

Tesla’s Founder Sues Tesla’s CEO - ph0rque
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/06/eberhard

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gizmo
When you have a billionaire founder in your board of directors, one who is
completely obsessive in whatever he does (Paypal/Space X)... how can you be
surprised that you get kicked out when you don't do things his way?

And I don't blame Musk either. If you invest $70 million in a company you
should get to say who the CEO is.

~~~
zandorg
Not a billionaire yet (I think the NASA deal with SpaceX will help):

Elon Musk — Net Worth: $328 Million According to
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk> \- More sources »

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gizmo
Ah, but then he probably used to be. Source: the opening line in this
interview claims that he's a billionaire.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Onajosm9PWo>

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smakz
Eberhard nearly destroyed Tesla. Musk did what anyone who invested 70 million
dollars would have done.

A perfect example of Eberhard's arrogance is the whole 2 speed transmission
debacle. Eberhard absolutely insisted on having a 2 speed transmission to
achieve the performance numbers that he advertised way too early, Magma warned
them very early on that was a bad decision but he didn't listen. It almost
cost them launching the production model at all (luckily Musk had the idea to
launch with a temporary transmission which was upgraded later).

Notice the Model S uses a 1 speed transmission.

In my opinion, the only reason Eberhard was so insistent on the 2 speed
transmission was because he DIDN'T have 70 million of his own money invested.
Musk saved the company as far as I'm concerned.

Also, isn't it unreal how this company was paying the founder 200K a year with
no revenues and a balance sheet that would make most start up founders sick to
their stomachs?

~~~
menloparkbum
_Also, isn't it unreal how this company was paying the founder 200K a year
with no revenue_

This is par for the course for venture funded startups.

There's a whole class of people in Silicon Valley who make a career out of
being the overpaid execs at startups after the first round or two of funding.
They typically get paid more than they would ever make if they tried to get a
position that matched their skill level at an established company like Apple
or Yahoo!. After they do one, they have "Startup CTO" on their resume and then
keep bouncing around from startup to startup. What they are doing is
financially very low risk (they are making $150K-$200K a year), yet they
usually take pride in their entrepreneurial spirit. I would wager that 9 times
out of 10 they are hopeless and drive the companies they latch onto into the
ground. Their existence is one of the lamer aspects of SV culture that rarely
gets mentioned.

Note that the guy in the article was actually the founder, not one of the
people I just described. It may or may not be unreasonable, but I certainly
don't think it is uncommon for him to take the same salary as the other
executives brought in from outside.

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ja2ke
"Their existence is one of the lamer aspects of SV culture that rarely gets
mentioned."

On the contrary, I think that that's one of laymen's first assumptions about
C-level positions at startups. I think that most people hear "tech startup"
and still think "~2000 era dotcom, doing nothing but living on a cushion of
imaginary or scammed cash." When I tell non tech people I work at a tech
related startup, I am almost always given a look or a remark which requires me
to say "oh ho ho, its not what you think! It's not like _that!_ " almost a
decade later.

(The other time I get that sort of look/remark is when I mention that it's
also a video game company, but no ho ho, we don't make games where you
endlessly decapitate hookers.)

~~~
vaksel
that game would probably be a huge success.

Duke Nukem? Winner

Grand Theft Auto Series? Winner

~~~
ja2ke
We constantly joke about making "Beach Sniper" but I don't see that happening.

