A former Tesla employee has shared his experience of working with Elon Musk at the world’s largest electric vehicle company. Saiman Shetty, who joined Tesla at a time when it was still named Tesla Motors, described Musk as a no-nonsense boss who still managed to make his employees feel valued.
In an Instagram post shared last month, the Indian-origin techie shared further details of his time at Tesla, including his experience of working for the world’s richest man. Saiman Shetty joined Tesla Motors in January 2016, a year before the company rebranded itself to Tesla to reflect its growing business interests.
“I joined Tesla when it was Tesla Motors and there were only a few people. Which meant we got the hands-on experience and front seat tickets to how Elon Musk turned his company into what it is today,” Shetty wrote on Instagram. Here is what made Musk a one-of-a-kind entrepreneur, according to Shetty, who quit Tesla in 2018. He is today the founder of Smart Green Card.
On Instagram, he shared a video captioned “You wake up and there’s an email from Elon Musk,” as he documented his experience of working for the world’s richest man.
No bulls**t attitude
{{/usCountry}}On Instagram, he shared a video captioned “You wake up and there’s an email from Elon Musk,” as he documented his experience of working for the world’s richest man.
No bulls**t attitude
{{/usCountry}}The Indian-origin entrepreneur described Elon Musk as a boss with a ‘no bulls**t attitude’ but called it necessary for someone running a company the size of Tesla.
“Most of the time, and especially when you’re the boss, you need to cut through the nonsense and talk openly. It reduces any chances of miscommunication, secrets and disrespect,” Shetty explained. He revealed that Elon Musk’s emails were usually direct and to-the-point.
“He knew his time and his employees’s time was precious and he did not want to waste any of it with unnecessary distractions,” the techie said.
Supported employees
Shetty said that Elon Musk ensured that his employees felt valued and appreciated. This might go against his image of a tough boss, but Musk made his employees feel worthwhile, the techie claimed.
“During my time at Tesla, Elon did not make any one employee feel unappreciated. I still remember his mails used to come at odd hours in the night just expressing how thankful he was for the team and how he’s proud of each and every one of us,” he revealed.
A visionary
Finally, he used a word that has been used plenty of times to describe Musk by calling him a “visionary.” Shetty said that the one thing he remembered clearly about Musk was his ambition - the Tesla boss was always striving to do better.
“The guy worked nonstop and always strived for more. It’s this passion and ambition for the work they are doing which makes you a visionary. And Elon was definitely a visionary,” he wrote on Instagram, adding that Musk always held the cause of sustainability close to his heart.
You can watch the video below:
In recent years, Elon Musk has become a more divisive figure, with some suggesting that he is no longer the visionary who wanted to put people on Mars but has instead become a MAGA mouthpiece who supports Donald Trump’s policies.
Musk’s takeover of Twitter, subsequent layoffs, major design changes and the rebranding of the social media platform into X also lost him fans.
The comments section of Shetty’s post reflected this change in attitude towards Musk.