Elon Musk: my biggest mistake
The entrepreneur and inventor describes how space exploration distracted him from business realities.
Entrepreneur Elon Musk has revealed what he considers the biggest mistake of his career. The founder of electric-car maker Tesla took part in a Q&A session at the South by Southwest conference and festivals in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, during which he discussed a wide range of topics, including Mars colonisation, artificial intelligence, and Kanye West.
Towards the end of the event, he talked about the chain of events that lead to the founding of Tesla and his eventual decision to become chief executive of the company.
At one point, he said the ‘‘biggest mistake’’ of his career was not devoting enough time to the company during its early days, when he was more focused on running his space exploration company, SpaceX.
‘‘I think that was probably the biggest mistake of my career,’’ he said. ‘‘Whenever you think you can have your cake and eat it too, you’re probably wrong.’’
While Musk was Tesla’s lead investor, he didn’t originally take an executive position in the company, instead serving as its chairman from 2004 to 2008 so he could devote more time to running SpaceX and raising his children.
But as Tesla faced production delays and cost overruns with its first vehicle, the Roadster, tensions flared between Musk and chief executive Martin Eberhard, who was eventually forced out of the company and replaced with Ze-ev Drori, who became the company’s second full-time chief executive in November 2007.
But as the company neared ruin during the 2008 financial crisis, Musk decided he needed to take control.
‘‘I thought, ‘I can keep running SpaceX. I’ll dedicate 20 per cent of my time to Tesla, and that will be fine,’’’ Musk said during the panel. ‘‘But actually … things really melted down.’’
Musk became chief executive in October 2008, initiated layoffs, and secured a $US40 million round of financing that would allow the company to avoid bankruptcy.
Since then, Tesla has released three more vehicles (the Model S luxury sedan, Model X luxury SUV, and the Model 3 mass-market sedan).
The company has also expanded into solar energy and has amassed a market capitalisation greater than that of Ford and comparable to that of General Motors.
And while Musk might insist otherwise, Tesla’s popularity with its customers and investors has allowed it to have its cake and eat it too – encountering production delays with each of its vehicles while continuing to have access to cheap capital.
But the fact that Tesla has come this far speaks to the wisdom of Musk’s decision to become chief executive, and his ability to turn his greatest professional mistake into one of the past decade’s most improbable success stories.
"Whenever you think you can have your cake and eat it too, you're probably wrong."
Elon Musk