on the status quo remaining as it
is.

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elviejo
Except you know... Martin Eberard the founder of tesla motors.

Elon Musk was an investor for tesla not a founder. just check the wikipedia
page for tesla motors on its early reviews.

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elviejo
Here are the links that reference the early history of Tesla
<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4441480>

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btian
That so-called history is just wrong. First, Wikipedia is not a primary
source. Martin Eberard is a primary source and he says that Elon Musk is a co-
founder. The last time I checked there is no rule that says you can't be co-
founder and investor at the same time.

Also your link doesn't even state that JB as a co-founder which is just
ridiculous.

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elviejo
"After persuading Marc Tarpenning, a software jockey and Eberhard's business
partner in his previous companies, to join him, they INCORPORATED Tesla Motors
in JULY 2003."

"It took Eberhard and Ian Wright,VP of vehicle development, only two hours
during a February 2004 meeting to get Musk onboard."

CNN Money: Tesla's wild ride
[http://cnnmoney.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?expire=-1&...](http://cnnmoney.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?expire=-1&title=Tesla%27s+wild+ride+-+Jul.+9%2C+2008&urlID=29633961&action=cpt&partnerID=2200&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmoney.cnn.com%2F2008%2F07%2F07%2Ftechnology%2Fcopeland_tesla.fortune%2Findex.htm)

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programminggeek
Going where nobody else will and slogging through the swamp of sorrow to come
out the other side clean can be an amazing strategy... if it pans out.

If it works out you look like a hero, if it doesn't you look like a fool.

I look at it as picking the mountain you want to climb. You can't climb every
mountain at once. Some are taller than others, some might have amazing views
at the top, or gold hidden inside, and some have bears that will eat you
alive. Most importantly, you can't climb two mountains at once and it takes
time to get down off of one mountain to climb the next.

Elon Musk is pretty good at picking mountains to climb, but he also has the
resources to climb them and the will do to so. He reminds me a lot of Richard
Branson or Donald Trump. When you have ambition, talent, and capital you can
make a lot happen.

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waterlesscloud
And now TSLA has a market cap over 1/4 of GM's.

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jpdoctor
Yes, showing yet again that the stock market yields only eminently sensible
valuations.

