elonology.com

Tag: Product Development

  • Elon’s Why: Saving the World

    “The heroes of the books I read, The Lord of the Rings and the Foundation series, always felt a duty to save the world.“

    ~Elon Musk

    Elon’s businesses are seen through the lens of saving the world.

    They are distilled as Mission Statements and Master Plans.

    With SpaceX the overarching goal is to make human life multi-planetary with a city on Mars.

    Tesla has four master plans, in fact.

    Two have already been completed in full.

    On Tesla’s website there are links to the other four Master plans:

    The first plan summarizes them as:

    1. Build sports car
    2. Use that money to build an affordable car
    3. Use that money to build an even more affordable car
    4. While doing above, also provide zero emission electric power generation options

    Plan deux is:

    1. Create stunning solar roofs with seamlessly integrated battery storage
    2. Expand the electric vehicle product line to address all major segments
    3. Develop a self-driving capability that is 10X safer than manual via massive fleet learning
    4. Enable your car to make money for you when you aren’t using it

    Master Plan Part 3 the mission is:

    A roadmap for achieving a fully sustainable global energy economy by shifting all energy use—transport, heating, industry—to renewable sources.

    This is explained .PDF to outline a proposed path to reach a sustainable global energy economy through end-use electrification and sustainable electricity generation and storage.

    With Plan 4the mission is :

    We’re accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable abundance.

    It is posted on X and Elon calls it Master Plan Part IV.

    The new Tesla Model S Plaid is the fastest production car in the world and the first production car ever to go 0-60 MPH in under 2.0 seconds. It also goes 0-100 km/h in 2.1 seconds.  This is called the “Tesla effect” and Tesla has affected the entire market to shift towards Electricity by 2035…

    Tesla Model S

    In Tesla’s X post Tesla claims Since Tesla’s founding, each iteration of our master plan has focused on our north star: to deliver unconstrained sustainability without compromise.

    The PDF about this topic and landing page prior explain Growth is infinite and in videos such as the Nov 2025 video with Joe Rogan Elon explain this will likely mean unlimited goods and services for everyone.  Eventually.

    Elon has completed parts one and two and has made amazing strides forward with plans 3 and 4.

    Tesla’s Optimus Robots Elon claims will become a bigger business than the cars by affecting the labor force and helping create sustainable abundance at scale.

    xAi and Grok (ai) are two (somewhat) new ventures which playing more of a and a term Elon has been using more and more is Convergence to describe the crossover between his companies.

    What makes this most impressive is how he has done so while building a rocket company which sends more payload to orbit than all other companies and countries combined, and the only rockets which relaunch.

    SpaceX has hustled its way into the #1 spot in the world of rockets with an awesome mission as well. The Mission of SpaceX is found at SpaceX.com/mission where it says: 

    “You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great – and that’s what being a spacefaring civilization is all about. It’s about believing in the future and thinking that the future will be better than the past. And I can’t think of anything more exciting than going out there and being among the stars.” -Elon Musk

    Revolutionizing the Automotive and Aerospace Companies

    Elon’s brilliant mind, epic work ethic and the awesome teams he has assembled have produced the most valuable car company in the world: Tesla.

    Simultaneously Elon and his teams have built the most successful rocket company in the world: SpaceX.

    And when the epic SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket first lifted off it became the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two.

    The new Starship rocket exceeds even Falcon Heavy with the Super Heavy booster boasting 33 Raptor engines in the first stage booster, and six Raptor engines in the upper stage.

    SpaceX has effectively revolutionized the rocket industry with their ability to rapidly launch, refurbish, and re-use rockets.

    The Falcon Heavy can lift more than twice the payload of the next closest operational vehicle, the Delta IV Heavy, at one-third the cost.

    As of the time of writing (December 2025) SpaceX has launched 591 completed missions.

    And even though Elon has sent his original Tesla Roadster into orbit around Mars and the sun, Elon is down to Earth…for now.

    And the best part is with SpaceX the mission of making life multiplanetary is well on its way to becoming a reality.  There is a mission coming when Mars is closest to Earth.

    The rocket will have the name Heart of Gold.  Inspired by the book Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

    However with strong growth so far of his core companies in 2023 so Elon looks in strong shape to regain the title and is well positioned for even greater financial growth in the future…

    Elon enjoyed a number of achievements in recent years, specifically with rolling out the Starlink high speed internet system and his massive move to buy the social network Twitter for $44 billion.

    As of mid-December 2025, Starlink has over 10,000 satellites launched, with around 9,000+ actively operational and providing internet service.

    Interestingly DOGE spelled backwards is E God…and Elon calls himself the Dogefather.  DOGE in the US government context means Department of Government Efficiency.

    DOGE is also a crypto currency with the symbol $DOGE.  He has said “Don’t bet the farm on DOGE” in the past so be careful with your investments.  DOGE has supply added to the market daily so be careful when investing as it is not anti-inflationary in design like Bitcoin.
    Elon’s massive wealth is a great indication of the value he has added to the market.

    His humanity saving missions are his why.

  • Striving to Be The Best is a Strong Strategy

    Striving to Be The Best is a Strong Strategy

    The 10x Rule: Why Your Product Must Be Significantly Better to Win

    The great news about precedents and superlatives is you don’t need millions of dollars to realize their power for your business or brand.

    One way you can realize the marketing power of precedents is by setting a precedent for the most powerful piece of content for a high volume keyword phrase in your niche.

    Google’s mission is to “Organize the world’s information.” So give Google and people what they want – the best organized and most compelling piece of content that sets a precedent for quality or clarity.

    When you start with the best quality and most in depth content on a topic your chances for getting strong ranking and marketing results with Google search increases.

    List posts do particularly well in Google.

    If the top post for the keyword phrase you are targeting is a top 10 tips post, a strong strategy is to create a list post with 50+ tips.

    Strive to be significantly better than the post that is currently ranking number one for the keyword phrase you are targeting.

    Then if you can take that precedent setting content and serve it up in a variety of media types it will further enhance your chances of a strong ranking.

    Some ways you can raise the bar for your excellent content include:

    • Video Content
    • Audio Content
    • .PDF’s
    • Slide Share Presentation
    • Free Downloads
    • And more!

    You can even use some of the above bonus content examples as lead magnets and offer them as incentives for people to join your email list.

    Only by striving for world class quality can you achieve world class results.

    Don’t settle for mediocrity, strive to be the best you can be with what you do!

    The precedent of falcon wing doors on the Tesla Model X is a great example of setting a new precedent of better doors than gullwing, as they still go up but due to the double hinge can park beside another vehicle and still have the doors go up.

    By setting a precedent for a new level of quality you will get people talking and sharing your business naturally and you will tap into the power of word of mouth marketing when people discuss the awesome work you do.

  • The Importance of Prototypes and Production

    Stop Celebrating Prototypes; Start Planning Production.

    When asked why the Tesla Cybertruck and Roadster are taking so much time to produce, Elon explains: “Design Is Easy.  Production is Hard.”

    Don’t get Elon wrong: He’s not saying design is not worth obsessing over or that Tesla and SpaceX do not obsess over design…

    Because obsessing over design has helped make Tesla vehicles and SpaceX products as awesome as they are.

    But a design on paper is easier than a prototype in clay, and a prototype is easier than a product on a production line.

    The machine that builds the machine is the ultimate challenge.

    Elon has said production is at least an order of magnitude harder than developing a prototype, when talking about Tesla.

    So once you get a prototype to work with, you can shift your focus to finding investors and getting the funds, factory and people so you can get into production!

    The rate of innovation is why Tesla’s do not have model years, because improvements are being made constantly, and certainly not at a once per year pace.

    Because you’ve got to constantly innovate and iterate to create something great.

    Get from the design to the prototype phase as soon as possible.

    Because once you have a prototype you can focus on the challenges that come with production and delivery.

  • Focus on Signal Over Noise

    For years Elon and Tesla never spent any money on advertising.

    They focused instead on investing in R&D and design since these aspects of business help make the products as good as possible.

     “I ask myself: Will this activity result in a better product or service? If not, I stop those efforts.”

    There are grey areas like “Is a Tesla sign design an ad?” but ultimately the important takeaway is how money invested into design and manufacturing is a far better value than money burned on ads that do not significantly move a company forward.

    Elon has created Billions of dollars in growth by focusing his investments and then exercising control to accelerate growth.

    Here’s a quote from Elon talking with Inc. on the subject:

    “It’s OK to have your eggs in one basket as long as you control what happens to that basket.”

    Speaking of focus, a powerful statement Elon shared at the USC commencement address he gave is to:

    “Focus on signal over noise. A lot of companies get confused.  They spend money on things that don’t actually make the product better.

    For example at Tesla we’ve never spent any money on advertising.  We put all of the money into R&D and manufacturing and design to try to make the car as good as possible.

    And I think that’s the way to go.

    For any given company just keep thinking about are these efforts that people expending are they resulting in a better product or service, and if they are not, stop those efforts.“

    Focus on what actually moves the needle forward.  

    Focus on signal over noise.

  • Relentlessly Improve Your Products

    Relentlessly Improve Your Products

    elon-musk-in-factory-grok

    Incremental Gains, Monumental Success.

    In a 2020 video interview with the Wall Street Journal Elon shares advice geared towards other CEO’s: 

    Elon recommends CEO’s “Spend less time with finance and in conference rooms and on powerpoint and spend more time trying to make your product as amazing as possible.” 

    “Make your product better.  That is what really matters.”

    Step 1: “Have You Tried?  Like really tried.”

    Step 2: “Try Harder”

    This reminds me of one of my favorite Elon quotes of all time, which he shared with a bunch of high schoolers who he did a Hack Club ask me anything video chat with.  Elon said: 

    “You’ve got to try.  Believe in yourself and try.  People can do way more than they think.”

    Be an absolute perfectionist about the product you produce or the service you provide.

    As I write this I just put down my phone and stopped a doom scroll on Christmas to shift my attention to Elonology.  Because I’m taking Elon’s advice to Try Harder and do what is necessary to make this book great.

    The company that invests the most effort and produces the most beneficial innovations is likely to win long term.

  • Be Extremely Tenacious

    Be Extremely Tenacious

    The Power of Extreme Persistence: Lessons from Elon Musk’s Near-Bankruptcies

    Here is a definition for the word Tenacious: 

    Adjective Not readily relinquishing a position, principle, or course of action; determined.

    The determination to keep going when the going gets tough is what saved SpaceX and Tesla when both were on the verge of bankruptcy.

    Elon poured all of his money from the sale of PayPal into these companies so they could survive and his tenacity in doing so saved them from insolvency.

    The perseverance and hard work Elon has shown in making every company he has worked with a success reminds me of this quote from Steve Jobs:

    I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.

    Elon met Steve Jobs once and said Steve was a jerk to him after Google co-founder Larry Page introduced him…but nonetheless Elon has praised Steve and uses Apple products like the iPhone (in combination with PC’s) to this day.

    Despite the snubbing from Steve Jobs Elon seems to respect him for his tenacity and craftsmanship. Elon shared this video below where Jobs shares a Rock Tumbler metaphor. I recommend you check it out:

  • From Prototype to Premium Product

    High-End First: How Tesla Funded Innovation by Targeting the Affluent

    Tesla started by creating desire via offering a premium product to the affluent.

    This is the strategy Musk developed with Tesla when they decided to create the high end luxury Tesla roadster.

    Below the strategy is explained with a diagram from the post How Tesla Will Change The World.

    Tesla’s Business Plan involves three main steps:

    1. High-priced low-volume car for the super rich
    2. Mid-priced mid-volume car for the pretty rich

    Then the profits from step 1 & 2 go towards step 3:

    1. Low priced, high volume car for the masses

    It seems to me that this is a solid strategy for someone who is considering starting a coaching, consulting, and or membership site business as well.

    By serving the most financially affluent first you can help your business create the financial stability and foundation needed to grow.

    Once you have established the initial inertia of ongoing income for your business you can afford yourself room to hire and experiment more so you can instigate more innovation.

  • Strive for Perfection

    Only by striving for perfection can you hope to come close to achieving it.

    Elon is constantly striving for perfection with his companies.

    At STCP Future Fest he said:

    “Aspirationally, we’re in pursuit of the platonic ideal of the perfect car.  Who knows what that looks like actually, but you want to try to make every element of the car as flawless as possible…

    There will always be some degree of imperfection, but we try to minimize that and create a car that is just     delightful in every way.”

    Perfection might be an impossible ideal but by striving for it you can get closer to achieving the idea.

  • Make Your Product Magical

    Magical products get people talking.

    And when people have good things to say this helps with sales.

    The best product often wins so you need to be hyper-focused on making your product (and service) as magical as possible.

    Elon says:

    “The thing I really focus on at Tesla is we’re going to pour 

    all the money and attention into trying to make the product as compelling as possible…

    Because I think the way to sell anything is really via word of mouth.

    The key is to have a product the people love.  Generally people if they are at a party or with friends or whatever you’ll talk about the things that you love…

    But if you just like something, it’s okay, you’re not going to care that much but if you love something you’re going to talk.  And that will generate word of mouth and that’s basically how our sales have grown like we’re not spending money on advertising or endorsements…

    So anyone who buys our car they just bought it because they like the car and you know it’s genuine.”

    So many parts of a Tesla are true engineering magic, so much so even a vehicle from a decade ago seems old school by comparison.  The more engineering magic you can pack into a product it seems, the better.

    In Forbes (March 26th, 2012) Elon said:

    “If you go back a few hundred years, what we take for granted today would seem like magic…so engineering is magic, and who wouldn’t want to be a magician?”

  • Produce a Superior Product

    Produce a Superior Product

    Elon took on the auto industry and the aerospace industry…and won!

    So he knows what it takes to be the little guy and do what it takes to innovate, grow and win against some of the biggest companies in the world.

    Make no mistake when you are the little guy with big competitors they will try and stamp you out.

    And since the big competitors benefit from economies of scale you rarely can compete against them on price…

    So to win you need to create a superior product.

    As Elon puts it: “If you’re a new company entering an existing marketplace where there are large entrenched competitors then your product or service needs to be much better than theirs…

    It can’t be a little bit better.  Because then you put yourself in the shoes of the consumer and they say why would you buy it as a consumer.  You’re always going to buy the trusted brand unless there is a big difference.

    So a lot of times an entrepreneur will come up with something which is only slightly better.  And it can’t just be slightly better, it’s got to be a lot better.”

    With that attitude in mind they built the original Tesla roadster.

    The same commitment to quality remains in the design of new products, like new Tesla Roadster.

    Think about what kind of product you would love to have and put as much passion as possible into the product you create.

    You have to love your product in order for other people to love it too.