&gt; &quot;Pre-orders&quot;. This isn&#x27;t a Kickstarter.<p>Right. Kickstarter, even when it offers the product under development as a backer reward, tries very hard to make the case that it isn&#x27;t a pre-order.<p>Tesla, OTOH...<p>&gt; Why should customers finance a billion-dollar business?<p>Mutual acceptable exchange of value: Buyer gets delivery priority they want in the future, seller gets unit commitment and cash now.