TO BE FAIR, MOST OF THESE PEOPLE WOULD HAVE TOLD YOU SPACEX WOULD NEVER MAKE IT 20 YEARS AGO: Don’t compete with or emulate SpaceX, investors urge. This, however, seems right: “Nobody’s going to be competitive with SpaceX anyway.”

Also this: “If you are going for full vertical integration, you are basically consolidating all of the problems of the industry in your own house.” Though as SpaceX has demonstrated, you’re also giving yourself an opportunity to fix those problems.