A Quora user recently asked why Tesla Motors Inc TSLA and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has been so successful in advancing his ambitious goals so quickly, when a number of market competitors have shared similar or identical goals. The question prompted a wide range of responses.
‘Power Of The J-Curve’
Jason Lemkin says that what people have witnessed from Musk’s companies in recent years is simply the power of the j-curve. Nearly 15 years after the founding of SpaceX (2002) and Tesla (2003) — among other ventures such as PayPal Holdings Inc PYPL and SolarCity Corp SCTY — both companies are reaching the explosive growth period of their businesses.
“Hardly overnight,” Lemkin noted. “Just epic once they got deep into the J-curve.”
Leadership, Control And Risk
Giovanni Toffoletto believes Musk has three special elements that have defined his success: leadership, control and risk. Musk is both an extremely intelligent and highly inspirational leader, but he has also maintained control over the entire development processes of both Tesla and SpaceX by building them from the ground up. Toffoletto said that Musk’s willingness to lay it all on the line for his ideas is also critical.
“Elon gambled most of his personal resources (both time and money) to achieve these results and at various moments in the life of both Tesla and SpaceX was inches away from total and utter failure [emphasis omitted].”
He’s A ‘Media Darling’ And Has The Money
Other posters had a much more practical explanation for Musk’s success.
“Few people have the capital to do it,” Ron Rule explained. “Among those who do, few have the desire, and among those who have both the desire and the capital, few have the stamina or are willing to risk their dollars.”
Poster Danilo De Rosa believes…
Click here to continue reading
Want to learn more about how to profit off the stock market? Or maybe you just want to be able to look sophisticated in front of your coworkers when they ask you what you are reading on your Kindle, and you’d prefer to tell them “Oh, I’m just reading a book about stock market analysis,” rather than the usual “Oh, I’m just looking at pics of my ex-girlfriend on Facebook.” For these reasons and more, check out my book, Beating Wall Street with Common Sense. I don’t have a degree in finance; I have a degree in neuroscience. You don’t have to predict what stocks will do if you can predict what traders will do and be one step ahead of them. I made a 400% return in the stock market over five years using only basic principles of psychology and common sense. Beating Wall Street with Common Sense is now available on Amazon, and tradingcommonsense.com is always available on your local internet!
