FWIW,
I own a small company that deals a bit with Tesla - since before the first car, the 2 seat roadster.
We typically deal with the engineers who order our products. The nature of our business is that many items are custom, especially for Tesla, as the design and implementation is a bit of trial & error for their applications at this time. Our other customers, especially Aerospace, designs have been worked out decades before and are fairly static.
We also deal with SpaceX (for same products). Less so, but they seem to have higher level of engineers, and less turnover.
I don't feel comfortable naming the products & services we sell, and in any case I don't think its relevant to my comments.
At least with our limited experience, there is a high turn-over with engineers @ Tesla. Might not be true overall for the company. But high enough it has surprised me a bit. Perhaps thats in general true for Silicon valley? We deal with a bunch of the other electric vehicles, such as Brammo and there is far more stability in those companies. However, they are also much smaller & I imagine face different challenges, certainly not Stock market related issues.
Many of the engineers we work with are young and aggressive - ladder moving I suppose. But I would say very inexperienced as well. Im not an engineer per se - my background is in Physics - but Im essentially an engineer at this point in the game. The advantage of working at a traditional auto company - say BMW, is the mentoring and resources one can access. For example, wire harness designs. Tesla is just too young to have that type of advantage, certainly not one that would permeate the entire engineering departments. Of course, that doesn't hinder them in other areas, such as response time, etc, that challenge mature manufactures.
The nature of our business is that we also deal with Detroit Auto, and traditional Aerospace, such as Lockheed, General Dynamics, Boeing, etc. Most of our business is in this sector. We enjoy working with Tesla, because its *new*, and interesting Their requirements are pushing us to re-evalute, and in some respects re-design our products.
Also, its a consumer product, that while currently can't afford a Model S, I will never be able to purchase a F-18, so that does add a compelling aspect in working with them.
With regards to Detroit and Aerospace, much different culture. First much more stability in turn-over, and in general, more experienced engineers. That doesn't mean Tesla isn't innovating - as clearly they are. But that says more about the staid nature of mature industrial manufacturers, then it does about the talent.
I've been wondering when Apple will contact us - there is a good chance given our expertise and lack of alternative products, that they have to come to us at some point. We don't make fusion drives or anything even close to that! But anyone dealing with wire harness, power generation, electrical resistance needs a company like us.
I assumed that Apple would leach engineers away from Tesla, and anyone else for that matter. That's how things work, especially in Silicon Valley. Sounds to me that Musk is just a tad sensitive to this reality. Once the other companies, especially ones that have greater resources jump in, its not guarantee Tesla will survive.
My two cents. Prob worth less
Disclaimer - I own 2015 Honda Accord EX-L, bummed it did not come with carplay (i was under the illusion it might, or would be via upgrade), and the integration with Siri and iPhone is disappointing. I'd love to have that Tesla 17" flat screen for my infotainment system.
