[ap99]

You don't have to be a fanboy to respect outcomes.

He's got a winning track record. You may not agree with his politics or his morals but that's separate from his effectiveness.

Specifically he's effective at stepping outside the domain he currently operates into create inside another.

[StilesCrisis]

As a 2018 Tesla owner I strongly disagree with the idea that Elon's got a track record of success. The Model Y was their last successful product and it's just a stretched Model 3. FSD is not there. Robotaxi is an embarrassment. Cybertruck failed to deliver the gigacasted exoskeleton and shipped at double the original price point. Tesla has lost its way completely. (Also, Twitter has lost users and revenue ever since he got involved.)

[ap99]

Ok now say three things that Elon has accomplished successfully in the past few years.

If you can't then you're just speaking from emotion because they obviously exist.

[StilesCrisis]

I don't launch rockets into space, don't want a housekeeping robot, don't have a Twitter account, don't do ketamine, and have never been laid off from a government job, so I can't speak to any of those things which Elon has involved himself with more recently.

My personal experience with Elon's promises is through the Model 3 which I do own, and essentially none of his promises for it have materialized. It hasn't morphed into a revenue-generating taxi which drives around strangers at night; it can't be summoned from across town (or even across a parking lot); it can't even safely drive itself without oversight, which was a goal only "months away" in 2019.

[mentalgear]

You mean the tele-operated "autonomous Robots" ? Also, I'm waiting for >10 years now for his (really!) self-driving cars he promised would be just about 2 years away - every 2 years.

SpaceX is what gives him leverage but the success of the reusable rockets are the engineers behind it - he's just the ketamine-driven hype-man that drives the stock via publicity now.

[swiftcoder]

> He's got a winning track record

What exactly would that be a winning track record in - as near as I can tell, his actual track record is in buying companies with an already-successful product team, and managing not to run them into the ground for a while?

[edgyquant]

You have got to be kidding me, you can dislike someone without being this wrong. Hes literally the richest man in the world, started the largest space delivery company in the planet and has brought extreme returns for his investors in every endeavor he’s undertook.

[swiftcoder]

> literally the richest man in the world... extreme returns for his investors

This isn't really a benchmark for effectiveness at anything beyond making money.

I don't think anyone would dispute that he has an eye for investments (helped along by a healthy dose of the ol' silver spoon), not to mention a certain flair for convincing Uncle Sam to pick up the tab (i.e. a significant part of Tesla's growth relied on federal EV subsidies, and NASA heavily buying SpaceX launch capacity).

[ap99]

There are a ton of haters on HN that don't like Musk for no other reason than they were told not to like him.

[paulryanrogers]

Effectively helping elect a dictator who is in love with fossil fuels undercuts at lot of his "wins". Never mind the Nazi saluting, fraudulent advertising, or bypassing safety regulations.

[ap99]

Which dictator are you referring to?

[NickC25]

Or begging Epstein for a chance to visit his island. Cringe.