Tesla as we know it wouldn't exist without him. IE, the company that almost single handedly (yes, with governments subsides etc etc - they were available to everybody) changed the car industry.

But, the way Musk tells the story or tries to push the narrative is very fishy. I remember reading Ashlee Vance biography of Musk, without knowing too much of him at the time, and while I was in awe about the achievements and boldness, it was also pretty obvious that the guy is childish and a dick.

The reality is Musk wanted to create an EV company. And somebody told him, there are some guys who started doing that, and instead of cutting them out he said, ok, let me and my guy join and ill finance the company.

Tesla was dead in the water before Musk, they couldn't raise money, they had so far only invested a minimal amount from founders themselves and were going nowhere.

Musk brought the money and the chief engineer that actually made Tesla car initially go. The founder CEO then over the next 6 years drove the company straight into the ground.

Musk then took over invested more money and 10 years later its the dominate car company in the EV transition.

I don't give a shit if he is the founder by some definition 'founder' where 'founder' means the guy who created the initial business plan (a business plan that kind of sucked btw). He is what made Tesla actually a real company rather then a joke for Detroit to laugh at.