I worked with Elon Musk and Travis Kalanick in my 20s. Here's what I learned from them about building a company.
THE SO WHAT
Treat the ‘tour of duty at big names’ path as applied apprenticeship, not résumé decoration—this founder used Tesla, Apple, CloudKitchens, and Rivian to build a specific POV on AI-native manufacturing before going out on their own. If you’re still inside a large org, be explicit this week about which capabilities, contacts, and scars you’re actually accumulating toward your eventual build, not just the brand logos.
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