"The way that my role as been portrayed to date, where I am referred to merely as "an early investor" is outrageous. That would be like Martin [Eberhard] being called an "early employee."

Apart from me leading the Series A & B and co-leading the Series C, my influence on the car itself runs from the headlights to the styling to the door sill to the trunk, and my strong interest in electric transport predates Tesla by a decade. Martin should certainly be the front and center guy, but the portrayal of my role to date has been incredibly insulting.

I'm not blaming you or others at Tesla — the media is difficult to control. However, we need to make a serious effort to correct this perception.

"Two days later, the New York Times published its report of the Tesla debut party, which in its original form referred to Eberhard as the chairman of the company and left Musk out entirely. "

...

If he isn't merely an "early investor" and yet isn't CEO, then what IS he?  beyond evangelist, or "face of," what is an apt phrase to use for someone like Elon Musk in the context of Tesla?  (The comment, "Elon Musk IS Tesla" is about right, no?)

"The Visionary Behind Tesla".

Ultimately, Musk got his wish: After Tesla churned through Eberhard and two other CEOs, he became the face of the company. And now you can see his face everywhere.