The Human Cost of Ultra Hardcore

Land of the Giants

Vox Media Podcast Network

Technology, Society & Culture, Business

4.6 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 16 August 2023

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“Please prepare yourself for a level of intensity that is greater than anything most of you have ever experienced before,” Elon Musk once wrote in an email to employees at Tesla. The subject line, “ultra hardcore,” also operates as an edict - go hard or go anywhere else. But this “ultra hardcore” philosophy has led to injuries, scandals and lawsuits. Are the costs of “ultra hardcore” worth it? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for this show comes from the podcast This is Small Business Next Generation.
0:05.8	In this new docu-series from Amazon, follow four teams of aspiring entrepreneurs as they
0:10.5	compete in the Rice University Business Plan competition, pitching their best business
0:15.0	ideas to top VCs and investors for a chance to win up to $3 million for their startups.
0:20.8	Co-hosts, Andrea Marquez, and Mitch Gilbert are your guides.
0:24.2	Who will have what it takes to succeed?
0:26.4	This is Small Business Next Generation is out now.
0:29.3	So listen on your favourite podcast app and subscribe to keep up to date.
0:59.3	I'm going to let you in on a little secret.
1:14.9	You want to know what it takes to build a startup car company that doesn't get sent to the
1:18.9	landfill of history, you've got to be hardcore.
1:37.6	If you pay enough attention to Elon Musk on earnings calls or big Tesla events or even
1:42.2	his Twitter account, it's a phrase he uses a lot.
1:47.2	This includes extremely hardcore, super hardcore, 70s week, and God help you if it comes
1:54.7	to this, ultra hardcore, Tesla is insane.
1:59.9	He's describing hardcore as quote, long hours at high intensity, only exceptional performance
2:05.2	will constitute a passing grade.
2:07.9	It is absurd at Tesla's life, absurd, absurd.
2:12.5	So what do you, oh, what do you credit that to?
2:15.3	Arrotiating effort, 100 hour weeks by everyone, by everyone here at Tesla.
2:21.7	This is Musk talking to tech journalist Cara Swisher a few years ago.
2:25.2	There wasn't some other way to do this car.
	...

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