I don't believe Broder's review was nonsensical, which probably accounts for why I don't subscribe to the idea that this was a smart long-term strategy for Musk, but I understand why reasonable people think that. However, Musk can afford to play long games with PR. Most startups can't.
Regarding reviews in particular: I've done a bunch of them at previous companies, and I think the average first-time founder on HN would be very surprised to learn how subjective and relationship-based they are. I once "won" a bakeoff review for a product I was managing, only to "lose" it later in the week when the reviewer wrote a followup story about improvements in the runner-up. The net effect was negative; it turned us into the de facto runner up.
Most tech product reviews are much more subjective than this Tesla review. You have to have a lot of traction in the market for an important review to revolve around simple "speeds and feeds" issues like how much mileage your vehicle gets. Pissing off reviewers is almost always going to be a losing strategy, even when you're right.
Regarding reviews in particular: I've done a bunch of them at previous companies, and I think the average first-time founder on HN would be very surprised to learn how subjective and relationship-based they are. I once "won" a bakeoff review for a product I was managing, only to "lose" it later in the week when the reviewer wrote a followup story about improvements in the runner-up. The net effect was negative; it turned us into the de facto runner up.
Most tech product reviews are much more subjective than this Tesla review. You have to have a lot of traction in the market for an important review to revolve around simple "speeds and feeds" issues like how much mileage your vehicle gets. Pissing off reviewers is almost always going to be a losing strategy, even when you're right.