Apologies since I am not an employee but I wanted to share this story because I had this exact question back in 22: I went to DEFCON two years ago and visited the Aerospace Village where they had a handful of SpaceX employees running some sort of challenge and generally discussing what things SpaceX is working on (Starlink etc.)<p>Keep in mind in 22, the software dev community was just starting to wake up to the kind of person Musk was post Twitter, people in the automotive/space industry were screaming about him for years prior(anyone from /r/realtesla?)<p>Nevertheless I was determined to confront these employees and figure out why they continue to work for this guy. The pay actually sucks all things considered and the hours are long and brutal. We occasionally see that even if you are successful it is still not enough and he tosses employees out the door after they have worked so hard(just look at the recent firing of Rebecca Tinucci and her team).<p>They were very clear, its all about being a part of a team that is executing at a level no other company is doing. If you are a naturally exceptional performer, you want to be working with other exceptional people. Too many companies are just compromising at some level in the bureaucracy whether its poor management or tolerating poor performers or making decisions that kneecap the best people in the org.<p>As they were making this point, they showed me the teardown of the Starlink antenna, its a very nice looking design very impressive what they came up with in such a short timeframe. To them, this drive for excellence tops all. Maybe everyone has their own red line but you have to consider what you are giving up if you leave the Musk universe in favor of some principle: the loss of being on such a fast moving high performing team.<p>I do recall that they were uneasy talking about this subject but that could have just been because they dont know who I am at a hacker conference. Observing the Tesla fanboys over a decade, they have a built in paranoia and trauma from years of. watching the musk companies teeter on the brink and dealing with short sellers. In the past when covering Tesla from afar, ive observed this with the employees as well. (this is just my observation, I could be wrong)<p>We see the results: no one is even close to SpaceX, all the other satellite providers don't hold a candle to StarLink, while there are competitors to NeuraLink, he is blazing forward everything else be damned. Tesla still sits near the top of the technology stack when it comes to EV innovation only to potentially be outdone by the Chinese but if you are an American, you have few companies in the US operating at that level (probably Tesla, Rivian and Lucid to be honest). I am reminded of this every time I end up at an EVGo or Electrify America station only to curse off the company for not fixing their junk equipment.