I'm just one of the mazillion people inspired by Elon Musk. Posting what catches my eye in case you have as much fun watching this pioneer in action as I do.
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Elon Musk speaking at the June 3rd Tesla shareholder meeting. Musk comes in at about 7:15 and talks shop for a bit and the Q&A starts about 31:00. It’s cool to see Musk in an small Tesla-only situation. Usually with press interviews and big talks like at SXSW, he has to be mentally ready to answer any number of questions about SpaceX, Tesla, Solar City, hyper loop, personal life, etc.
If you are a Tesla Enthusiast, owner, or stock holder, you should definitely watch the whole video because it, first hand, brings you up to speed with the company and it’s projected future.
The Q&A is also cool because you get insight on what some Tesla customers and stockholders are concerned, or curious, about. At around the 50:00 mark Musk talks about a few reasons Tesla wants a direct sales approach. He continues on and speaks passionately about the recent auto dealership association decisions coming out of Texas, Virginia, and North Carolina. Musk thinks it’s a perversion of democracy and thinks customers will stand up and demand Tesla’s direct sales model. The audience, of course, burst into applause.
—Carl Hoffman, Smithsonian Magazine
This is a bit of a reblog, but featuring a different quote. Not knowing Elon Musk, I’m not sure how accurate this description is but it’s totally what I see in him.
—Elon Musk
Ran across this quote on the Love & Freedom Project website. The site has a profile of Musk called Fierce Gentleman Profile, and it’s a pretty good read.
The quote is one of my favorites because it is Musk’s core vision and life pursuit. And the cherry on top is the way he is bringing this grand vision to fruition…physics. Elon Musk has talked many times about the way he approaches problem solving. He boils a problem or situation down to core principles and reasons up. Check out this two minute clip about how Musk uses this thinking to argue how a small company can be more productive than a larger one.
A interesting article by journalist Rocco Pendola writing about a recent phone call to Elon Musk apologizing for an article he wrote based on Musk’s comments at SXSW on emailing while he is with his children. A couple highlights:
Whether I was right or wrong about Musk (or neither), I was out of line. I took one comment Musk made in front of a sell-out crowd at SXSW and ignored everything else he said. The thing he said about parenting his kids rubbed me the wrong way and I ran with it. That’s the type of thing so many members of the media do to people on a daily basis. I did it. And I am angry with myself for falling victim.
The media treats Musk as a spectacle. As the second coming of Steve Jobs. As a superhero. When I asked him about his celebrity, he was reluctant. Musk claimed that outside of Southern and Northern California, most of the rest of the country doesn’t know who he is … or at least doesn’t care quite as much.
Talking to Musk is no different than talking to the baker or shoe cobbler down the street who is hyper-passionate about what he does. He’s unassuming. Not even close to pretentious. He speaks about helping electrify motor vehicle transportation like the baker talks about making the perfect donut or the shoesmith discusses replacing the sole on a worn out pair of boots.
An hour long interview with Elon Musk at All Things D conference taking place this week. As tends to be the case these days, not much new material is covered in this interview. It’s interesting how often Elon Musk has to answer the same questions, it must drive him nuts. This is an excellent video for new Elon Enthusiasts.
For the well read Elon Enthusiasts, Musk does get specific with a few areas:
- Comparing electric vs. gas subsidies
- Reminder that the Tesla 3-tier strategy has been online for awhile (2006)
- The New York Times Broder review.
- Talks about warp speed vs. warp space. A vessel traveling the speed of light vs. space moving.
- Why he stopped supporting FWD.us.
- Thoughts on STEM education, and oil companies.
- And of course, he broke the super charger network announcement during the interview.
Thanks to x7c for sending the link to the video.
http://venturebeat.com/2013/05/28/d11-schedule/
Hopefully there will be a stream or recording released tonight here.
http://allthingsd.com/category/d11/
Thanks to x7c for the submission, I’ll keep an eye out for the video.
Cool one-on-one conversation with Elon Musk. The video doesn’t cover much new ground but there are a couple of cool stories. The video starts off with Musk describing an issue with a USB cable that was delaying production at Tesla and how they went about solving it. Musk also talks a bit more about his thoughts on education.
Elon Musk and Salman Khan. Mega brains.
Elon Musk giving a shout out in yesterday’s Telsa press release. Tesla, amazingly so, paid off their U.S. government loan NINE YEARS EARLY! This is such cool news, a dignified “I told you so” with a side of “suck it” to the Tesla naysayers.
And, yes Elon, Tesla did us real proud!!
http://www.teslamotors.com/about/press/releases/tesla-repays-department-energy-loan-nine-years-early
—Astro Teller about Elon Musk
A cool Pando Daily article about Teller’s thoughts on Musk and encouraging us all to be more like him.
“It’s not just that he’s built some exciting and really meaningful, positive things,” said Teller. “That’s great. But he’s like a walking moonshot. He’s so audacious, it seems limitless.”
—Elon Musk
Quote from a great Pando Daily mashup of Elonisms. Be sure to look at the end of the article where they list the 25 sources they used for the mashup. Too bad Elon Enthusiast didn’t make it on the list.
And if you’ve never watched Pando Daily’s interview with Musk, check it out, it’s a good one.
Platon, the photographer that photographed Elon Musk for the recent Wired Champions of Innovations article, talks briefly about his photo shoot. Musk talked about how he uses his physics reasoning for human resources.
Another shot of Elon Musk at this year’s Kentucky Derby. These two look great.
From what I gathered both Elon and Kimbal Musk along with Talulah Riley sat in the box just below Sarah Palin’s (see previous post) at the Derby. And if you didn’t know, Palin referred to Tesla as a loser just a couple of week’s ago, yeah, a bit on the awkward side.
Photo credit unknown, the photo is from Riley’s Twitter feed.
elonenthusiast Said:
Aw, shucks, glad you like it! Thanks for the note.
Kimabl Musk, Sarah Palin, and Elon Musk at the Kentucky Derby.
Photo is from Kimbal Musk’s Twitter: “Me with @elonmusk and @sarahpalin. One word. Classic.” I couldn’t agree more. Hope the story of how this photo got taken comes to light soon.
Photo by J.B. Pritzker
Elon Musk is never shy to admit he made a mistake. Lots of folks are calling the math fuzzy, I think it’s just more involved than most of us normally consider. Seems to me Tesla has done a lot of “coupon hunting” for it’s consumer and taken away the largest obstacle, the 10% down payment.
Mr. Musk announced in early April that he is personally guaranteeing the buyback of every Tesla Model S they lease, even if Tesla should go out of business or otherwise be unable to at the end of the three year term.
