# Jon McNeill

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/people/jon-mcneill/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

Real Alpha has cut 15 moments of Jon McNeill (Co-founder, partner & CEO, DVx Ventures) talking, from 2 interviews on The Knowledge Project and In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen, the latest published Nov 10, 2026.

- Role: Co-founder, partner & CEO, DVx Ventures
- About: Founded and scaled six companies, then grew Tesla revenue from $2B to $20B as president.
- On X: https://x.com/jonmcneill

## What Jon McNeill said

### Hiring & teams · 3

- [McNeill left Tesla when the job became unhealthy](https://realalpha.app/s/mcneill-left-tesla-when-the-job-became-unhealthy/)
  The Knowledge Project · Nov 10, 2026 · 3 min
  > “i was becoming more and more stressed out because i wasn't able to help my friend” — Jon McNeill · [1:07:42](https://realalpha.app/v/pRXMqm5bMFk/?t=4062)
- [Tesla made concise messages and fast bad news part of its culture](https://realalpha.app/s/tesla-made-concise-messages-and-fast-bad-news-part-of-its/)
  The Knowledge Project · Nov 10, 2026 · 3 min
  > “do you think we could try to run the organization on three-sentence emails? First sentence is, here's my problem.” — Jon McNeill · [10:29](https://realalpha.app/v/pRXMqm5bMFk/?t=629)
- [Curiosity and financial levers guide McNeill's management calls](https://realalpha.app/s/curiosity-and-financial-levers-guide-mcneills-management/)
  In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Sep 16, 2026 · 3 min
  > “curiosity, bias to action, and intelligence, it's a pretty good bet that they were really going to thrive at a place like SpaceX or Tesla.” — Jon McNeill · [28:34](https://realalpha.app/v/hovdgJI5NMc/?t=1714)

### Growth · 2

- [Tesla recovered sales by calling test-drive leads](https://realalpha.app/s/tesla-recovered-sales-by-calling-test-drive-leads/)
  The Knowledge Project · Nov 10, 2026 · 4 min
  > “the hardest thing in sales is asking for the sale.” — Jon McNeill · [6:29](https://realalpha.app/v/pRXMqm5bMFk/?t=389)
- [Tesla cut online car orders from 300,000 configurations to two](https://realalpha.app/s/tesla-cut-online-car-orders-from-300-000-configurations-to/)
  In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Sep 16, 2026 · 5 min
  > “we had over 300,000 different combinations that we were trying to build as a first-stage manufacturer.” — Jon McNeill · [2:47](https://realalpha.app/v/hovdgJI5NMc/?t=167)

### AI startups · 2

- [The five-step algorithm simplifies before it automates](https://realalpha.app/s/the-five-step-algorithm-simplifies-before-it-automates/)
  The Knowledge Project · Nov 10, 2026 · 4 min
  McNeill lays out a process for removing unnecessary requirements, simplifying and testing a workflow, then automating it. The sequence helps expose problems before they become embedded in software or systems.
- [DVx tests five conditions before launching a company](https://realalpha.app/s/dvx-tests-five-conditions-before-launching-a-company/)
  The Knowledge Project · Nov 10, 2026 · 4 min
  > “there's a gross margin that is north of 50 percent in the business” — Jon McNeill · [1:37:42](https://realalpha.app/v/pRXMqm5bMFk/?t=5862)

### Enterprise AI · 2

- [Speed reveals broken processes before it improves them](https://realalpha.app/s/speed-reveals-broken-processes-before-it-improves-them/)
  In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Sep 16, 2026 · 6 min
  > “if you speed up a bad process, you're just getting to the bad answer faster.” — Jon McNeill · [10:41](https://realalpha.app/v/hovdgJI5NMc/?t=641)
- [Tesla nearly went bankrupt by automating too early](https://realalpha.app/s/tesla-nearly-went-bankrupt-by-automating-too-early/)
  In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Sep 16, 2026 · 4 min
  > “We literally built a tent in the factory outside and produced cars by hand, first 100 a week, then 500 a week” — Jon McNeill · [17:32](https://realalpha.app/v/hovdgJI5NMc/?t=1052)

### More · 6

- [Tesla started product meetings with the customer](https://realalpha.app/s/tesla-started-product-meetings-with-the-customer/)
  The Knowledge Project · Nov 10, 2026 · 7 min
  > “if you're going to talk about product, talk first about what the customer wants, because that grounds the whole discussion.” — Jon McNeill · [31:03](https://realalpha.app/v/pRXMqm5bMFk/?t=1863)
- [Casting helped Tesla remove half the factory](https://realalpha.app/s/casting-helped-tesla-remove-half-the-factory/)
  The Knowledge Project · Nov 10, 2026 · 5 min
  > “So the reason that Tesla can build these factories so rapidly is because Doug and his team figured out how to eliminate half the factory.” — Jon McNeill · [51:33](https://realalpha.app/v/pRXMqm5bMFk/?t=3093)
- [DVx weighted ETFs by each industry's bill of materials](https://realalpha.app/s/dvx-weighted-etfs-by-each-industrys-bill-of-materials/)
  The Knowledge Project · Nov 10, 2026 · 5 min
  > “there are 60 stocks that provide all the stuff that go into an AI data center, 30 international, 30 domestic.” — Jon McNeill · [1:03:20](https://realalpha.app/v/pRXMqm5bMFk/?t=3800)
- [Tesla targeted 30% gross margins against a 10% industry norm](https://realalpha.app/s/tesla-targeted-30-gross-margins-against-a-10-industry-norm/)
  In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Sep 16, 2026 · 2 min
  > “We set a goal for ourselves of gross margins equal to Apple.” — Jon McNeill · [9:49](https://realalpha.app/v/hovdgJI5NMc/?t=589)
- [Mapping the work reveals steps customers do not pay for](https://realalpha.app/s/mapping-the-work-reveals-steps-customers-do-not-pay-for/)
  In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Sep 16, 2026 · 2 min
  > “if it's not of high quality you can pass it back and we're measuring the passbacks” — Jon McNeill · [7:17](https://realalpha.app/v/hovdgJI5NMc/?t=437)
- [Ambitious targets force teams to rethink the operating system](https://realalpha.app/s/ambitious-targets-force-teams-to-rethink-the-operating/)
  In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Sep 16, 2026 · 4 min
  > “When you set a goal of 50% to 100% growth, people have to rethink entirely how they're doing that.” — Jon McNeill · [22:46](https://realalpha.app/v/hovdgJI5NMc/?t=1366)

## The 2 episodes

- [The Impossible Speed of Elon Musk - Ex-Tesla President](https://realalpha.app/v/pRXMqm5bMFk/) · The Knowledge Project · Nov 10, 2026
- [Jon McNeill: The Algorithm Behind Tesla and SpaceX | Podcast | In Good Company](https://realalpha.app/v/hovdgJI5NMc/) · In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · Sep 16, 2026