Elon Musk: The Ultimate Entrepreneur through Acquisition (ETA)?

The Power of a Compelling Narrative and Audacious Execution

Like me, Elon probably isn’t the first name you think of when you think of entrepreneurship through acquisition. But why not? Afterall, he didn’t really “found” Tesla, he “acquired” it.

Elon Musk: ETA

This isn’t just a story of entrepreneurship through acquisition; it’s a masterclass in ego, a cautionary tale of dealing with investors, and a dose of reality for the aspiring ETA.

It’s 2003, and engineers Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpening are fresh off their Rocket e-book success. The boys decide to embark on their next adventure — Tesla Motors. What the world needs, they figure, is a high-performance electric car. However, Silicon Valley was still licking its wounds from the dot-com implosion. Investors weren’t buying into the electric dream. Reality is harsh. Vision without capital is just a hallucination.

Enter the savior. Elon Musk, the PayPal maverick with a Midas touch, drops down a cool $6.5 million into Tesla in 2004. Overnight, Tesla turns from a hallucination into a potential automotive industry disrupter.

But who gets to claim the throne? Eberhard and Tarpening believe they’re the kings — the original visionaries. Elon argues Tesla was a shell before he turned it into gold. It’s a duel of narratives between the dreamers and the doer.

Now for the ultimate Coup d’état (depending on your point of view). Fast forward to 2007 and Eberhard’s narrative starts to crumble under scrutiny. Elon grabs the wheel — and in a pivotal moment, Tesla shifts from speculation to a Elon-driven juggernaut.

Under Elon, the story reads like a blockbuster — near bankruptcy, the Model 3 woes, and ending with a meteoric rise to become the most valuable car company in the world. Elon drives the narrative and comes through the challenges as the visionary savior of Tesla.

The Eberhard-Elon saga culminates in a legal battle where egos and narratives collide. When the dust settles, Elon grabs the co-founder crown, and the personal feuds simmer, etched into Tesla lore.

The story, while maybe not “officially ETA”, shows us the power of narrative. We see what can be accomplished with the power of a compelling narrative and audacious execution.

BONUS CONTENT

If you got this far, and are on your own ETA journey, I’ll leave you with some “post integration” strategy:

In August 2006, Elon published “The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan”. There were only five steps:

Build sports car.

Use that money to build an affordable car.

Use that money to build an even more affordable car.

While doing the above, also provide zero emission electric power generation options.

Don’t tell anyone.