I started one of the largest Tesla clubs in the US. Here’s why I believe in Elon Musk and his vision.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with John Stringer, a Bay Area resident who started Tesla Owners of Silicon Valley. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I was first exposed to Tesla back in 2018.

Traffic in the Bay Area is horrendous. At the time, I was driving about two hours a day in my Toyota Scion from San Jose to San Mateo, and it was just painful. You’re working at a stressful job, but you’re already wound up by the time you get in the car because you have to deal with idiotic drivers.

My goal was to get an electric vehicle because it would give me access to the carpool lane and the EV tax credit.

That’s when my wife told me about Tesla.

I started to look into the company, and my friend allowed me to drive his Model 3. After experiencing Autopilot, I just knew: This is the future.

A Tesla would drive for me 90% of my commute so that I could relax and enjoy the journey. And to see how the app was integrated into the car and how the vehicle communicated with my phone and vice versa, I saw how Tesla was a software-first company.

In 2018, there was no car even close to the integration of the software that Tesla had. And then to have the side mirrors collapse as you walk away from the car — it just kind of felt James Bond-ish. It was a no-brainer. It was like it would be dumb for me not to make the move.

My first Tesla was a metallic silver Model 3, long range.

Tesla Owners of Silicon Valley is born

After I bought the car, I got on Twitter in July of 2018 to connect with other owners.

One of the most powerful things about Twitter, now X, is that stuff breaks there, and it’s kind of like the world’s discourse. I started to see all these insane articles about Tesla, and I thought, “I drive the car. That’s not true.”

You see all this insane amount of hate, so you’re like, “Okay, how do you not jump on board and really just help tell the story of what this company is?”

In October 2018, I started the Silicon Valley chapter of the Tesla Owners program — a community of Tesla owners that’s officially partnered with the company.

One requirement for Tesla to officially recognize your club is to get 25 VINs. So, I literally went to my neighbors and friends to start the club.

The mission is obviously aligned with Tesla’s, just building awareness of sustainability. But also community building.

Today, we have about 6,000 members. We have also partnered with some of the other clubs in Northern California, for an overall umbrella of 10,000 in the region.

We’re the largest Tesla club in North America, but we also have the largest digital presence of any Tesla group. Our social media channels have two and a half million followers. We’ve also conducted three interviews with Elon Musk for a total of six and a half hours—not that anyone’s counting.

In a lot of ways, we’ve become the global voice of the Tesla community.

A lot of our members are environmentally-friendly people, tech enthusiasts, and early adopters who want to drive the best tech. Some of our original members were Model S and X owners, who paved the way for Model 3 owners. And then we have a plethora of members who are on the younger side who came in with the more affordable Model 3.

A lot of our members are also Democrats. You will have some people who are not as involved and are not fans of the things Elon Musk is doing in politics. It’s been insane to see the left attack their own base. To say that our group is a MAGA group would be ridiculous.

Around 2019, I also started to invest in Tesla for all the reasons I first bought the car, and for the safety aspect that I discovered later. The fact that my car is recording 24/7 saved me from a hit and run a year after I bought my car.

To believe in Tesla is to believe in Elon

For me, to believe in Tesla is to also be excited about what Elon Musk is doing for the company and what he brings to the table. If I’m an investor in Tesla and I’m not a fan of Elon Musk, I’m probably going to get out. Why would you put your money into the guy who’s driving the ship?

So, for me, where Tesla’s headed and what Elon’s doing are pretty tied together. When you get someone like Elon, there’s a whole ecosystem that comes with it — a network of people who will come and work for his company and an opportunity to work with the brightest person, entrepreneur, and engineer of our lifetime.

It’s super exciting to think about where the company is today and where it’s going — the humanoid robots, the robotaxis.

Elon also made these great products by receiving feedback from the Tesla community. We’re not an echo chamber. Why would we be sitting here shilling the biggest, richest man in the world? He’s not paying us.

Has he been way too optimistic about when Full Self-Driving is going to be here? 100%. But I was the first public beta tester for FSD, so I knew it was going to be a growing process.

Elon’s a visionary. The dude sees 10 years into the future, and he thinks things could be done in a week. He’s probably oversimplifying problems. But I’ve been in the same room with him for four hours in Austin and have done two virtual interviews with him. I’ve literally seen this guy do math and solve problems in his brain in real time.

But I also don’t need to prove anything about Elon to anybody. Just look at the results. He created a trillion-dollar company.

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