14 DAY TRIAL // Tesla is on a roll with its awesome electric vehicles, and it’s not planning to stop any time soon. CEO Elon Musk is firing on all cylinders, poaching talents from every industry, including the computer sector.
Musk has had his sight set on Apple for a long time, and even likens himself to Steve Jobs, insiders say. He’s also a geek at heart, so he understands the importance of having good software engineers.
Apple leaking staffers like crazy
Whether or not this has anything to do with Apple’s messy software releases as of late, Tesla is said to have poached no less than 150 employees from the Cupertino giant. Many of them are software engineers. Musk himself has said that, “From a design philosophy, [Apple] is relatively closely aligned.”
Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas agrees that Tesla has every reason to want Apple’s talented engineers, as the value of car software has greatly increased as of late. This also poses a huge threat to traditional carmakers.
Another great visionary of our times
Elon Musk has many common traits with the late Steve Jobs. Tesla’s CEO has been described as similarly short-tempered, and equally focused on the details. As such, the EV maker attracts the same kind of workforce.
Bloomberg cites a former Tesla worker who asked not to be named as saying “Musk is enamored with Apple and relishes comparisons between himself and its co-founder.”
Tesla Motors as a company shares a lot of similar values with Apple. For example, the EV maker’s no-dealership approach closely resembles Apple’s reluctance to attend trade shows like the Macworld Expo, or CES.
Like Apple, Tesla doesn’t let manufacturing costs get in the way of their vision or design, leading to a premium user experience at a premium price point. Most importantly, both companies’ core values are strikingly similar (i.e changing the world).