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Ex-Tesla president says he mimicked Domino’s online pizza ordering to boost sales

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Jon McNeill had a mandate: fix Tesla’s online sales.

When he joined as president in November 2015, the automaker was trying to sell six-figure vehicles like the Model S and Model X online — something few consumers were interested in.

“We gotta figure out how to sell cars online,” McNeill said during an interview on the “My First Million” podcast, which was released on Thursday. “Nobody was buying $120,000 things sight-unseen online.”

McNeill said his experience at Tesla — including his goal to increase online sales — shaped three key leadership lessons: set ambitious goals, prioritize talent, and uncover problems by actually using your product. He’s since served as COO at Lyft and as a board member at General Motors and Lululemon.

As he dug into Tesla’s online website, he and CEO Elon Musk spotted a core problem.

It took 64 clicks to purchase a car. So he said Musk made Domino’s Pizza their new benchmark.

“Every click you ask the consumer to make, your conversion goes down,” McNeill said in an episode released on Thursday. “Turns out, it takes 10 thumb taps to buy a Domino’s pizza at that time. He’s like, ‘We’re 64, Domino’s is 10. Let’s go to 10.'”

Tesla has since streamlined its online checkout beyond that initial goal. Business Insider counted that it takes about five clicks to buy a new Model 3 on the company’s website.

The rise of one-touch payments like Apple Pay and Google Pay has also helped speed up online purchases.

For McNeill, the website’s improvements represent a broader philosophy that he says helped transform Tesla into America’s dominant EV seller.

Instead of targeting incremental improvements on its weaknesses, Tesla’s goal is “order of magnitude” enhancements.

“If you set a goal for 5 to 7% improvement, you’re probably going to get 3 to 5%,” he told the podcast. “Part of Elon’s secret sauce is he sets the order of magnitude improvement goals — 10x, 100x — and it forces you to think way differently about how you solve a problem.”

Those kinds of problems, he added, are often invisible unless leaders engage directly with their own products. McNeill and Musk only spotted the issue because they were using Tesla’s website.

He also emphasized that hiring the right people is critical to spotting and solving issues.

“In fact, 60% of my calendar was interviews,” he told the podcast. “You totally win and lose on talent.”

To identify top candidates, McNeill said leaders should focus less on résumés and more on how candidates think. He said he would frequently ask applicants about how they would approach his own work problems — an approach he said gave Tesla a pipeline of curious workers.

“That’s the knack of Tesla. It’s like ‘let’s turn complex into simple,'” he said. “They have the ability within a minute or two to take a really complex question and boil it down to principle.”




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I inherited a storage unit from a family friend. It was full of vintage clothes, which I now sell online.

by with No Comment Xpandfy

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Scottlynn Krause, the co-owner of CS80 Vintage. It has been edited for length and clarity.

My best friend is Hannah, and her grandpa, Franz, owned a sporting goods store in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s. When he went out of business, he boxed up his stock, and the unused items sat in a storage unit from 1990 until 2021.

In the summer of 2021, Hannah’s mom called my mom, who is an organizer for hoarders, asking for help with the storage unit. She didn’t know what to do with the stuff, and knew my mom had experience in that realm.

We did not expect to inherit his pristine ’80s sportswear inventory

Hannah and her family said to do what we needed to do to get rid of it and take it off the property. We had 16 days to figure out what to do, because they wanted to list the house. We did not buy the inventory. It was a trade for removing it.

Originally, my mom wanted to turn everything in three months and be done with it. We were not a vintage-loving family back then, but we decided to try to sell it online. At first, it was my mom doing it all, but it was overwhelming. So I jumped in. I had (and still have) a full-time job in retail, so I feel like I see what happens with trends. Vintage had picked up, so it felt right.

The storage unit had thousands of items from well-known brands

It’s really hard to put a number on how many items were in the storage unit. It was 10,000 pairs of shoes, 25,000 hats, 2,500 pairs of baseball pants, all in 1,000 square feet, all from a single store.

The brands Franz had were Nike, Adidas, Puma, Converse, Playboy, Pony, Champion, Wilson, and more. Teams were covered in the NFL, NBA, NHL, and collegiate sports.

It was such a large inventory; we weren’t sure how to tackle it. It’s all been very word-of-mouth. We had our first sale at a flea market in early 2022. We currently sell privately on social media and on our website, which went live in December 2025.

On the website, we do 25 items per drop, and do two drops a week, on Wednesdays and Sundays. It’s first-come, first-served. Not all merchandise is on the website; it’s about a tenth of what we have. So we’re really selective with the drops because everything is so rare and special.

We store our inventory in an off-site warehouse. My mom and I go regularly to pull pieces, and it feels like a discovery every time. We never know what we are going to find. We then bring it to our studio, and I measure, photograph, and upload it to our website. My mom and I print the shipping labels, carefully pack each order, and ship everything ourselves, mostly early in the morning or late at night, squeezed in around our day jobs.

We’ve seen some really amazing items

Most of our items are one-of-a-kind, making them special. We might have one item in multiple sizes, but we don’t have four large sizes of that item, for example. Starter jackets are our most sought-after item. And our sports fans are die-hard, so people are freaking out about certain items. I didn’t grow up during this time period. It’s been so special to see the DMs we get, like “I had this shirt when I was a kid, do you have it?”

We’ve sold unique pieces, like a Run-DMC collection still in its original packaging and a rare pair of 1980s Adidas boxing shoes reminiscent of the Rocky Balboa/Freddie Mercury era. A van load of clothing from our collection was used on set for a “Stranger Things” x Target commercial.

We’ve been having a blast doing it

My mom and dad met in a sporting goods store. He’s a professional volleyball referee. My mom works as an organizer and is a photographer. I work in retail. All the pieces came together for us, giving us this gift. It was like winning the lotto.

Hannah’s family loves watching it happen. I will send her pictures of stuff all the time. They are excited to see that his stuff is moving, going places, and getting a second life.

Our goal is to continue Franz’s legacy by slowly placing these pieces with people who genuinely appreciate the memories, craftsmanship, and spirit of the 1980s. We’re exploring ways to carry that energy forward, too. We eventually want to create our own products using our deadstock blanks to keep the 80s aesthetic and story alive for the new generation.




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Polymarket takes down nuclear detonation bet after online backlash

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  • Polymarket was allowing traders to wager on whether a nuclear weapon would detonate this year.
  • That stirred backlash online, particularly after suspicious trading in the wake of the Iran strikes.
  • The market has now been taken down.

If you were looking to make money on nuclear detonations, you now have one less avenue to pursue.

Overnight, Polymarket took down a market that allowed users to trade on where a nuclear weapon would detonate by March 31, June 30, or simply before 2027.

Traders who bet yes on any of those timelines would be paid out if there were a nuclear detonation anywhere on Earth, including in an offensive use, a test, or even an accidental detonation.

The market had over $650,000 in total trading volume as of Tuesday, according to an archived snapshot of the site. A message on the webpage now reads: “This event has been archived.”

It’s not yet clear why Polymarket took down the site, or whether users who put money into the market will get refunds. An earlier version of the market, which covered 2025, resolved without incident last year.

A spokesperson for Polymarket did not respond to a request for comment.

The suspension came after several users on X expressed outrage about the existence of the market, particularly amid a raft of suspicious trades on the platform in the wake of the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

This isn’t the first time Polymarket has come under public scrutiny for hosting markets related to armed conflict.

After an anonymous Polymarket trader made over $400,000 on a suspiciously well-timed bet on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s political future, a lawmaker introduced a bill to ban prediction market insider trading by government officials.




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How to buy gold, silver, and other precious metals from Costco online and in-store

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Two dozen eggs, a gallon of milk, 30 rolls of toilet paper — and one ounce of 24 karat gold.

While that might be one of the more expensive grocery runs a Costco shopper might make, it is one that could realistically happen.

Costco sells hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of gold and silver each month. There are two ways to buy bars and coins from the wholesale club: online and in-store at certain warehouses. Here’s what that looks like.

The first step — step zero, if you will — is to get a Costco membership, since precious metals are exclusively available to members. The basic Gold Star membership gives you access, but if you’re planning to spend several thousand dollars on gold and silver, it might make sense to spring for the executive upgrade.

For the additional $65, executive members get 2% rewards on most purchases, including precious metals. At the recent price of about $4,480, the reward on a one-ounce gold bar or coin would be around $89, which is more than the price of an upgrade. (Executive members can also shop early at the warehouse, but that’s another story.)

Equipped with a membership, the options to buy precious metals depend largely on the availability of supply.

How to buy gold and silver from Costco online

Gold, silver, and platinum are listed on Costco.com on a precious metals page in the jewelry and watches category. (The items were previously listed under sports memorabilia and collectibles, which made them a bit harder for the casual buyer to track down.)


Costco.com's precious metals offerings on October 13, 2025.

Costco.com’s precious metals offerings on October 13, 2025.

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When products are priced at or near the commodity market’s “spot” price, they can sell out extremely quickly.

Silver also tends to sell out quickly and follows a similar pricing pattern. In fact, silver’s market rally of more than 130% year-to-date as of Tuesday morning has outpaced gold’s nearly 70% increase. Plus, silver’s lower unit price — it’s at an all-time high of $69 per ounce — means more options for shoppers who are curious about buying metals but don’t want to fork over the price of a well-used car just yet.

Costco has responded to fluctuations in demand by limiting the quantities of a particular item a member is allowed to purchase in one transaction and over a 24-hour period.

Once an online purchase is completed, Costco estimates about three to five days for delivery, typically via UPS or FedEx. Same-day grocery orders must be placed separately, via Instacart.

Comments on the CostcoPM subreddit indicate that some packages can take longer to deliver, especially around periods of high demand and near the end of the week.

How to buy gold and silver at a Costco warehouse

Precious metals are also occasionally available at some warehouses — if you know where to look.

Sometimes it’s easier to spot: the store will put a large sign near the entrance encouraging arriving shoppers to check out seasonal or specialty bars. Some stores will let you know what they have in stock if you call ahead.

At other times, a sample of the available inventory will be displayed in the warehouse’s jewelry case near the electronics section.

Still, it’s not as simple as tossing a bar into your cart and proceeding to checkout. The jewelry case also has a stack of paper forms that shoppers must fill out with the item SKU and the quantity they wish to purchase.


A Costco merchandise pickup slip appears in the jewelry section of a warehouse in Wisconsin.

A merchandise pickup slip is used to buy precious metals at a Costco warehouse.

Dominick Reuter/Business Insider



Shoppers then bring the completed slip to the front office, where an employee will retrieve the order and assist with payment. Voila — they now own a small slab of expensive metal. Don’t lose it.

3 things Costco shoppers should know before buying gold or silver

There are three last things Costco shoppers should note.

Although Costco stands behind everything it sells, precious metals are excluded from the company’s unusually generous return policy. It also will not adjust the price of gold, silver, or platinum after purchase. Once the deal is done, that’s it.

The second thing is that it generally does not make mathematical sense to finance gold or silver purchases with credit card debt or other interest-bearing payment options.

While some metals buyers use credit cards in order to take advantage of rewards schemes, it’s widely understood that any balance should be promptly paid off with cash, since interest charges can offset any card points or increase in the metal’s value.

Lastly, some gold and silver buyers have found that selling metals can be harder than buying them (at least at the prices they would prefer). Coin shops are not likely to offer the full spot price for gold or silver, since they need to leave room to make a profit when they sell the metal.

Metals dealers and advisors generally recommend planning to hold onto physical precious metals for the long term. Selling without a strategy can have unexpected costs.




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