Elon Musk gets the headlines, the memes, and the late-night tweets. But if you want to understand how his companies actually survive the "production hell" phases and the brutal layoffs, you have to look at the guy standing just to the right of the camera. Steve Davis.
He’s been called Musk’s "right-hand man" for two decades. Honestly, that description feels a bit light. Musk himself once compared Davis to chemotherapy—a treatment that can save your life but might just kill you if there's too much of it. It’s a heavy metaphor. It also explains exactly why Steve Davis is the person Musk sends in when a company is bleeding cash or needs to be gutted from the inside out.
Who is Steve Davis?
Davis didn't just show up when Twitter (now X) was in chaos. He’s been there since the early days of SpaceX, joining in 2003 as employee number 14. He was literally a rocket scientist, a Stanford grad who could balance complex math with the kind of frugality that makes accountants look like big spenders.
There’s a famous story from the early SpaceX days. Musk needed a specific rocket part that was quoted at $120,000. He told Davis to find a way to make it cheaper. Davis didn't just find a coupon; he spent weeks engineering a solution from scratch. He came back with a version that cost $3,900.
Musk’s response? A one-word email: "Thanks."
That basically set the tone for their entire relationship. No fluff. Just results.
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The Boring Company and the $200 Rule
By 2018, Musk tapped Davis to lead The Boring Company. If you’ve seen the tunnels under Las Vegas, that’s Davis's handiwork. But his leadership style there is what really sticks out. Even with hundreds of millions of dollars in capital, Davis reportedly had a rule that any expense over $200 required his personal sign-off.
Think about that.
A multi-million dollar tech firm where the president is checking the receipts for a few boxes of pens or a new drill bit. It sounds micromanaging, and it probably is, but it’s how they keep the "burn rate" from spiraling. He’s obsessed with eliminating waste. He’s the guy who uses free Google Suite tools instead of expensive enterprise software because, well, why pay for it if you don't have to?
Living at the Office: The Twitter Takeover
When Musk bought Twitter in late 2022, the "hardcore" culture shift was led by a small group of loyalists. Davis was at the center of it. While the media was focused on the blue checkmark drama, Davis was in the basement (metaphorically) looking at the bills.
He didn't just work late. He moved his wife and their newborn baby into the Twitter headquarters in San Francisco. They lived in the office.
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His job was simple but brutal: find $500 million in savings.
He didn't do it by tweaking the coffee budget. He did it by playing hardball with landlords and vendors. There are stories of Davis simply telling teams "we just won't pay rent" for certain offices. It’s a "burn the boats" strategy that most corporate executives would be too terrified to try. Davis, though, seems to thrive on that kind of friction.
The Role in DOGE and Beyond
Fast forward to 2025 and 2026, and Davis has moved into the biggest arena yet: the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). While Musk is the face of the operation, Davis is the "de facto" leader on the ground. He’s the one interviewing the "high-IQ revolutionaries" and looking at federal agencies the same way he looked at SpaceX rocket parts in 2003.
He’s applying the "fork in the road" logic to the federal workforce—basically telling people they can either be "hardcore" or take a graceful exit.
Is the "Chemo" Method Sustainable?
There’s always a catch. The "chemo" comparison is revealing because chemotherapy is toxic. It attacks the healthy cells along with the bad ones.
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Critics point to the fact that his cost-cutting has led to:
- OSHA fines at The Boring Company for safety violations.
- Lawsuits from former Twitter employees over withheld severance.
- Environmental fines for "drilling fluid" leaks in Las Vegas.
Davis isn't there to be liked. He’s there to make the math work when the math looks impossible. He’s the enforcer who doesn’t care about the permitting laws or the "way things have always been done" if those things are slowing down the mission.
What You Can Learn from the Davis-Musk Partnership
You don't have to move your family into your office to take a few lessons from Steve Davis.
- Question the "Standard" Price: If a vendor says a part costs $120k, don't believe them. Break it down to the raw materials. Usually, the "market rate" is just a lack of imagination.
- The $200 Filter: You don't need to approve every $200 expense, but you should have a "Steve Davis" mindset toward recurring costs. Software subscriptions and "standard" fees are the silent killers of a business.
- Loyalty is Currency: Musk trusts Davis because Davis has been there for the failures (like the early Falcon 1 mishaps). In a high-stakes environment, a "yes-man" is useless, but a "will-do-man" is priceless.
- Embrace the "Chemo" Phase: Every project eventually gets bloated. Sometimes you need to be the person who cuts 80% of the features or 50% of the budget just to see what’s actually essential for survival.
Steve Davis is the bridge between Elon’s wild ideas and the cold reality of a balance sheet. He’s the guy who makes sure the rocket goes straight—and that it doesn't cost a penny more than it absolutely has to.
If you’re looking to streamline your own operations, start by auditing your "unquestionable" expenses. Look for your own $120,000 part that could be a $3,900 fix.
Next Steps: You might want to look into the specific cost-cutting measures Davis implemented at Twitter—particularly the "zero-based budgeting" approach. It’s a brutal way to run a company, but it’s exactly why X is still standing despite losing a massive chunk of its ad revenue.