00:00You started online car buying many, many years ago.
00:04Let's talk, though, first about your friendship, your relationship with Elon Musk.
00:10He has had doubters since starting Tesla, and it seems that they're getting, I guess, weaker and weaker, fewer and
00:20fewer when it comes to his new business ideas,
00:22because nobody now doesn't believe that he's going to have data centers in space.
00:27What are investors really putting their money into here? Well, you know, I met Elon in 2003.
00:33He bought my house here in Southern California when he moved to L.A. after his PayPal days.
00:40But I can tell you that he is sort of the king of the big idea.
00:45And over the last 24 years, it has absolutely been the case that betting against him is a bad idea.
00:53I mean, he really puts out a very big idea, a big, hairy, audacious goal, as they say, a BHAG.
00:58But he consistently delivers. His timelines are maybe a little bit longer sometimes.
01:04But one of the things that's interesting about Elon is, you know, he's an engineer at heart.
01:08And engineers really do look for what's going to go wrong.
01:11But in this case, he happens to be one of the most optimistic and curious humans I've ever met.
01:16So, what did you see in, I guess, Elon or in SpaceX that made you a believer or made you
01:24an investor in that company's future?
01:27Well, it's all about Elon.
01:29At the end of the day, SpaceX is one of the most important infrastructure projects of our time.
01:33It's obviously about bringing the Internet to everybody, changing how humanity communicates.
01:38But I think this idea that we want to be an interplanetary species is really something that Elon believes in.
01:44He's a very mission-driven human. And the things that he is doing are all an extension of his belief
01:49system.
01:50And so he's very, very authentic.
01:52What I've seen as a friend is the level of loyalty and how deeply human he is.
01:59I mean, he's a very, very charming person.
02:01He goes deep with his friends and the people that he knows well.
02:05He's fiercely loyal.
02:06And he is nothing if he's not consistent in everything that he does.
02:11Some of the numbers that we see are as out there as the ideas, right?
02:17The total addressable market of $28 trillion that they put in the prospectus, forecasts for sales.
02:24I think Morgan Stanley has them sales at $3.4 trillion in 2040.
02:29You think those numbers are realistic?
02:34Are those goals achievable?
02:36A million people on Mars, is that really a possibility?
02:40You know, I don't know that a million people on Mars is the real issue.
02:44I think if you want to look at sort of where things are headed with SpaceX, you have to really
02:50unlock your thinking from traditional market paradigms.
02:53You know, I'm a three-time public company CEO.
02:56I'm a lifetime entrepreneur.
02:58I very much live inside that box.
03:00I understand the five-year discounted cash flow analysis.
03:03I understand that, you know, even today we're talking about, you know, SpaceX trading at almost 100 times, you know,
03:09forward earnings.
03:11That is absolutely astronomical.
03:13But at the same time, you cannot cap the upside potential.
03:18And I believe that companies trade on one of two things, either potential or performance.
03:22In Elon's case, he's proven that he can perform, build companies that not only scale but that are very, very
03:27profitable.
03:28I think that in the case of SpaceX, which has been profitable and really a very big cash generator, you
03:37can't really apply any of the traditional market metrics.
03:40And he certainly doesn't think like a traditional CEO.
03:43He's not constrained by the kinds of thinking that, you know, I have to live with every day.
03:48I try to emulate a lot of what he does, but he is really thinking about things.
03:53You know, people say three-dimensional chess.
03:55He really is out there.
03:57I would not try to apply any conventional thinking to the forward thinking about where SpaceX can go.
04:06It is really a bet on the future.
04:07And I think Elon isn't just a generational entrepreneur.
04:12He is a unique entrepreneur.
04:13He is one of a kind.
04:14By the way, how do you, Scott, put sort of Elon Musk-isms into the business that you do?
04:20As you say, you're a serial entrepreneur.
04:23You started car sales online with Cars Direct.
04:27You started a vehicle access model, subscription model with fare and autonomy.
04:35How do you put Elon Musk's, I guess, strategies into the businesses now that you're running TrueCar again, into the
04:42businesses that you run?
04:43Well, I think one of the things that's really important is entrepreneurs, visionary entrepreneurs, have to have a vision.
04:49And being a visionary is about seeing something that others do not.
04:52So you've got to really have conviction about what you're doing.
04:54I do believe that great companies, great entrepreneurs, and I know Elon believes this, solve problems.
04:59He is really the ultimate problem solver.
05:01Not just what he's doing in front of him, but everything he sees is a problem, and he looks at
05:05it as an engineer.
05:06But he has this very famous worldview about first principles.
05:10And when you look at your business in a first principles way and you really get to the essence of
05:15a problem and understanding the truth behind it, it really realigns what you need to do and what you need
05:20to prioritize.
05:21And we're absolutely doing that at TrueCar in the turnaround.
05:23I talk about first principles all the time.
05:25People do not fundamentally understand it.
05:28You need to spend a little time really digging in to what does it mean to be a first principles
05:32thinker?
05:32And what you're looking for is the essence of a thing and why it works, and then you focus on
05:36solving those problems first.
05:37And that is a radical shift in how traditional business thinkers have to prioritize.
05:42I mean, Elon Musk changed the way the world operates in terms of cars with Tesla.
05:50And with SpaceX, it looks like he's changing the way we think about the future of business as well.
05:55How do you think he would judge his dalliance in politics?
06:00You know, his collaboration with President Trump, his work at Doge.
06:05Does he see that as a success?
06:08Well, I think that he is authentic and he believes in the things that he believes.
06:15And that first principle is thinking he's applying to a bigger stage.
06:18And his venture into that was, you know, for those of us who know him, it was an extension of
06:24Elon.
06:24I think that most people would say that that came with a cost, but he's also got the ability to
06:30endure any kind of criticism if he believes in a thing.
06:34And this is exactly the point.
06:36I mean, he is not going to be, you know, taken off mission if he believes in that mission and
06:41fundamentally understands it.
06:43I think he still believes in the mission that he engaged in there.
06:45And, I mean, the things he is doing is about really helping humanity to save free speech.
06:51And he believes that this is a very, very critical issue to our long-term success and survival as a
06:56species.
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