Not Elon Musk, these are the two real founders of Tesla

Tesla is currently the most valuable car company in the world with a market capitalization of more than $1 trillion. The success of this company is associated with the famous “eccentric” billionaire Elon Musk. However, contrary to popular belief, Musk was not the first person to found Tesla. Elon Musk has been CEO since October 2008 and is the fourth CEO of this electric car company.

The two true founders of Tesla are Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. They came up with the idea for Tesla after General Motors “killed” its EV1 electric car program.

Portrait of 2 founders

Tesla Motors is named after the famous scientist and inventor Nikola Tesla. The company was founded in July 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. Eberhard and Tarpenning initially served as the company’s CEO and CFO (Chief Financial Officer).

Eberhard grew up in Kensington, California and attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering in 1982 and a master’s degree in electrical engineering in 1984.

Tarpenning grew up in Sacramento, California and received a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley in 1985. He began his career working for the Textron Corporation in Saudi Arabia. Tarpenning subsequently developed software and firmware products for a number of companies, including Seagate Technology and Bechtel. He also served as Vice President of Engineering for Packet Design, a network technology company.

Martin Eberhard (left) and Marc Tarpenning. Photo: CNBC.

Eberhard and Tarpenning founded Tesla Motors with the ambition to transform the auto industry. They want to create electric cars that everyone wants to own: affordable, environmentally friendly and fast.

After Eberhard and Tarpenning, Ian Wright is Tesla’s third employee, joining a few months after the company was founded. By February 2004, three people had successfully raised a Series A round from many different investors, of which Elon Musk was the investor who poured the most capital.

Meeting with Elon Musk

Sharing in an interview with CNBC , Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning said they first met Elon Musk at a meeting for members of the Mars Society – a nonprofit organization about the discovery and settlement of Mars. humans on Mars. At this point Musk has not yet founded SpaceX. The two sides quickly bonded through their mutual love and interest in space exploration.

After the Series A funding round, Elon Musk became the Chairman of Tesla. A year later, Tesla signed a contract with British car company Lotus Cars to produce racing and sports cars. Lotus is behind the body and chassis design of Tesla’s first car – the Roadster.

That same year, Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page joined Tesla’s Series B funding round. Musk remains the lead investor in this round of funding. Musk then announced his “secret” plan for Tesla: use the money raised to develop affordable cars and create a generation of zero-emission electric cars.

Also in 2006, Tesla witnessed a major change in leadership. Eberhard stepped down as CEO and moved to become an advisor. Michael Marks, an investor in Tesla, became interim CEO, until Ze’ev Drori, a racing driver, took over in November.

In early 2008, Tesla saw the contradictions of the founders. As a result, co-founders Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning left the company. This is also the time when the first Tesla convertible was delivered to Elon Musk and the production line of this car was started.

Tesla’s success is associated with the name Elon Musk, but he is not the original founder of this startup. Photo: Getty Images

In October 2008, Elon Musk became CEO of Tesla and laid off 25% of employees. At this point, Tesla only has $9 million in cash on hand and faces the risk of not being able to deliver the Roadster to customers who have ordered up to $109,000. Tesla then had to raise $40 million by issuing convertible bonds to avoid bankruptcy and hit production targets.

In early 2009, Tesla launched the Model S concept – a luxury sedan with a capacity of 518 horsepower, priced from 76,000 USD. Not long after, Daimler AG acquired a 10% stake in Tesla for $50 million. This investment saved Tesla from bankruptcy during the Great Recession that year.

Also in 2009, former CEO Martin Eberhard accused Elon Musk of “rewriting” Tesla history and sued Musk for defamation. Eberhard suggested that, in interviews, Musk unreasonably blamed himself for Tesla’s financial and production problems. In the lawsuit, Eberhard alleges that Tesla intentionally vandalized the Tesla Roadster before delivering it to him. The case was later settled.

In September 2009, Tesla and Martin Eberhard announced an agreement on who could claim to be the co-founder of the company. Accordingly, 5 people are considered to be the co-founders of electric car company Tesla, including Elon Musk, JB Straubel (CEO of Tesla at that time), Martin Eberhard, Marc Tarpenning and Ian Wright.

In an interview with CNBC , Eberhard said he still supports and is a shareholder of Tesla, and believes electric vehicles are the key to protecting the planet. Meanwhile, Tarpenning shared that he still talks to Musk from time to time. Looking back on the past, he insists he has no regrets because ” from start to finish, everything was great, including the worst and the best “.