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Elon Musk Showered at the YMCA While Building His First Company

By Elon Musk · Startup Growth · 1 min read

Musk was 23. No money. No apartment. He lived in a $200/month office with a leaky roof and showered at the YMCA. They drilled a hole in the floor to steal internet from the office below.

Key Points

He was 23, chose starting a company over graduate school, and had no income
They lived in the office — the nastiest place you can imagine — and showered at the YMCA
They drilled a hole in the floor to connect to the internet provider below for cheap access

An office was actually cheaper than an apartment in Silicon Valley. So we got this dinky little office with a leaky roof. And I lived in it too. And showered at the YMCA.

No Money, No Apartment

Musk: That was the summer of '95. I had no money whatsoever. I was working doing research in Silicon Valley on a completely different subject and trying to start this company at the same time.

When it came time to decide — do I want to do graduate studies or start this company? I decided to start the company. I had nothing. No income source. As a graduate student I would have received a scholarship and a stipend.

The YMCA Shower

Musk: We found that an office was actually cheaper than an apartment in Silicon Valley. So we got this dinky little office that had a leaky roof. It was just the nastiest place you can imagine.

And I lived in it too. And showered at the YMCA. This lasted for about 3 or 4 months.

An office was cheaper than an apartment. I lived in it and showered at the YMCA.

The Hole in the Floor

Musk: The reason we chose this office — in addition to it being really cheap — was that there was an internet service provider on the floor below. We were able to get really cheap internet access by drilling a hole in the floor and connecting to their server directly.

We drilled a hole in the floor and connected to the internet provider below.