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Wikipedia says Gwynne Shotwell joined after the first successful launch. Elon founding it and getting a rocket up must count for something.

How is it despite Elon? I don't know the history too well.

I agree that the team deserves most of the success. I think that's the case in general. At best, a CEO puts down good framing/structure, that's it. ICs do the actual innovative work.

Napoleon didn't fight much at all in battles, too.

I used to think engineers should get all the credit for the successes of big engineering projects, and they should probably get more credit than they do, but over time I’ve realized how important good leadership is. SpaceX and Tesla absolutely would not be where they are today without Elon. Anyone who claims otherwise either hasn’t paid attention or is being disingenuous because they don’t like him.

Saying despite Elon is delusional. You probably watched some left wing propaganda at some point to come to that conclusion. Just because he supported Trump doesn’t take away from all his achievements.