Glossary

Internet slang for holding a volatile investment through large price swings rather than selling. The term became associated with retail Tesla investors who held TSLA through dramatic volatility, particularly during the 2020-2021 run-up that made Musk the world's richest person. Musk occasionally engaged with retail investor communities that used the term.

The most consequential tweet in Tesla's history: Musk's August 7, 2018 post — "Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured." — which briefly spiked TSLA stock before the SEC investigated. No firm funding had been secured. Musk settled with the SEC for $20M and agreed to step down as chairman. The $420 price is widely believed to be a cannabis reference aimed at short-sellers.

The internal email Musk sent to Twitter/X staff shortly after the October 2022 acquisition, instructing employees to click a link by a deadline if they agreed to work "extremely hardcore" — meaning "long hours at high intensity." Those who did not click were told they could accept three months' severance instead. A significant number of employees did not click. The email was immediately leaked and became a defining symbol of Musk's management style.

A phrase originally associated with Facebook/Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, but one that resonates with Musk's operating philosophy. Musk's version is more hardware-literal: actually build and test at high speed, accept explosions and failures as part of the process, and iterate faster than competitors who wait for design certainty. Musk would likely add 'especially break rockets' as a footnote.

Musk's own term for the chaotic and painful process of ramping a new vehicle to mass production. He described the 2017-2018 Model 3 ramp as 'production hell' — a period during which Tesla was severely behind schedule, burning cash, and teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. Musk camped on the factory floor and personally supervised production. He has since described production hell as an inevitable rite of passage for every new Tesla vehicle.

The informal term — used by journalists and critics — for the Tesla employee whose job was to pre-approve Musk's market-sensitive tweets before he posted them, as required by his 2018 SEC settlement. Musk publicly chafed against the arrangement and in 2022 contested the SEC's contempt motion over tweets he posted without pre-clearance. A federal judge ultimately upheld the settlement's requirements.

A phrase from Silicon Valley management literature (popularized by Ben Horowitz) describing a CEO who treats the company as in existential crisis — moving with extreme urgency, demanding performance, and ignoring normal peacetime social conventions. Musk visibly shifts into wartime mode during production crises (Model 3), acquisitions (Twitter), and regulatory battles. His acquisition of Twitter was almost entirely conducted in wartime mode from day one.

Elon Musk publicly disclosed on Saturday Night Live in May 2021 that he has Asperger's syndrome — making him the first person to host SNL while disclosing the diagnosis. Musk has referenced the diagnosis in subsequent interviews as context for his sometimes blunt communication style, his obsessive focus on technical problems, and his discomfort with small talk and social conventions. Asperger's is now classified under the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) umbrella in DSM-5.

Tesla's driver-assistance system that provides lane centering, adaptive cruise control, automatic lane changes, and automatic parking on compatible roads. Autopilot is a Level 2 system — it requires active driver supervision. It should not be confused with Full Self-Driving (FSD), though both share hardware and software components. Autopilot has been involved in numerous NHTSA investigations following accidents.

Remote beach community in Cameron County, Texas, near Brownsville, that SpaceX selected in 2014 as its private launch site. SpaceX purchased most of the land and homes in the area. Boca Chica Village was effectively transformed into a private company town. SpaceX rebranded the site 'Starbase' in 2021. In 2023, SpaceX incorporated Starbase as a Texas city.

The uncrewed variant of SpaceX's Dragon capsule, used to deliver supplies and equipment to the International Space Station under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contracts. Cargo Dragon 2 (introduced 2020) is a reusable version with a non-pressurized trunk section for external payloads. Cargo Dragon missions run approximately every few months.

The xAI AI training supercomputer cluster, assembled in Memphis, Tennessee in 2024. Built with approximately 100,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs in its first phase — reportedly the largest contiguous cluster of H100s in the world at that time. Used primarily to train Grok-3. A second phase targeting 200,000+ GPUs was announced. The Memphis facility repurposed a former data center.

SpaceX's crewed spacecraft, certified by NASA in 2020 for human transport to the International Space Station. Crew Dragon (also called Dragon 2) carries up to seven passengers and features a launch escape system capable of pulling the capsule away from a failing rocket in any phase of flight. It ended US dependence on Russian Soyuz for ISS access.

Tesla's purpose-built autonomous ride-hailing vehicle, unveiled in October 2024. The Cybercab has no steering wheel or pedals, operates fully autonomously on Full Self-Driving software, and is designed with two seats. Musk announced production would begin before 2027 and projected a cost under $30,000. It is central to Tesla's stated pivot from car company to autonomous transportation platform.

Tesla's all-electric pickup truck, first unveiled in November 2019 and delivered to customers starting November 2023 — years behind Musk's original projections. The Cybertruck features a stainless steel exoskeleton, a polygonal angular design, air suspension, and up to 845 horsepower in its Cyberbeast trim. Its unconventional design generated enormous media coverage; the debut event is remembered for the 'unbreakable' windows shattering on stage.

An advisory body announced by President-elect Donald Trump in November 2024 and co-led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Despite the name, DOGE is not an official government department but an external advisory commission. It was tasked with identifying federal spending cuts and regulatory rollbacks. The name was a deliberate nod to Dogecoin (DOGE), the meme cryptocurrency Musk had heavily promoted. Ramaswamy departed the effort in early 2025.

Tesla's custom AI training supercomputer, designed to process the massive video dataset from the Tesla fleet for training FSD neural networks. Dojo uses Tesla-designed D1 chips connected via a high-bandwidth interconnect fabric. The first Dojo cabinet was demonstrated in 2021. Musk has described Dojo as a potential revenue source — Tesla could sell compute time on the cluster to external customers.

SpaceX's family of spacecraft. The original Dragon capsule (2010-2020) was used for cargo resupply. Dragon 2 introduced in 2019 comes in two variants: Crew Dragon (human-rated, seats up to 7) and Cargo Dragon 2 (uncrewed resupply). Dragon capsules are reusable and return via parachute splashdown. Dragon was the first commercial spacecraft to berth with the ISS.

SpaceX's first rocket — a small, two-stage liquid-fuel vehicle capable of putting ~670 kg into low Earth orbit. Falcon 1 failed on its first three launches (2006-2008) before reaching orbit on Flight 4 in September 2008. The successful flight occurred with barely enough cash for one more attempt, making it one of the most consequential test flights in space history. Falcon 1 was retired after 2009.

SpaceX's primary orbital launch vehicle — a two-stage rocket powered by nine Merlin engines on the first stage and one Merlin Vacuum engine on the second stage. Falcon 9 is the most frequently flown orbital rocket in history. Its partially reusable design (first stage lands and is reflown) dramatically reduced launch costs. Individual boosters have flown 20+ times.

SpaceX's heavy-lift rocket, essentially three Falcon 9 first stages strapped together, producing 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. First launched February 6, 2018, carrying Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster as a dummy payload. Falcon Heavy is the most powerful operational rocket in the world (until Starship's eventual certification). All three booster cores are recoverable and reusable.

Tesla's advanced driver assistance system package, sold as an add-on to all Tesla vehicles. FSD includes Navigate on Autopilot, Auto Lane Change, Autopark, Summon, and (in recent versions) city streets autonomous driving. Despite its name, FSD as of 2025 is not fully autonomous — drivers must remain attentive and ready to intervene. It is a Level 2+ system. Musk has predicted 'full autonomy' is imminent every year since 2016.

Tesla's term for its large-scale battery and vehicle manufacturing plants. The original Gigafactory 1 (Nevada, opened 2016) produces battery cells and packs with Panasonic. Gigafactory Shanghai (China, 2019) was Tesla's first international factory. Gigafactory Berlin (Germany, 2022) produces Model Y for European markets. Gigafactory Texas (Austin, 2022) produces Model Y and Cybertruck and serves as Tesla's headquarters.

xAI's first publicly released large language model, announced November 2023. Grok-1 was notable for having access to real-time X/Twitter data — a unique advantage over OpenAI's GPT and Google's Gemini at launch. Musk open-sourced Grok-1's weights in March 2024 under an Apache 2.0 license, a notable move given his public criticism of OpenAI for not releasing its models.

xAI's second-generation model, released in August 2024. Grok-2 and its smaller variant Grok-2 mini showed substantially improved performance on benchmarks, particularly in coding and reasoning tasks, and included image generation capabilities via a partnership with Black Forest Labs (FLUX). Grok-2 was made available to X Premium+ subscribers.

xAI's third-generation model, trained on the Colossus cluster in Memphis. Released in February 2025, Grok-3 achieved top-tier benchmark scores across reasoning, math, and science tasks, with Musk claiming it was the 'most intelligent AI in the world' at release. Grok-3 introduced a 'Deep Search' feature for extended web-grounded reasoning.

xAI's fourth-generation model, released in mid-2025. Grok-4 continued the trajectory of rapid capability improvement and introduced enhanced agentic capabilities. It was among the leading frontier models by the major reasoning benchmarks at its launch.

A high-speed transportation concept described in Musk's 2013 white paper — passenger pods traveling through low-pressure tubes at up to 760 mph using magnetic levitation and linear induction motors. Musk published the design as open-source rather than building it himself, spawning multiple independent companies. The Boring Company later built a smaller-scale electric vehicle tunnel version.

An independent startup founded in 2014 to commercialize Musk's Hyperloop concept, later acquired by Virgin and renamed Virgin Hyperloop. Despite raising over $400M and conducting successful pod tests in Nevada, the company shut down in December 2023, citing the difficulty of securing regulatory approval and infrastructure investment at scale.

The Boring Company's first commercial tunnel project, opened in 2021. It runs beneath the Las Vegas Convention Center and carries Tesla vehicles (originally Model 3, later Cybertruck) at up to 35 mph to transport passengers between convention halls. A broader Vegas Loop system connecting hotels and the Strip was approved but only partially built as of 2025.

Nickname for the mechanical arm system on SpaceX's Starbase launch tower (Orbital Launch Mount) designed to catch the Starship Super Heavy booster as it returns for landing. The arms — nicknamed 'chopsticks' by SpaceX — grab the booster by its grid fins rather than landing it on legs. The first successful catch occurred on October 13, 2024 (IFT-5), marking a landmark moment in reusable rocket history.

Tesla's utility-scale battery energy storage system, designed for grid-level applications: frequency regulation, peak shaving, and backup power. Each Megapack stores up to 3.9 MWh and connects directly to the grid. Tesla has deployed Megapacks in large arrays globally, including the Hornsdale Power Reserve in South Australia — the original 'world's biggest battery' (100 MW/129 MWh) that saved South Australia millions in grid costs.

Tesla's four main production vehicles. Model S (2012): luxury sedan, first to achieve 200+ mile range. Model X (2015): luxury SUV with distinctive falcon-wing doors. Model 3 (2017): mass-market sedan, Tesla's highest-volume vehicle. Model Y (2020): compact SUV based on Model 3 platform, became the world's best-selling car in 2023. Together they spell S3XY — widely believed to be intentional.

Neuralink's first brain-computer interface implant device. The Link is a coin-sized device implanted in the skull that reads electrical signals from neurons via 1,024 electrodes on 64 threads finer than a human hair. The N1 chip processes and wirelessly transmits neural signals to external devices. The first human implant ('Telepathy') was performed in January 2024.

Tesla's humanoid robot, first unveiled as a concept in August 2021 at Tesla AI Day, with a person in a robot suit. The first Optimus prototype (Gen 1) was shown walking at Tesla AI Day 2022. Gen 2 (2023) showed dramatically improved dexterity. Musk has stated Optimus will be more valuable than Tesla's car business — projecting eventual production of millions of units per year at a price under $20,000.

The informal name for the group of early PayPal employees and founders who went on to found or invest in some of Silicon Valley's most influential companies. Members include Peter Thiel (Palantir, Founders Fund), Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn), Max Levchin (Affirm), David Sacks, Roelof Botha, Keith Rabois, and Elon Musk. Musk co-founded X.com which merged with Confinity (Thiel, Levchin) to form PayPal.

Tesla's residential battery energy storage system, designed to store solar energy or grid power for home backup. Each Powerwall 3 (introduced 2024) stores 13.5 kWh and can power an average home for approximately one day. Powerwalls are often paired with Tesla Solar Roof or third-party solar installations. They became particularly popular in markets with unreliable grids.

SpaceX's full-flow staged combustion rocket engine, fueled by liquid methane and liquid oxygen (methalox). The Raptor is the most thermodynamically efficient rocket engine ever built, achieving chamber pressures above 330 bar (versus the Space Shuttle Main Engine's ~207 bar). Starship is powered by 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster and 6 on the Starship upper stage. Methane was chosen because it can be manufactured on Mars from CO₂ and water ice.

Tesla's building-integrated solar product that replaces a conventional roof with tempered glass tiles containing embedded solar cells — indistinguishable from traditional roofing at a distance. Announced in 2016 with SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive, the Solar Roof has been plagued by installation delays, pricing changes, and contract disputes with customers. It remains in limited production.

SpaceX's private launch facility and development campus in Cameron County, Texas, near Boca Chica Beach. Starbase hosts the Orbital Launch Mount (the Mechazilla tower), multiple production bays for Starship and Super Heavy, and a growing company campus. SpaceX was incorporated as an official Texas city (Starbase, TX) in 2023. All Starship integrated flight tests have launched from Starbase.

SpaceX's low Earth orbit satellite internet constellation, providing broadband internet to customers in remote and underserved locations worldwide. As of 2025, Starlink has over 6,000 satellites in orbit — the largest satellite constellation in history — and serves millions of customers across 100+ countries. Starlink provides critical cash flow for SpaceX's Mars program and was used to provide internet connectivity to Ukraine during the 2022 Russian invasion.

SpaceX's fully reusable two-stage super-heavy launch vehicle, designed to transport up to 150 metric tons (fully reusable) to low Earth orbit and to carry humans to the Moon and Mars. The upper stage is called Starship (Ship); the booster is Super Heavy. The combined vehicle stands 121 meters tall — the largest rocket ever built. Starship uses 39 Raptor engines across both stages. IFT-5 in October 2024 achieved the first booster catch at the launch tower.

The first stage booster of SpaceX's Starship launch system. Super Heavy stands approximately 69 meters tall and is powered by 33 Raptor engines producing over 16 million pounds of thrust at liftoff — more than twice the thrust of the Saturn V moon rocket. The booster is designed to be caught by the Mechazilla chopstick arms at the launch tower rather than landing on legs.

The name given to Neuralink's first human patient implant program, announced January 2024. The first patient, Noland Arbaugh (paralyzed from the shoulders down), received the Link implant and within weeks was controlling a computer cursor using only his thoughts — playing online chess and video games. Musk called the implant 'Telepathy' and said the first product goal was restoring device control to people with paralysis.

Tesla's first production vehicle, launched in 2008 — a two-seat sports car using a modified Lotus Elise chassis with a large lithium-ion battery pack. The original Roadster proved that electric cars could be compelling performance vehicles, not just golf carts. Its 0-60 in 3.7 seconds and 244-mile range shattered EV preconceptions. A 2020 announcement of a new-generation Roadster promised 0-60 in under 1.9 seconds; deliveries remain pending.

Tesla's all-electric Class 8 semi-truck, unveiled in 2017 and first delivered to PepsiCo in December 2022. The Semi features four independent electric motors and a claimed range of 500 miles on a single charge (fully loaded). Its aerodynamic cab-forward design and low center of gravity are significant departures from conventional semi-truck architecture.

A reference to Jeff Bezos's famous Amazon management practice of requiring all meeting proposals to be written as narrative six-page memos (no PowerPoint) that attendees read in silence at the start of meetings. The practice is often cited in discussions of Musk's management style for contrast — Musk is associated with faster, more verbal decision-making, though some Tesla and SpaceX meetings do use detailed written briefs.

Tesla conducted two stock splits: a 5-for-1 split in August 2020 (when TSLA was trading near $2,000/share pre-split) and a 3-for-1 split in August 2022. Both splits were executed to make shares more accessible to retail investors. The 2020 split coincided with the peak of retail investor enthusiasm for Tesla and the period that made Musk the world's wealthiest person.

Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company, founded in March 2023 with the stated mission of 'understanding the true nature of the universe.' xAI developed and released the Grok family of large language models integrated with X/Twitter. The company raised $6B in a Series B round in May 2024 at a $24B valuation. xAI's Colossus cluster in Memphis is used to train the Grok models.

Elon Musk's first company, co-founded with his brother Kimbal in 1995 in Palo Alto. Zip2 provided online city guide software to newspapers, effectively building the first online 'Yellow Pages' for local businesses. Early employees worked 20-hour days with Musk reportedly sleeping in the office. Compaq acquired Zip2 in February 1999 for $307M in cash; Musk netted ~$22M.