Quotes: Jon McNeill - The Algorithm: The Hypergrowth Formula That Transformed Tesla, Lululemon, General Motors, and SpaceX, 2026

• ‘He needed someone who knew how to disrupt because they've done it before. Someone who knew how to allocate capital. Someone who has been on the brink of running out of cash. Those people, he said, have judgment, are decisive, and move fast.’ Pg xi

• ‘The root of this problem, it seemed, had to do with incentives. Tesla's salespeople were rewarded for leads, bringing customers in for those magical test-drives. But they got no commission on sales, so there was little impetus to follow up.‘ Pg xiv

• ‘But as Tesla grew, the whole team began to define an entire operating system that emphasized speed and simplicity. The objective: exponential growth. Elon called this formula "the Algorithm."’ Pg xvi

• ‘These issues made my life a lot less pleasant, and the amazing highs of working with Elon-there were many-gave way to lows. One night my wife told me that the job was changing my personality and that I was coming home angry. So, in 2018, I left.’ Page xvii

• ‘The Algorithm was designed to supercharge speed, efficiency, innovation, and growth.’ Pg xviii

• ‘In Part I of the book, we tackle each of the five steps of the Algorithm:

  • Question every requirement.

  • Delete every possible step in a process.

  • Simplify and optimize.

  • Accelerate cycle time.

  • Automate last.’ Page xx

• ‘When you have a large organization, things that started out as good ideas can become rules, and then those rules can become requirements. So when constrained by rules, we investigate. With a bit of digging, we'd find that what appeared at first to be requirements often turned out to be recommendations, customs, or conventions.‘ Pg 4

• ‘A corporate culture expands its possibilities if it looks at every "no" as a potential "yes." This can lead to all kinds of breakthroughs, both big and small.' Pg 5

• ‘The Chinese demanded equity participation in foreign-owned plants' Pg 3

• ...'It was a rule that gave the Chinese government more control. Importantly, it also gave the government rights to the revenue derived from its ownership.' Pg 5

  This was an incredible team. They knew the language and the culture, they had critical relationships, and they laid out for me the Chinese government's priorities. The government wanted job growth above all. We could promise lots of jobs... The government's recently unveiled five-year plan seemed custom-made for Tesla. It called for development in our core specialties: electric vehicles, batteries, and clean energy. We headed into negotiations with a powerful hand.’ Pg 5

• ...‘The process took fourteen months, but we finally won the go-ahead for the first 100 percent foreign-owned auto plant in China. (We retained all of the financial ownership, although the Chinese people, as stipulated by the 1949 Communist Revolution, retained formal ownership of the land the plant would be built on.). We achieved what no other Western company was able to do - not Apple, not GM, not Ford, not Procter and Gamble.' Pg 6

• "Well, you can't fight gravity." 'But the right machines could fight gravity. Many of the biggest breakthroughs come from questioning and probing rules that appear ironclad, and quite a few of them are disguised as physical or chemical limitations.' Pg 7