I feel like "cashflow positive from investors" is a great title for a very snarky book about startups and SV culture.

"You Can't Run a Con Without Confidence"

“Cash-flow positive from investors” is a nonsensical concept. Investors invest because they expect a return. If cash flow, the real kind, is negative forever, eventually the investments will stop. Musk has delayed the reckoning for a while with showmanship, but it can’t go on forever.

Amazon had no profit for many years and here we are. Some could be told about Uber.

AFAIK Amazon had only a handful of unprofitable quarters in history. Even more important, Amazon was always cash-flow positive. Uber is a different story, so.

With Amazon we're comparing a web site that sells stuff they don't even make to an auto manufacturer, insanely capital intensive. It's quite a different bar. I realize you're just replying to someone who brought this up, but I'm not convinced comparisons make sense.

I do get your point, you cannot compare the two. Yet, every time Tesla's finances are brought up someone is repeating the false "Amazon lost money the whole time" statement. Which is wrong both on the P&L and cash flow side. And Tesla would be bankrupt already with their cash burn rate if it wasn't for Elon and his investor magic. But maybe they wouldn't have needed his magic without his other attics in the first place.

I believe the parent was making a joke.