Space-X's success is due to Gwynne Shotwell, who really is a rocket scientist.
Musk didn't originate Tesla's car concept. He did, however, promote into a large scale business. That's the real achievement.
Promotion isn't enough, though. I heard Shai Agassi of Better Place speak once. That was the Israeli guy with the car battery swap startup. He was really good looking, a great speaker, and his 10x growth per year business plan was utter bullshit. Better Place went bust. It wasn't a totally unworkable idea; there are successful battery swap operations in China. But he spent time and money schmoozing with heads of state and setting up demo centers in multiple countries, while not delivering much.
(More fundamental problem: battery swapping is a bet against fast charging and battery progress, which appears to be a losing bet.)
Musk didn't originate Tesla's car concept. He did, however, promote into a large scale business. That's the real achievement.
Promotion isn't enough, though. I heard Shai Agassi of Better Place speak once. That was the Israeli guy with the car battery swap startup. He was really good looking, a great speaker, and his 10x growth per year business plan was utter bullshit. Better Place went bust. It wasn't a totally unworkable idea; there are successful battery swap operations in China. But he spent time and money schmoozing with heads of state and setting up demo centers in multiple countries, while not delivering much.
(More fundamental problem: battery swapping is a bet against fast charging and battery progress, which appears to be a losing bet.)