[pstuart]

> then why does spacex have superior outputs?

  * The dictate of fail fast and iterate quickly, along with simplification of mechanisms and ample compute power.
  * Not being mired in the bureaucracy of committees and government bodies to answer to

Yes, being enabled by a billionaire with a dream made a huge difference. But that's not a guarantee, as there's been 3 such billionaires and only one SpaceX.

[TrapLord_Rhodo]

Or... incredibly long work hours and all of that just falls into place? Have you ever read any books about spaceX? His "surges" are what made spacex great.

[pstuart]

> incredibly long work hours

Absolutely makes a difference. My point is that hard work alone was not enough to make it happen -- "fail fast" was key.

[inemesitaffia]

SpaceX was founded with him as a millionaire tho

[pstuart]

True, bad wording on my part. But I stand by my point that the magic came from rapid iteration rather than an ossified and bureaucratic management team that was risk-averse.

[panick21_]

Musk wasn't even close to being a billionaire when SpaceX was founded. He is a billionaire because about 10 years after SpaceX was founded Tesla and SpaceX at the same time took off.

And other people as rich as Musk tried their hand in the space industry.