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Jonathan Swanson@swaaanson · Sep 23, 2024

Elon runs six multi billion-dollar companies simultaneously (SpaceX, Tesla, X, xAI, Neuralink, and Boring Company)…

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Summary

Walter Isaacson's analysis reveals how Elon Musk manages six billion-dollar companies through cycles of extreme focus, small high-performing teams, impossible deadlines (Parkinson's Law), personal accountability, and a zero-BS culture. Effective delegation at scale, not multitasking, is the key to his success.

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  1. #1

    Elon runs six multi billion-dollar companies simultaneously (SpaceX, Tesla, X, xAI, Neuralink, and Boring Company) Most founders can’t run one. Walter Isaacson (who spent a year shadowing Elon and wrote his biography) explains ‘How Elon does it’ on a podcast Thread 🧵

  2. #2

    Elon doesn't juggle Tesla, X, SpaceX simultaneously, but rather in cycles of extreme focus. Here's how he does it 👇

  3. #3

    1. Elon runs his companies with a strict no BS policy. No BS meetings, teams, processes, rules, or projects. Removes all excess so teams can focus on the only thing that matters - building a great product.

  4. #4

    2. Elon hates large teams Small team = Small meetings = More work done. He believes small teams have the intensity and focus which big teams lack. Andrej Karpathy, who worked directly under Elon, explains how he by default wants to fire low performers:

  5. #5

    3. Chase speed Elon frequently kicks off intense efforts he calls stunts, where he sets a impossible deadline and forces the team to achieve it My favorite snippet from Walter's biography on Elon where he tells how Elon completed work worth 6 months in 6 days 👇

  6. #6

    But why does he do that? Because he understands Parkinson's Law better than anyone in the world. Parkinson's law states that work expands to fill the time available for its completion. The tighter the deadline, the more work gets done in a shorter time

  7. #7

    4. Accountability Elon would write names of the engineers on the car/rocket components they were responsible to design. This gives them a sense of pride, responsibility and ownership that’s very difficult to achieve any other way.

  8. #8

    Yes, he doesn't assemble the rockets himself but he has 1. Assembled highly inspired people on the team 2. Set the precedent that only the top performs will stay, rest will be fired 3. Instilled the culture of intense accountability

  9. #9

    Effective delegation requires cultivating this type of culture. Most founders struggle to even comprehend how Elon manages six billion-dollar companies. This is because they don’t understand how to delegate at scale. They commit the cardinal sin of delegation.

  10. #10

    Elon understands that entrepreneurship is just effective delegation at scale. All his teams and companies operate at Level 5.

  11. #11

    Most people cannot freely delegate because they feel their team will slack off. To become a Tier 1 founder, you need to understand that delegation at scale is about culture and intensity.

  12. #12

    Not so coincidentally 😉, I started a company to help ambitious founders and execs with exactly this. athena.com

  13. #13

    If you found this thread valuable: 1. Follow me @swaaanson for more threads on entrepreneurship and delegation. 2. RT the first tweet

    Jonathan Swanson@swaaanson · Sep 23, 2024

    Elon runs six multi billion-dollar companies simultaneously (SpaceX, Tesla, X, xAI, Neuralink, and Boring Company) Most founders can’t run one. Walter Isaacson (who spent a year shadowing Elon and wrote his biography) explains ‘How Elon does it’ on a podcast Thread 🧵