Tesla‘s meteoric rise seems almost unbelievable – the small, ambitious startup now develops some of the world‘s most advanced vehicles and valuable companies globally. But Tesla‘s origin story remains hazy to many admirers. Who exactly founded Tesla in the first place? And how did current celebrity CEO Elon Musk get involved with the company? Let‘s explore the true history and get our facts straight.
Overview: Tesla‘s Founding and Key Early Milestones
First, let‘s ground ourselves on the key facts of Tesla‘s early days:
- Tesla Motors, Inc was founded in July 2003 by engineers Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning
- The founders brought on a small initial team to pursue building high-performance, long-range electric vehicles
- Elon Musk was the largest investor in Tesla‘s Series A funding round in 2004, putting in $6.5M of the $7.5M raised
- Musk joined Tesla‘s Board of Directors as Chairman to advise the founding team
- After company struggles Musk took over as CEO in late 2008 and led it through the recession
Below is a timeline of some of Tesla‘s major milestone dates in those critical early years:
So in summary, while Elon Musk has become the face of Tesla, he does not deserve sole credit for founding the company – that goes to Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. But he was clearly indispensable in the early days as the biggest investor and chairman. His eventually taking over the CEO role saved Tesla from collapse.
Now, let‘s unpack exactly how the early drama unfolded between the founders, the origins of Musk‘s involvement, and whether he truly "invented" any key technologies at Tesla in those days.
Tesla‘s Funding Origins and Early Drama Between Founders
Eberhard and Tarpenning founded Tesla Motors in mid-2003 with modest personal funds as they developed their initial business plan. But to have a chance at pursuing their vision of high-performance, long-range electric vehicles, they needed major investors.
This seed funding came from Elon Musk, who invested $6.5 million of the $7.5 million raised in Tesla‘s Series A venture funding round in February 2004. This represented over 85% of the critical early capital Tesla needed to hire engineers and start prototyping vehicles.
In return for this financing, Musk took a hands-on role advising the founding team by joining Tesla‘s Board of Directors as Chairman. He also maintained close oversight of engineering milestones and budgets from the start.
While Musk was the largest investor, Eberhard was Chairman and CEO managing day-to-day operations in those early days. But over time, major disagreements emerged between the two visionary leaders on timelines, cost overruns, and just how ambitious Tesla could be.
Lawsuits filed later by Eberhard allege he was improperly ousted by Musk from the Chairman and CEO roles. Musk claims Eberhard was rightly fired over missed milestones and budget issues.
The messy lawsuits were eventually settled, with Eberhard, Tarpenning, Wright, Musk, and Straubel all later recognized as Tesla‘s official "co-founders."
So while Musk likes to say the founders pleaded with him to lead them as CEO through troubled times, it seems he also maneuvered to eject Eberhard from power. The reality is complex, but Musk clearly saved the company by taking over leadership and massively reinvesting his personal fortune when Tesla edged close to bankruptcy in 2008.
Musk‘s Specific Contributions: Legendary Boss or Figurhead?
Musk has built a legend as Tesla‘s visionary boss, pushing the company to seemingly impossible breakthrough after breakthrough. But some critics see him as merely a celebrity figurehead focused on hype and self-promotion rather than doing the hard engineering lifting.
So does Musk actually help engineer Tesla‘s vehicles himself or meaningfully contribute technical advice? Or is he just a blustering salesman taking credit for the amazing work of design teams like Franz Von Holzhausen and engineering leaders like Drew Baglino?
The truth lies somewhere in between. Clearly Musk isn‘t directly engineering vehicle subsystems himself or writing advanced AI algorithms. He leaves detailed technical work to the experts.
However, even Tesla‘s original founders admitted lacking deep auto industry experience, relying on hiring brilliant engineers. As CEO and top decision-maker, Musk sets the highest-level product vision, asks probing questions on limitations, and pushes teams to achieve rapid breakthroughs.
Some examples showing Musk applies his general technology brilliance to contribute directly to vehicle innovations:
- Pushed for all-original vehicle design for Roadster instead of sharing Lotus body panels
- Demanded better battery range, lower cost vehicles like Model 3/Y through manufacturing process innovation
- Recognized need for integrated home solar and storage to supplement EV charging infrastructure
- Focuses on fundamentals like power, torque curves, efficiency that directly impact performance
No other automotive CEO is diving this deeply on the technical details of cutting-edge EV engineering itself. That hands-on leadership absolutely accelerated innovation.
Tesla‘s Incredible Trajectory Since Musk Took Over as CEO
While Musk lacks deep traditional auto industry expertise, his technology business savvy paired with visionary leadership absolutely catalyzed Tesla‘s meteoric rise over the past 15 years. Just look at these staggering metrics since he took over as CEO in late 2008:
<Insert data table with metrics on market cap, production numbers, sales revenue, stock price increase, etc. over time since 2008, highlighting rapid growth>
Musk re-invested over $100 million more of his personal fortune in late 2008 and led Tesla through the treacherous recession when it verged on collapse. Since then, he‘s motivated employees to achieve milestone after milestone believed near-impossible in autos, like:
- 4 ground-up vehicle programs (Model S, X, 3, Y) achieving benchmarks beyond any competitors
- Proprietary batteries, motors, software that outperform traditional autos
- Building of new global vehicle factories in record times – China, Germany, Texas
- Pioneering over-the-air software updates, advanced autopilot capabilities
Other automakers saw Tesla‘s achievements and had no choice but to shift billions in investment toward EVs. That‘s the power of visionary leadership and daring your teams to achieve the seemingly impossible.
Conclusion: Musk as Indispensable Visionary Co-Founder and CEO
The facts don‘t lie – while he had his faults, Elon Musk was instrumental in Tesla‘s survival and success right from the start. He provided critical early financing and advising before later taking the reigns as CEO just as Tesla verged on collapse.
Musk deserves immense credit for believing in Tesla when no one else would and backing up that conviction with over $100 million dollars of his personal funds when it was on the brink of failure.
Tesla definitely wouldn‘t be here today without the brilliance of core engineering teams lead by the likes of Baglino, Von Holzhausen, Andrew Wright, and many more. However, Musk sets the vision and rallies the troops in a way no one else can match. He pushes them to achieve rapidly what seemed near impossible, time and time again.
No other leader could have built Tesla into what it is today – the world‘s most valuable, innovative and industry-leading electric vehicle manufacturer. Love him or hate him, Musk earned his place as indispensable co-founder and CEO in Tesla‘s origin story. The company‘s present and future path forward will be forever linked with his ambition, conviction, and unrelenting drive.
