Hollywood disagrees.
https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F...
I'd agree with you if Tesla had done anything meaningful prior to Elon's involvement. Using your analogy, Tesla wasn't even a little backwater restaurant that got investment—it was just a couple of guys who thought it would be neat to make hamburgers.
If you exclude the six months spent looking for capital, Musk was there from the very beginning. Before Musk, Telsa was just a couple of guys looking for capital. Musk WAS the capital. He was Tesla's very first investor and has always been Tesla's dominant shareholder.
Did the incorporated entity do anything consequential in those six months—other than searching for Elon Musk?
Umm, LastPass? LogMeIn owns LastPass.
It's astonishing that this wasn't mentioned in the Slashdot summary.
You may call me by my name, Wirth, or by my value, Worth. - Nicklaus Wirth