Drew Baglino, a former Tesla executive widely regarded as a rising star, left the company roughly two years ago. He has since started two ventures, including Satty Thermal Machines, which is focused on heat pump technology.
It is a direct extension of work he oversaw at Tesla, where heat pumps were deployed in the Model Y to dramatically improve efficiency and range. Baglino is not the only one. JB Straubel, Tesla's co-founder and former CTO, went on to create Redwood Materials, a battery recycling business that has attracted substantial backing.
From SpaceX, the pipeline is even more pronounced. Engineers who spent years at the company carry a specific credential: they built things that actually worked, under extreme pressure, on punishing timelines. That reputation opens doors with investors in a way that few other employer brands can match.
The next chapter could be transformational. SpaceX is expected to pursue a public listing at some point, and when it does, the resulting liquidity event will create enormous personal wealth for hundreds of current and former employees. If the PayPal mafia is the template, that wealth will flow directly into new startups, angel investments, and venture funds.
But there is a wrinkle. Musk's vision for SpaceX has reportedly shifted. The company was founded on the explicit mission of establishing a human presence on Mars. Musk previously dismissed the Moon as a distraction. That clarity of purpose attracted a certain type of engineer: mission-driven, willing to endure brutal hours for the chance to work on something historic.
If the mission blurs, some of those people will leave. That creates a tension for SpaceX, which has enormous expansion plans, including replicating its Starbase facility in Texas at multiple sites around the world and preparing for the next iteration of Starship. Losing experienced engineers at that moment would be painful.
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For the wider ecosystem, though, it is nothing but opportunity. A wave of deeply experienced, newly wealthy, highly motivated founders entering the market tends to produce interesting things.
The PayPal mafia gave us Tesla, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Palantir. The SpaceX and Tesla alumni network could produce something even bigger.