Martin Eberhard calls Tesla his 'baby', talks about being ousted from company's board

What if someone else gets credit for your company? Ask Tesla co-founder Martin Eberhard.

Martin Eberhard, who founded Tesla in the early 2000s before he was ousted from the board, is still steadfast on the efficacy of electric vehicles.

“I didn’t start as an electric car enthusiast but as a non-fossil fuel enthusiast,” he said during his recent visit to Delhi. “But electric cars work a lot better than the other ones in terms of the energy consumed to move a vehicle per mile.”


Candid about his fallout with primary investor Elon Musk — “I’m not a huge fan [of Musk]” — he said he was nonetheless proud of Tesla’s success. “I watch Tesla succeed and it makes me very happy because it is my baby. No matter who my baby married, I am happy to see her succeed.”

A serial entrepreneur, Eberhard quotes late Saudi oil minister Ahmed Zaki Yamani’s famous comment: “The Stone Age did not come to an end for lack of stones and the oil age will not come to an end for lack of oil.”

Eberhard believes the time is ripe for technology disruption. Eberhard has started a new venture — Tiveni, a startup that’s into developing battery systems. The company plans to drive down the costs, improving the safety and reliability of battery systems. Excerpts from an interview:



Do you think engineers and managers can co-exist as founders?
You know, many of the greatest companies that flourished have been collaborations — Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs and Mr [Charles] Rolls and Mr [Henry] Royce. In my current company, I didn’t want to be a CEO. I would find a guy, a business guy to take the place. But there are some engineers who also like to do management. I prefer to find somebody who enjoys that job. I think it is not just a matter of what you can or can’t do. It is also what you enjoy. I enjoy dreaming.

With hindsight, would you have done things differently? Financial management…
When you look back in life, you can always say you can do something differently. But hindsight is that way. [That’s] The biggest thing that I learnt from my experience at Tesla. So, getting kicked out of Tesla was unexpected for me. It was the brick on the side of the head. I did not see it coming at all. I have learnt to distrust people a bit more. It is a sad thing, but true.

You once said work involves juggling knives? Have you ever missed the handle and felt the sharp edge?
I mean, what we were doing in the early days of Tesla was extremely improbable. There hadn’t been any new car company since the DeLorean built a car, which was a disaster. It was a tough thing to work with a technology that the rest of the world had already said was a failure, and it was impossible to hire people from the car industry. Everybody knew that electric cars were stupid and a bunch of people in California aren’t going to be able to start a new car company. We were beginners, we were learning. So, did we make some mistakes? Of course, we did.

Was the separation from Tesla premature?
Before time? I am always accused of that. Prior to Tesla, I started a company to make electronic books. This was before there was Kindle or the iPad. It was somewhat successful and we sold the company. Everybody said I was a little ahead of my time. Ah, somebody has to be. Do I regret the premature exit? Yes, I am not happy about that but... I mean, it is a small thing. The main thing is the revolution (EVs) has succeeded.