Featured Image Credit: Paul Harris / Contributor / Getty
Before the billions, Elon Musk was charging college students $5 to get into his frat house nightclub.
Most people know Elon Musk as the world's wealthiest man, the brain behind Tesla's self-driving cars, SpaceX's rocket launches, and xAI's Grok chatbot.
He's also the man who has spent years sharing his plans to colonise Mars, even if he's recently shifted his sights towards a lunar colony ahead of the Artemis II launch.
But before any of that, a very entrepreneurial college student came up with a simple idea of charging students to attend his 'unlicensed nightclub.'
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While studying at the University of Pennsylvania in the early 1990s, Musk and his roommate, Adeo Ressi, rented a large off-campus frat house together.
But instead of simply staying in it, the pair converted the 10-bedroom property into an unlicensed nightclub, charging a '$5 entry fee' per student.
"While attending the University of Pennsylvania, Elon Musk rented a 10-bedroom house and converted it into a nightclub, charging students a $5 entry fee," a viral post shared on X.
The post recently resurfaced the story, racking up nearly six million views as curious followers got a glimpse into the tech mogul's early life.
"Elon was out here disrupting the local party scene before he even knew what a disruptor was. The ultimate beta test," one user wrote.
"Some people go to university to attend parties," another commented. "Others go to university and start the party business."
While attending the University of Pennsylvania, Elon Musk rented a 10-bedroom house and converted it into a nightclub, charging students a $5 entry fee. pic.twitter.com/G7LdoQJI66
— Yuta (@rlevi) March 30, 2026
A third user summed it up: "Man had a billionaire thinking right from University."
A fourth user claimed: "Sounds like entrepreneurship to me, good on him".
The full story is reportedly documented in Ashlee Vance's biography Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, as per CNBC.
Musk had arrived at the University of Pennsylvania in 1992 on a scholarship, having originally left South Africa in 1989 to attend Queen's University in Ontario, Canada before transferring, CNBC reported.
“I was paying my own way through college and could make an entire month’s rent in one night,” Musk said in the book (via CNBC). “Adeo was in charge of doing cool s*** around the house, and I would run the party.”
In the book, Ressi described the parties as 'a full-out, unlicensed speakeasy'. He recalled: “We would have as many as 500 people. We would charge five dollars, and it would be pretty much all you could drink— beer and Jello shots and other things.”
