this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2026
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Most of what musk does is dumb.
He didn't get rich from being smart.
A lot of it has to do with over-promising and under-delivering. The rest is marketing.
I'm hearing 'once you have money do.....'
Care to tell me where that gullible userbase is coming from? Pray, tell - what do they come for?
Before that is even a factor you must either be first - with research and development ... and manufacturing... and distribution... or better. Or cheaper! Or able to undercut the competition.
Of the things mentioned... I seem to be struggling to find the element lacking a substantial financial investment.
They're not all gullible. A lot of VC types are obsessive gamblers, they'll throw money at anything that sounds like it might have a high return.
That's where the marketing comes in. Elon is pretty good at selling these big ideas, making them sound futuristic and world-changing. He not only sells those ideas to VCs, but also to the government. A lot of his businesses have pulled in substantial government contract money. The public rarely gets any return from those tax dollars.
VC won't give you the time of day if you lack a product or platform. This isnt go-fund-me or r/wsb. VC appear to bet big but are frequently pretty well informed and diversified. Their big bets aren't much from their prospective... and frequently will be the first to squeeze "their due" from a failing venture.
I dont see how Elon makes a good example for this. If anything it supports what I said:
Elon is wealthy. He has a platform. He has shit he's bought and is reselling snake oil from those things. He's not poofing something from nothing.