Interesting that while we tend to beat on the standards drum in HN, Tesla might get a pass ...
Have you seen Tesla's charging connector? It's way superior to the bulky standardized connectors. And as said by others, there really is no other game in town right now for long distance travel in an EV.
Disclosure: I own a Tesla Model S.
Assuming that a charger network was necessary for success, which I would argue it was, waiting for the others to catch up could have killed the company.
Note that there have still been no large-scale deployments of charging standards with more than 50-60kW of power, which is half what Tesla is currently deploying to most of its charging stations in North America.