
Company Update - minimaxir
https://www.tesla.com/blog/company-update
======
minimaxir
> We are about to have the most amazing quarter in our history, building and
> delivering more than twice as many cars as we did last quarter. For a while,
> there will be a lot of fuss and noise in the media. Just ignore them.

The "fuss and noise in the media" lately has been exclusively about Elon
himself, not Tesla as a whole.

~~~
Florin_Andrei
I can't be sure, but it seems like a lot of the negative press about Elon
recently is... engineered. I mean, he smoked pot with Joe Rogan while
recording a shitty podcast - so what? This is not 1950 anymore.

There's a lot of people who want to see Elon fail, and they surely can afford
to manufacture some articles broadcasting their own point of view.

~~~
danso
You believe that short-sellers engineered Musk's appearance on Rogan's show
last night, as well as the announcements of the two senior executive
departures this morning?

~~~
Florin_Andrei
ROTFL

Are you serious? What Elon does is his business alone. What the PR machine can
do afterwards is _spin_ the facts whichever way seems beneficial to them.

~~~
danso
He's CEO of one of the most highly-valued and prominent tech companies today.
For better or worse, what he does ends up being the interest of many people
outside his personal network. But ignoring the pot-smoking, what would
non-"engineered" press look like when it comes to the departure of the two
senior executives this morning?

~~~
Florin_Andrei
I was not referring to any single event in my initial comment. I'm just
looking at all the press I've seen in recent months (maybe years) and I can't
resist the impression that there's this negative undertow that seems
manufactured.

Maybe it's subjective.

~~~
danso
If we consider a timeframe of more than just this year, then you have even
less of a case that media coverage has been engineered toward negativity by
ulterior forces. Tesla itself brags in its annual reports that it doesn't need
to have an ad budget because of the positive media coverage it gets:

[https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-admits-media-
coverage-...](https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-admits-media-coverage-has-
helped-sales-2018-5)

> _" Historically, we have been able to generate significant media coverage of
> our company and our vehicles, and we believe we will continue to do so," the
> company wrote. "To date, for vehicle sales, media coverage and word of mouth
> have been the primary drivers of our sales leads and have helped us achieve
> sales without traditional advertising and at relatively low marketing
> costs."_

> _Tesla has included those sentences or a variation on them in each of its
> annual SEC filings dating back to its 2010 initial public offering._

------
jarcoal
> For a while, there will be a lot of fuss and noise in the media. Just ignore
> them.

Please take your own advice Elon.

Sincerely, Someone who wants you to succeed

~~~
tomp
For one, I really appreciate his public image. His one of the few people, let
alone billionaires or CEOs, that are sincere and communicate without layers of
legal and PR departments. If only more billionaire CEOs were like that, I
think we'd live in a much better word.

Edit: Keep talking Elon, you're the only one we (the world) have.

~~~
exolymph
It's useful to consider Chesterton's Fence here. There's a reason why the
norms of professional communication have developed into what we have today.

~~~
tomp
Because of lawsuits. Same reason why doctors do unnecessary procedures and
exams and surgeries, wasting people's money and wellbeing in the process.

------
spike021
Honestly, Tesla sounds crazy to me.

I have a buddy who's worked at the factory in Fremont on one of the assembly
lines. They sound very overworked. Despite getting "overtime" pay, they're
basically required to work many days a week, and sometimes crazy shifts, like
10 hours, plus a day on the weekend. Definitely over 40 hours a week.

~~~
THE_PUN_STOPS
A good friend who graduated with me is at Tesla in a factory engineering role.
His hours? 6PM-6AM Wednesday-Sunday.

~~~
craftyguy
So a 60 hour work week. That isn't _terrible_ , especially if they are well
compensated... Many of us salary employees end up working that much, if not
more.

~~~
THE_PUN_STOPS
They’re salaried and the compensation is good but not good enough in my
opinion when you do the per-hour math.

IMO, working for free for 20 hours a week is pretty terrible.

~~~
craftyguy
Why do people still think the work week is 40 hours, and no more? Sure, it's
the legal definition of a "full time, non-exempt employee", but are there
really _that_ many high paying, high skill jobs that are like "well, you put
in 40 hours this week, see you next calendar week! :D". I can't think of any.

------
mvpu
> will report to both Kevin and me

Either I don't trust Kevin or X doesn't trust Kevin. Poor Kevin.

~~~
debacle
Kevin was just promoted to arguably the most important leadership position for
a growing company. It's likely Elon wants a little oversight.

------
rhymenoceros
How many direct reports does Musk have? Looks like he just got a few more,
which might not be so great for a (reportedly) overworked schedule.

~~~
milkytron
Are you referring to Elon's schedule as overworked? If so, I think having a
few more direct reports would allow him to delegate some of his efforts.

~~~
JshWright
Each of those direct reports only adds more demands on his time. The only way
delegation would help is if he delegated tasks to his current direct reports.

------
tedunangst
> Even the Ford Model T, which held the world record for the fastest growing
> car in history, didn’t grow as fast in sales or production as the Model 3.

Does anybody know what the relevant numbers are?

~~~
Someone
For the Ford Model T:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Model_T#Price_and_product...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Model_T#Price_and_production).
About 16 times as much in 1913 as in 1909 (170,211 vs 10,666), so about a
doubling per year in that period.

We would need per quarter data for he Model T, though.

------
debacle
Slight aside, but how do people make the distinction between a Director and a
VP? What's the clear (if any) delineation of job descriptions?

~~~
dmode
VP = head of a function or business unit. Director = head of a very large
team. For Tesla, engineering head would be a VP, but head of Autopilot will
most likely be a director. Doesn't always hold up though.

------
jwatte
All of those people with double reporting? I feel for them.

------
Kay3
Elon needs to get his act together

------
fooker
Awesome, just bought a few hundred TSLA shares this morning. :)

~~~
monochromatic
That was poor timing.

~~~
zaroth
It’s not down from where it opened this morning.

That bounce back in April down to $252 had me thinking about being a buyer at
$254. Curious to see what happens on Monday but I have a feeling I’ll have
missed the $263 low.

