[jccalhoun]

I thought Tesla was Musk's company until now. Apparently they actually reached a settlement with Eberhard to officially call Musk (and another two people) "founders" even though they actually weren't. https://www.cnet.com/news/tesla-motors-founders-now-there-ar...

[greglindahl]

Yes, it's often the case that "founder" is a label which a company might agree to add or subtract from various people.

As an example, there are tons of startups where not everyone who was there on day 0 is called "founder".

[ekanes]

That is correct. Founder has to do with risk. If you are paid from the start, you're probably not a founder.

[greglindahl]

I know a lot of founders who got paid from the start. That's not the only way that there's risk.

[gumby]

Like Bill Joy: John Gilmore (first employee) was already on board when Joy joined the Sun team.