Was Elon Musk really a Tesla co-founder? How he became synonymous with the brand

Elon Musk, the man often hailed as the visionary behind Tesla, was not actually one of its original founders. Yet today, his name is synonymous with the electric car giant, while the real founders, Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, are footnotes in Tesla’s history. So, how did Musk rewrite this narrative and cement himself as a “co-founder” of a company he didn’t start?

It wasn’t just about money or leadership—it was about control over perception. Musk understood that in the high-stakes world of Silicon Valley, being seen as the mastermind…