Funding Secured
We all know the scene by now.
Belfort crawls down the stairs of his Westchester country club.
Throws open the doors to his white Ferrari with all the strength he can physically muster while limping and drooling like Craig Shilo after an accidental rabies injection.
DiCaprio’s character miraculously arrives home and sees his dear friend on the phone.
Chaos ensues. He grabs the phone out of Donnie’s hands, choking his buddy in the process. Somehow, the two survive the night. But at what cost?
Now just swap out Leo for Tesla’s board of directors, Jonah Hill for Elon Musk, and the Belfort house landline for Musk’s iPhone permanently stuck on Twitter.
Oh, and swap the quaaludes for Ambien. Or acid. Or weed. Depending on who you ask.
And you’re now watching the opening scene of Scorsese’s next Oscar winner for Best Picture. Or just the last two weeks for Tesla’s board and shareholders.
Since I last wrote about Elon Musk, a lot has transpired. Most of which I did not see coming. The erratic CEO has called one hero a pedophile and began a romantic relationship with a Canadian singer that I actually had to Google before this.
However, since publishing my piece (get ready for the shameless plug) The Most Risky Man in the World in July 2016, Tesla’s stock price is up 76%.
Or at least it was before today.
The company produced the 5,000 cars in a week they said they’d reach and Musk achieved what many said would be impossible with SpaceX.
But this scene from The Wolf of Wall Street, which had us all collectively laughing on the floor, is the perfect microcosm for the fight between company and CEO. Tesla and Elon Musk. Public opinion and attempted privatization.
And the fine line between laughter and blatant insensitivity.
Belfort clearly had a drug problem, but most of us in the audience were too busy with our Buncha Crunch to really care about his well being.
For Musk, it might be the same. Just with a bottle of wine instead of popcorn.
Late on August 24th, that fight between company and CEO concluded. Elon conceded to his board and the company will now remain a public entity.
But, before that tornado came to its end, the general public marveled at the storyline. What the hell was Elon doing? Was he on drugs? Is this all legal?
And, like the fight between Jordan and Donnie, at what cost was this tweet sent?

We may not know the answer to that question for some time.
What we do know is that the SEC has opened an investigation into Musk after he pressed send on August 7th. And, just a few hours ago, two of Tesla’s most prominent executives have resigned.
If the tweet wasn’t enough to send the entire company into a spiral, Elon’s recently released interview with Joe Rogan in which he carelessly smokes a blunt on screen might have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Or, otherwise put, the qualuude that broke the Wolf of Wall Street’s career.
Before the crucifying headlines, countless resignations, and scary government investigations, Elon Musk made a conscious decision to communicate with his fans in ways previously unheard of for a billionaire executive in any industry.

His use of social media (Twitter in particular) has changed the way people look at investor relations and corporate communications in America.
While there is endless debate taking place over his sanity and competence, what is not debatable is the impact Elon has had on modern business since (incoming: shameless plug #2) The Most Risky Man in the World was written.
As of July 2018, Tesla accounted for just 1.44% of the US car industry.
And, yet, Tesla, for a period of time, had a market cap bigger than GM and Ford. Two companies that account for nearly a third of the industry and spent a combined $5.7 billion in advertising last year (GM: $3.2B, Ford: $2.5B).

Tesla, on the other hand, spent zero. Nothing. Zip. Nada.
Instead, Musk used his persona to do interviews with the biggest names in media, podcasts with the biggest podcasters in the world, and two YouTube videos with the biggest vlogger in Silicon Valley totaling 8 million views.
All in the month since sending his now-infamous tweet.
This strategy comes from Musk’s belief that attention in today’s business environment is far more important than sales, products, and, yes, profits.
To investors. To consumers. To everyone.
Just ask Snap when they conducted a $33 billion IPO with zero in revenue. Or the $234 billion market cap MoviePass’s parent company reached despite no legitimate business model.
As Elon put it to MKBHD, it’s all about selling something bigger to the market.
“The way to sell product is through word of mouth. If you like something, you’re not going to care that much. But if you love something, you’re going to talk about it.”
That is true for Tesla just as it was for Snapchat and MoviePass in the past year.
Now, Musk must face that statement head on. Sure, many swanned over Tesla and its Master Plan to take over Detroit and the rest of human civilization.
But, now that Elon’s public sentiment mirrors that of a Silicon Valley version of Jordan Belfort, how will he maintain the brand loyalty and word of mouth that allowed him and his companies to soar? Get it? SpaceX? Never mind.
Will he stumble his way into a Steve Madden IPO?
Or will he become another cautionary tale turned motivational speaker?
Either way, Scorsese will have no trouble getting his “funding secured” for this biopic. And I’m sure we’ll all laugh when he takes a puff of the blunt. Or when Grimes and Azealia Banks come into his Tony Stark office tripping on acid.
It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye. Or their company.

Just ask Belfort.
