Tesla began with Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, but five people ultimately gained the legal right to call themselves co-founders — and the best known of them joined after the company was incorporated.
Tesla shows how, over time, control of a company can become control over how its founding is remembered. The people who incorporated the company and the person who financed and led it tell materially different stories about who 'founded' it — and a confidential legal settlement, not the historical record, produced the tidy answer of 'five co-founders.'
Before Tesla, Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning co-founded NuvoMedia, maker of the Rocket eBook, which they sold to Gemstar in 2000. The venture established their partnership and capital base.1
Eberhard and Tarpenning incorporate Tesla Motors, Inc., named for inventor Nikola Tesla, with early offices in San Carlos, California. This is the date most commonly cited as the company's founding.2
Before Tesla, Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning co-founded NuvoMedia, maker of the Rocket eBook, which they sold to Gemstar in 2000. The venture established their partnership and capital base.
Eberhard and Tarpenning, convinced there was demand for a desirable electric car, drew inspiration from AC Propulsion's tzero prototype and began developing the concept that became Tesla. First work on the idea predates incorporation.
Ian Wright joins Tesla shortly after incorporation, often described as its third employee. He leaves in 2004 to start Wrightspeed. He is later named among the five allowable co-founders in the 2009 settlement.
Eberhard and Tarpenning incorporate Tesla Motors, Inc., named for inventor Nikola Tesla, with early offices in San Carlos, California. This is the date most commonly cited as the company's founding.
Tesla Motors, Inc. was incorporated on July 1, 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. Elon Musk joined in February 2004 by leading the Series A round and became chairman of the board.
Two people founded Tesla in 2003; those who joined later — including Musk — were investors and employees, not founders in the originating sense.
2 supporting itemsMusk considers himself a co-founder, emphasizing that his early-stage capital, product decisions, and later leadership were constitutive of the company that actually shipped cars.
2 supporting itemsJB Straubel joins Tesla in 2004 and becomes its long-serving Chief Technology Officer, central to battery and powertrain engineering. He is later named among the five allowable co-founders.
Tesla raises roughly $40M in a Series C round led by VantagePoint Capital Partners, with participation from DFJ, Valor, JPMorgan, and angels including Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
Tesla unveils the Roadster prototype at an invitation-only event in Santa Monica, California, generating major press for a Silicon Valley startup building a fast, desirable electric car.
Elon Musk publishes a blog post laying out a four-step strategy: build a sports car, use that money to build an affordable car, then an even more affordable car, and provide solar power along the way. The post becomes central to Tesla's public identity and to Musk's association with the company's vision.
Eberhard was removed as CEO in 2007 and left the company by the end of that year. The Roadster program was over budget and behind schedule at the time.
Eberhard says he was pushed out and mistreated, and that Musk subsequently sought to diminish his role in the company's story.
2 supporting itemsMusk and the board attribute the change to cost overruns, delays, and management performance on the Roadster, framing it as a necessary business decision.
2 supporting itemsEberhard was removed as CEO in 2007 and left the company by the end of that year. The Roadster program was over budget and behind schedule at the time.
Eberhard says he was pushed out and mistreated, and that Musk subsequently sought to diminish his role in the company's story.
2 supporting itemsMusk and the board attribute the change to cost overruns, delays, and management performance on the Roadster, framing it as a necessary business decision.
2 supporting itemsAmid the 2008 financial crisis and a near-fatal cash shortage, Musk becomes CEO (succeeding Ze'ev Drori) and consolidates control of the company he had chaired and financed.
“Musk asserts he is a co-founder of Tesla and central to its creation, arguing that the company as it exists — including the Roadster and Model S — would not have happened without his capital and product direction.”
Eberhard maintains that he and Tarpenning founded the company in 2003 and that Musk was an investor and chairman who joined about seven months later, and objects to Musk being portrayed as an originator of the company.
“Eberhard asserts he was pushed out of the company he founded and then written out of its story, characterizing Musk's conduct as a campaign to take credit.”
Musk and Tesla attribute Eberhard's removal to the Roadster's cost overruns and delays and to management performance, and dispute that Eberhard's account is accurate.
Daimler AG acquires roughly a 10% stake (about $50M), a crucial vote of confidence that helped Tesla survive to its IPO.
Tesla Motors, Inc. was incorporated on July 1, 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. Elon Musk joined in February 2004 by leading the Series A round and became chairman of the board.
Two people founded Tesla in 2003; those who joined later — including Musk — were investors and employees, not founders in the originating sense.
2 supporting itemsMusk considers himself a co-founder, emphasizing that his early-stage capital, product decisions, and later leadership were constitutive of the company that actually shipped cars.
2 supporting itemsTesla Motors, Inc. was incorporated on July 1, 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. Elon Musk joined in February 2004 by leading the Series A round and became chairman of the board.
Two people founded Tesla in 2003; those who joined later — including Musk — were investors and employees, not founders in the originating sense.
2 supporting itemsMusk considers himself a co-founder, emphasizing that his early-stage capital, product decisions, and later leadership were constitutive of the company that actually shipped cars.
2 supporting itemsTesla lists on NASDAQ at $17 per share, selling 13.3 million shares to raise about $226 million — the first IPO by an American automaker since Ford in 1956. Shares closed up roughly 40% on the first day.
In later interviews, Eberhard describes being ousted, the personal toll, and his continued disagreement with how Tesla's founding is popularly told — an example of the founding story being re-litigated years afterward.
In 2023 interviews Eberhard reflected on being ousted, the two years he says he was 'basically unemployable' afterward, and his disagreement with how the founding is popularly narrated. (Placeholder summary; direct quotes to be attached.)
“Five people — Eberhard, Tarpenning, Wright, Musk, and Straubel — permitted to call themselves co-founders.”
Archived capture, September 2009The company the two engineers incorporated in 2003 became globally identified with Elon Musk. Of the five recognized co-founders, Straubel stayed longest (to 2019, later returning to the board); Eberhard became estranged and litigious; Tarpenning and Wright departed early.
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This record currently includes 13 sources and firsthand accounts from 2 of 11 early participants. Last reviewed 12 August 2026.