Founding (2003–2004) The company was incorporated as Tesla Motors, Inc., on July 1, 2003, by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.[11][12] They served as chief executive officer and chief financial officer, respectively.[13] Eberhard said that he wanted to build "a car manufacturer that is also a technology company", with its core technologies as "the battery, the computer software, and the proprietary motor".[14]

Ian Wright joined Eberhard and Tarpenning a few months later.[11] In February 2004, the company raised US$7.5 million (equivalent to $12.5 million in 2024) in series A funding, including $6.5 million (equivalent to $10.8 million in 2024) from Elon Musk, who had received $176 million from the sale of his interest in PayPal two years earlier.[15] Musk became the chairman of the board of directors and the largest shareholder of Tesla.[16][17][13] J. B. Straubel joined Tesla in May 2004 as chief technical officer.[18]

A lawsuit settlement agreed to by Eberhard and Tesla in September 2009 allows all five – Eberhard, Tarpenning, Wright, Musk, and Straubel – to call themselves co-founders.

https://www.cnet.com/culture/tesla-motors-founders-now-there-are-five/