#101 Tesla War Stories, Self-Driving at Waymo, and Building the Salesforce of BOM (Spencer Penn of LightSource)
Tue Feb 03 2026
Topics:
(00:00:00) - Intro
(00:03:43) - Heroes and inspirations
(00:07:14) - The rise of Chinese electric vehicles
(00:12:13) - The Tesla experience
(00:31:04) - Tesla's rapid development and industry impact
(00:32:54) - The culture of speed and frugality at Tesla
(00:34:10) - Elon's leadership and pressure tactics
(00:37:22) - Transitioning from Tesla to Waymo
(00:39:43) - Waymo's organizational structure and challenges
(00:43:35) - The future of autonomous vehicles
(00:54:34) - Founding Light Source and addressing procurement issues
(01:00:23) - Conclusion and final thoughts
Links:
LightSource - https://lightsource.ai/
Spencer on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/spenpenn/
Preorder the Book of Elon - https://a.co/d/02huhEee
To support the costs of producing this podcast:
>> Buy a copy of the Navalmanack: www.navalmanack.com/
>> Buy a copy of The Anthology of Balaji: https://balajianthology.com/
>> Sign up for my online course and community about building your Personal Leverage: https://www.ejorgenson.com/leverage
>> Invest in early-stage companies alongside Eric and his partners at Rolling Fun: https://angel.co/v/back/rolling-fun
>> Join the free weekly email list at ejorgenson.com/newsletter
>> Text the podcast to a friend
>> Or at least give the podcast a positive review to help us reach new listeners!
Quotes from Spencer:
“It was the most fun I never want to have again.” (Describing his time at Tesla during the Model 3 production ramp)
“The Model 3 seat feel is attuned directly to Elon’s butt.”
“I’m not an Elon fanboy, but I’m also not a critic. I’m an optimist.”
“Speed wins. After seeing both Tesla and Waymo, that’s my belief.”
“We were the underdog. Eventually, it does end up feeling like you’re on the winning team.”
“You couldn’t go into a meeting with Elon and show up empty-handed.”
“This opportunity we’re pursuing at LightSource should have disappeared 20 years ago.”
“ERP is the finance system of record. What’s Salesforce in reverse? That’s LightSource.”
“The thing that surprised me: every company still runs procurement on spreadsheets and email.”
“Tesla built their own ERP system from scratch. That’s not normal.”
“There are things that are just core to the P&L of every business… and yet completely orphaned in the tech stack.”
More
Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:03:43) - Heroes and inspirations (00:07:14) - The rise of Chinese electric vehicles (00:12:13) - The Tesla experience (00:31:04) - Tesla's rapid development and industry impact (00:32:54) - The culture of speed and frugality at Tesla (00:34:10) - Elon's leadership and pressure tactics (00:37:22) - Transitioning from Tesla to Waymo (00:39:43) - Waymo's organizational structure and challenges (00:43:35) - The future of autonomous vehicles (00:54:34) - Founding Light Source and addressing procurement issues (01:00:23) - Conclusion and final thoughts Links: LightSource - https://lightsource.ai/ Spencer on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/spenpenn/ Preorder the Book of Elon - https://a.co/d/02huhEee To support the costs of producing this podcast: >> Buy a copy of the Navalmanack: www.navalmanack.com/ >> Buy a copy of The Anthology of Balaji: https://balajianthology.com/ >> Sign up for my online course and community about building your Personal Leverage: https://www.ejorgenson.com/leverage >> Invest in early-stage companies alongside Eric and his partners at Rolling Fun: https://angel.co/v/back/rolling-fun >> Join the free weekly email list at ejorgenson.com/newsletter >> Text the podcast to a friend >> Or at least give the podcast a positive review to help us reach new listeners! Quotes from Spencer: “It was the most fun I never want to have again.” (Describing his time at Tesla during the Model 3 production ramp) “The Model 3 seat feel is attuned directly to Elon’s butt.” “I’m not an Elon fanboy, but I’m also not a critic. I’m an optimist.” “Speed wins. After seeing both Tesla and Waymo, that’s my belief.” “We were the underdog. Eventually, it does end up feeling like you’re on the winning team.” “You couldn’t go into a meeting with Elon and show up empty-handed.” “This opportunity we’re pursuing at LightSource should have disappeared 20 years ago.” “ERP is the finance system of record. What’s Salesforce in reverse? That’s LightSource.” “The thing that surprised me: every company still runs procurement on spreadsheets and email.” “Tesla built their own ERP system from scratch. That’s not normal.” “There are things that are just core to the P&L of every business… and yet completely orphaned in the tech stack.”