SAN FRANCISCO — When JB Straubel initially pitched the idea for what would become Tesla, venture capitalists doubted he could succeed until billionaire Elon Musk backed the idea and became CEO of the company.
“No one wanted to invest. All the VCs thought: ‘It’s crazy. It’s too high risk. It won’t work.’ He met with Elon and he was the only person who got it immediately,” said Boryana Dineva, executive director of the Straubel Family Foundation and JB Straubel’s wife.
Now, Straubel is looking to return the favor through annual awards aimed at supporting others’ ideas to leverage technology to improve society.