Before becoming the richest man in the world, before acquiring X (Twitter), founding SpaceX, and revolutionizing the electric vehicle industry with Tesla, Elon Musk had a humble – and incredibly audacious – start in the business of artisanal candy. The story of homemade Easter eggs and chocolate sold at exorbitant prices is more than just a charming childhood anecdote; it is the clearest evidence of the mercurial CEO’s entrepreneurial genius and extraordinary confidence from a young age.

The 20x Markup “Heist”

During the Easter season, while other children were busy hunting for candy eggs, the Musk brothers were busy making money. Kimbal Musk, Elon’s younger brother, shared details about their first “business venture” in an interview with CNBC in 2017.

Together with Kimbal and some cousins, young Elon organized a sales team, going door-to-door in the wealthy neighborhoods of the South African capital. Their product? Homemade chocolates and Easter eggs, priced at an unbelievable rate.

Kimbal Musk recalled: “It cost us 50 cents to make the candy, but we sold them for $10.” This means the Musk brothers sold their product with a profit margin 20 times the production cost – a pricing strategy that even large corporations might hesitate to employ.

The First Lesson in Customer Confidence

What was astonishing was not just the price, but how they handled customer inquiries. When the wealthy buyers asked why the candy was so expensive, the younger Kimbal’s answer (presumably with input from his slightly more reserved older brother) became a classic lesson in sales and brand building.

“When they asked why we were selling it for so much, I said that they were supporting young entrepreneurs and I knew for a fact they had an extra $10,” Kimbal shared.

This strategy successfully tapped into the wealthy residents’ sense of pride and generosity, turning an ordinary item into a benevolent investment. They weren’t just selling candy; they were selling a story, a mission, and a chance to support the next generation (even if that purpose was to enrich the Musk brothers). The absolute confidence that the customers could afford it and would not hesitate to pay a premium for a noble cause yielded unexpected success.

The Spirit That Shaped Zip2 and Tesla

The childhood candy-selling adventure was the first stepping stone, nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit that would define Elon Musk’s great career.

From selling homemade chocolate, Musk transitioned to teaching himself programming and selling the Blastar video game at age 12. Later, with Kimbal, he co-founded Zip2—a mapping software company sold for hundreds of millions of dollars—and subsequently PayPal, SpaceX, and Tesla.

Whether the product was a $10 chocolate bar or a billion-dollar rocket, the business philosophy remains consistent: Be audacious in pricing, trust the customer’s ability to pay, and sell a superior vision. Elon Musk’s candy story is not just a memory, but a blueprint that was hardcoded into the DNA of every billion-dollar empire he would build.