Elon Musk has rightly developed a reputation as the auto industry's outspoken maverick - so he was completely in character when he chided a stock analyst on Tesla's recent earnings call for asking "boring questions." But while that line may earn you great media attention, it simultaneously repels a group you really need in your camp: your investors. Tesla's stock price fell more than 5 percent after the call, costing the firm more than $3.7 billion in market capitalization.
"The first 'rule' of being a public company is that if you seek investor capital, you owe them the courtesy of answering their questions," wrote Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter on Twitter. "If Mr. Musk wanted to run a private company, he should have done so." Courtesy USA Today.