Technology
Tesla Teases New EV , Roadster or $25K Model?
In this episode of the Elon Musk podcast, host Will Walden discusses Tesla's recent teaser for a new electric vehicle, sparking speculation about whether it will be the long-awaited Roadster or a...
Tesla Teases New EV , Roadster or $25K Model?
Technology •
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Interactive Transcript
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Hey everybody, welcome back to the Elon Musk podcast.
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This is a show where we discuss the critical crossroads, the shapes, SpaceX, Tesla, X,
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the boring company, and NERLINK.
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I'm your host, Will Walden.
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Tesla dropped a six-second teaser clip over the weekend and the internet went wild.
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The footage uploaded to the website and all their social channels, including X, showed
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only a glimpse of an EV silhouette whipping past the screen.
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But that was enough to stir speculation around what Tesla plans to reveal on Tuesday.
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Is this finally the long-promised roadster or is Tesla preparing to unveil a lower-cost
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mass-market EV?
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What is happening here?
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The teaser showed a wide stance, sweeping headlights, and a low-slong shape that recalled
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the original 2017 roadster prototype.
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That prototype, which was launched into space on a Falcon Heavy, hasn't been updated in
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the public sense.
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Nobody knows what's going on with it really.
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We just know that it's possibly coming sometime down the line.
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MKBHD canceled one of his, so didn't know when it's going to happen, so he's just like,
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you know, I don't need to.
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Save that.
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Now, Tesla originally claimed it would enter production in 2020, then pushed it back
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2022, and then later said it could arrive in 2023 and 2024, so we have no idea.
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And at last year's shareholder meeting, Elon suggested a 2024 production target once
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again, adding that engineering had finally been completed.
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But since then, Tesla has been silent.
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Elon has been silent.
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Now, Elon has repeatedly claimed the new roadster will be the fastest production car
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in the world ever, boasting a sub-two-second zero to 60 time at a top speed over 250 miles
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per hour.
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He also teased something very interesting, an optional SpaceX rocket booster thruster
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in a range of 620 miles.
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That would be insane.
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620 miles is wild.
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But even among Tesla fans, you know, we don't really believe him sometimes.
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620 miles sounds like a wild thing.
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And for a roadster that can go zero to 60 in under two seconds, you go 250 miles per hour.
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How do they combine all those things?
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That's a huge amount of range for EV.
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And if Tesla's Tuesday teaser points to the roadster, Tesla will need to show more than
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a few flashy specs to rebuild confidence in the project.
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It's going to be really expensive.
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And if you haven't already reserved one, now might be the time.
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You know, another possible review was the Model 2, which is an affordable EV that
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Tesla first hinted at in its battery day presentation in 2020.
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That car which some call the $25,000 Tesla, there's no, like nobody knows what the price
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is actually going to be.
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It's been promised as a breakthrough product that would dramatically expand the company's
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market reach.
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And internally, Tesla has referred to this car as part of its next generation platform.
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Designed to cut production costs by 50% through a redesigned chassis and fully automated
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assembly lines.
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Nobody has seen that yet.
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Nothing's been reported about that yet.
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So it's possible.
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But we don't know.
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Tesla confirmed earlier this year that it moved next-gen vehicle development of Texas and
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started building up production capabilities near gigafactory.
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As they run Austin, Musk has said this platform could eventually support multiple vehicle
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types, including a compact car and also robotaxi.
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The company scrap plans for a dedicated robotaxi in favor of merging it into this new platform,
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which aims to simplify design, reduce parts, and speed up manufacturing.
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Now, the Reuters have reported earlier this year, and they pointed out early 2025 as the
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initial production window for Tesla's next-gen vehicle, which matches recent hiring pushes
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and facility upgrades in Austin.
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If Tuesday's event introduces a lower-cost EV, Tesla could preempt competition from
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BYD and other Chinese manufacturers that have already launched sub-30,000 EVs in global
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markets.
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There's huge economic pressure right now.
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Tesla reported shrinking margins early this year, driven by price cuts and increased competition.
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Investors have been pressing for volume growth without sacrificing profitability.
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A mass market model could answer that demand if Tesla could hit the promised price point
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while protecting margins through lower costs.
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Right now, you can get a used Tesla for around 20-ish someplace, but it's an older model.
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So, wouldn't you want a better newer model that has all the new bells and whistles, but for
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25, it's actually $5,000, yes.
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But you could also just get the new stuff.
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You can also save up a little bit longer and get a model 3 or model Y or something.
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It depends on how much money you have and what you're willing to sacrifice to get one
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of these things, but a $25,000 model or sub-$25,000 model would be incredible for Tesla.
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Everybody would want one.
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Like, why would you buy a Honda if you could have a Tesla?
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Some people love Honda's.
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Don't get me wrong.
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I'm a Honda believer.
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I love them.
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I love super-ruse too.
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I like Teslas.
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I think they're great, but I don't have enough money right now to buy a Tesla.
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Does anybody want to give me money to buy a Tesla?
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I didn't think so.
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So, I'm not going to buy a Tesla right now.
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I think it would be great if they had a $25,000 Tesla and it was a good car.
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It's going to be great.
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I'm sure.
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So the next time I look into vehicles, of course, I would look into a Tesla as $25,000.
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That's pretty decent price for a vehicle.
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I'm looking at $40,000 cars, $50,000, $60,000 cars, and I'm like, man, that would be great
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to have.
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But I don't have $60,000 that's been in a car.
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That's a huge investment.
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If I could buy a $25,000 car and then invest the rest of the money into my retirement,
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that would be great.
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Or into my kid when he goes to school, you know, when he goes off to college, when he's
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18 and he wants to start his own business, I'll have money set aside for him, set it
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buying a $60,000 car, about the $25,000 car, put the other money into his account.
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I mean, people think like that, right?
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You want to buy a house, but you also need a car.
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You're not going to buy the $60,000 car.
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You're going to save that money and buy that house and buy the $25,000 car.
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This is how it works.
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If you don't have the money for both things.
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There's also timing for the teaser.
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Tesla rarely promotes an event without a clear message.
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And if this teaser happened, it's like literally days before the event, they know what's
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up.
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They have confidence in what's coming.
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That was sort of like the cyber trucks original reveal where Tesla dropped vague clips to fuel
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speculation before a full unveiling stock price went wild during those things.
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Then after the reveal went even wilder.
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If Tesla reveals a new roaster, there's going to be questions about priority.
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When will this thing actual launch?
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Launching a high end performance card during a period of sliding demand and rising EV
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inventories seems kind of misaligned right now.
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Marking conditions are down.
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The economy is weird.
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What a reveal of the mass market EV would show Tesla finally shifting toward accessible
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models.
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They could drive global growth.
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And of course, they are a publicly traded company.
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They have to think about growth before anything.
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Get those shareholders their money back.
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Let's make some money.
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Some fans have suggested both cars could appear on Tuesday.
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What if there's a roaster and a sub $25,000 car, the model, too?
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That would be insane.
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It would be unusual.
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They usually do one launch.
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And that's enough.
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People go wild for that.
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But think about if they do a roaster and the new next gen compact model same day.
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I'm not a financial advisor in any way.
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But if you think this is going to happen right now, it might be a really great time to buy
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some Tesla stock because you're going to make a real quick buck off both of these things
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if they happen to the same day.
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Stocks going to go wild.
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Tesla's also used product unveilings to manage investor expectations and shift the narrative
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around its stock.
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2024 has been sluggish.
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They need a catalyst to keep it growing and keep it going.
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A new lower cost vehicle platform with confirmed production plans could reset the story heading
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into 2026 going forward.
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2025 was an okay year for Tesla, but they want to keep growing as fast as possible.
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And of course, they're doing AI and robotics now rather than just vehicles.
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So they have those other arms of the business that they're working on.
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And those pump the stock up a little bit, make people some money.
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If they reveal two vehicles in the same day, who baby, it's going to go crazy.
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We don't know what's going to happen.
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We're going to see what Tesla plans to prioritize over the next two years, whether it's going
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to be performance or like a production revolution with these sub $25,000 cars, we don't know.
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I wish I knew there's speculation going around that it's both.
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And if it's both, good luck because which one are you going to choose that's going to be crazy.
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All right.
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I want to say thanks to everybody who's been listening to the show for a really long time.
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This is just a little side note.
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But let me know in the comments what you think about these cars because they're going to be both
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they're going to be amazing in their own ways.
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But I want to say thanks to everybody who's been listening for a long time.
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I really do appreciate you.
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And I'm back on track.
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I've been sick for the last couple of weeks.
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And I've been posting older clips, things like that.
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I got a comment from somebody that said, you know, hey, I don't mind the older clips, but you got to tag them as like older clips.
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You know, and I was like, yeah, I got I tag that is 2024 or something with that older clip that you're that they were commenting on.
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And we had a little discussion in the comments.
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And that's why I love you guys to comment because I'd like to talk about things like this.
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We're community here.
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We're we're not just me talking about these things.
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I want to hear what you have to say.
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I think that's important.
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That right there, I want you to be part of this.
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You're part of this community.
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Everybody that downloads this show.
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It's not just me.
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You know, I want you to be part of this too.
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So I'm not trying to sell you anything.
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I never have.
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I don't want you to buy anything.
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I, you know, I have a t-shirt shop called Starship Shirts where I sell SpaceX themed t-shirts.
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That's the only thing I sell.
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The other thing that I do is I put ads on this show because it makes me enough money to keep the show going sometimes.
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Sometimes it doesn't.
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The bills rack up.
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So, you know, it takes a lot of time to put these shows together.
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And I've been doing it for I think it's around a thousand shows now to be honest with you.
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I have no idea.
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But I just realized this.
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This is a little side note.
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I want you guys to know about this too.
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I started podcasting in 2006.
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I had a skateboard company at that time.
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And I was like, I'm real attack guy.
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So I was early adopter for all things.
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Real player.
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If anybody remembers real player streaming media with real player.
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I streamed some media back in the day.
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I did radio shows online radio shows back then.
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I forgot what I called it.
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But my first podcast was in 2006.
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It was for my skateboard company.
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And that company.
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It grew because I knew that people listened to my podcast.
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They could connect with the thing that we loved.
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We both, we all love skateboarding.
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So they would connect.
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And they leave comments because I would embed them on our website.
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On my website that I built with my own two hands.
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I coded it myself.
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It's pretty silly.
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Some HTML, some PHP maybe.
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Some comments somehow.
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I don't know.
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Maybe I had a third party.
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I don't know to do the comments.
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But I was connected to the audience then.
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And I think it's really important that we talk to each other.
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So if you have comments on your podcast platform.
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I know Spotify does other podcast platforms do too.
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So if you do, please leave a comment.
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And also, you know what?
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I really need your help.
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This is what I'm going to ask for you from you.
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If you have a second, leave a five star review.
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If you like the show, I really would appreciate that.
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That's all you need to do.
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Five star review really helps out the show a ton.
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And I can continue growing the show.
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I want to grow the show even more that it already is.
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And we have a pretty good audience right now.
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But I want to grow it to like 10 times this.
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I think that'd be great.
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I haven't really tried because I just like to do it.
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You know, it's been more of a hobby.
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But I would really love to focus on growth.
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So five star reviews really help.
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Any sort of interaction really helps.
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Leave a comment.
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Any sort of good review is cool.
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Leave a good review and the comment in a review.
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I think helps too.
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Like five star review and be like, I love the show.
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Or, hey, well, you are the best guy ever.
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Or you're the best skateboarder ever.
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Even though you don't skate as much anymore as you used to.
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But I love your show.
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Whatever you want to say.
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Or, you know, go SpaceX would be great too.
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I love SpaceX.
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So please help me out here.
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Five stars would be great.
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Okay, that's it for today.
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And then we're going to do the normal outro, which is like,
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hey, if you like the show, subscribe.
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So here you go with that.
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Take care everybody.
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I'll see you in the next one.
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But listen to this too.
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Hey, thank you so much for listening today.
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I really do appreciate your support.
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If you could take a second and hit this subscribe or the follow button on whatever podcast platform that you're listening on.
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Right now, I greatly appreciated it.
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It helps out the show tremendously.
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And you'll never miss an episode.
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And each episode is about 10 minutes or less to get you caught up quickly.
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And please, if you want to support the show even more, go to patreon.com slash stage zero.
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And please take care of yourselves and each other.
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And I'll see you tomorrow.