"STRATEGY More: Longform Tesla Elon Musk Martin Eberhard The Making Of Tesla: Invention, Betrayal, And The Birth Of The Roadster DRAKE BAER NOV. 11, 2014, 5:06 PM 6,232 FACEBOOK LINKEDIN TWITTER GOOGLE+ PRINT EMAIL Mike Nudelman/Business Insider Tesla Motors probably shouldn't exist. The last successful American car startup was founded 111 years ago. It's called Ford. Barely a decade old, Tesla is already gigantic and adored. Its market capitalization hovers around $28 billion. Morgan Stanley calls it "the world's most important car company," and a 2014 nationwide survey found that Tesla's Model S was the "Most Loved Vehicle in America." So how has Tesla flourished where others have flopped? Today, everybody thinks Tesla was created by its charismatic CEO, Elon Musk, a PayPal cofounder who is the face of the company. The truth is way crazier than that. Tesla was the brainchild of a tiny band of obsessive Silicon Valley engineers who would go on to collaborate with — and collide with — the young billionaire. This is the tale of that collision." - Todd Hoff