Elon Musk’s Billion-Dollar Empire Traced Back to Candy Sales and Homemade Video Game—Unbelievable Origins Revealed!
Elon Musk’s journey to becoming one of the wealthiest and most influential entrepreneurs of the 21st century did not start in the corporate boardrooms of Silicon Valley, nor did it begin with groundbreaking inventions at Tesla or SpaceX. His entrepreneurial path began in the most humble of circumstances, with a twelve-year-old boy coding a video game in his bedroom and selling candy at school to save money.
These early ventures were not just fleeting childhood hobbies; they were the foundation for the multi-billion-dollar empire Musk would eventually build. This early hustle and ingenuity provided him with critical lessons that would shape his future endeavors in ways few could have predicted at the time.The first significant entrepreneurial venture Musk embarked on was when he was just 12 years old.
He had developed a video game called Blastar, a space-themed shooting game reminiscent of early arcade classics. With no formal training in programming or game development, Musk taught himself how to code, learning through trial and error.Blastar was not just a childhood project—it was his first taste of turning an idea into a product with real-world value. He sold the game for $500 to a computer magazine, which was a substantial amount of money for a young teenager.
This experience, although small in scale compared to his future ventures, was monumental in teaching Musk the value of creating something from scratch, marketing it, and earning money from his creativity.Selling Blastar was an early lesson for Musk in entrepreneurship and the power of technology.
While $500 might seem like a modest sum, for a twelve-year-old it was a small fortune, and it represented the first step in what would become a lifelong fascination with technology and innovation.
Musk’s early interest in computers and programming, combined with his natural curiosity and problem-solving abilities, set the stage for his later ventures. In many ways, the sale of Blastar represented the first time Musk realized the power of technology to change the world, and this realization would guide his business philosophy throughout his career.However, the sale of Blastar was not the only business venture Musk embarked on at a young age.
To fund his future endeavors, Musk also engaged in an entrepreneurial hustle typical of many young people trying to make a few extra dollars. He sold candy at school, buying it in bulk and reselling it to classmates at a marked-up price.This candy-selling enterprise was Musk’s first taste of business on a larger scale, and it provided him with the money he would later use to fund Zip2, his first major business venture.
The candy-selling operation might have seemed like a small and trivial pursuit, but for Musk, it was another opportunity to learn the mechanics of running a business—sourcing products, setting prices, and dealing with customers.These early experiences provided Musk with valuable insights into the world of business. Selling candy at school taught him about supply and demand, pricing strategies, and the basics of entrepreneurship.
Although this venture was far from glamorous, it taught Musk fundamental lessons that would carry over into his future businesses.The entrepreneurial spirit he developed during these formative years was a crucial stepping stone in his journey toward launching Zip2, the company that would become his first significant success.
After selling candy and coding Blastar, Musk was ready for his first big business opportunity.In the mid-1990s, he co-founded Zip2, an online city guide software company, with his brother Kimbal.
