Jon McNeill: The Algorithm Behind Tesla and SpaceX, Why Automation Should Come Last, and Setting Unrealistic Goals

We almost went bankrupt because we didn't have the cash flow that we had predicted coming off of Model 3. And the only way we saved ourselves was to go back to the manual process. We literally built a tent in the factory outside and produced cars by hand, first 100 a week, then 500 a week, etc., until we could actually build an uh a an automated line that reflected reality. When we looked back on that and said, look, we almost killed the company. What would we do differently?

We said automate last. You've got to perfect the process before you automate, otherwise you just might bury yourself. And in that case, we almost did. Hi everyone, I'm Nikola Tanyan, the CEO of the Norwegian Southern Wealth Fund, and today I'm in really good company with John McNeil. Now, John spent three years reporting directly to Elon Musk as president of Tesla, then was chief operating officer of Lyft, and now he builds companies at DVX Ventures.

Lots of people have worked for Elon, but John actually wrote a book about how to do things, the algorithms, which basically lays out how Musk used to build Tesla and SpaceX. And so today we are going to go through this, you know, point by point, so that you also can sort out your business. And make it a huge success. So John, big thank you for coming on here. It's an honor to be on with you, Nikolai.

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