YouSaid · the spoken record

Richard Branson

lines on the record: 57
first: 2018-11-26
most recent: 2018-11-26
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

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“A paragraph or two later, he expounds on his own personal philosophy. And I love this, and this is where I'll end. It's entrepreneurship is our natural state. All human beings are born as entrepreneurs. But unfortunately, many of us never had the opportunity to unwrap that part of our life, so it remains hidden. Now, as you do have the opportunity, don't waste it. I think entrepreneurship is our natural state. A big adult word that probably boils down to something much more obvious like playfulness. When we are young, before we have our childlike wonder beaten out of us by adult life, we are at our most inventive and ambitious in our actions. I've always tried to keep that youthful spirits. I think one of the best benefits of having to read”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Getting things wrong and getting up to give it another go. Back then people who were interested in starting their own businesses were not encouraged in school. Nowadays while I still think much more could be done to encourage entrepreneurship and education, there are lots of tools and mentors to help you get started in business. If your studies spark your interest, then that's brilliant. If you don't get top grades, remember there's a lot more to life than some letters on a piece of paper. Have you thought about your own first business idea yet? When you do, be sure to let me know.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Surrounding yourself with a great team and working on projects you really believe in. As you mentioned in your letter, I suffer from dyslexia, but was able to turn this to an advantage. I delegated the areas I struggled with to people who also believed in the project. This freed up my time to focus on what I was good at. The strategy, the magazine, making contacts and developing marketing. We had very little money, so I had to take risks to get our magazine on the map. I approached to be in student people like Mick Jagger and David Hockney, whom somebody with more experience may have been too intimidated to contact. For some reason they said yes. I secured advertising by calling up big brands from the school phone box, telling them that their rivals were already advertising with us, and playing them off against each other. It was all great fun, and we learned so much about business by taking chances”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Says, Dear Olivia, many thanks for getting in touch. I'm honored you have chosen yours truly as the subject of your business studies project. As somebody who did not particularly enjoy school, I hope you have some fun finding out about Virgin's adventures. As you pointed out, my life and business started with student magazine when it was a few years older than you are now. We set up student to give a voice to people like me who wanted to protest against the Vietnam War and the establishment. I didn't have a career in business in mind. We just wanted to make a positive difference to people's lives. I soon learn one of the best ways to do that is to become an entrepreneur. The key enterprising skills I used when first starting out are the very same ones I used today. Now he's going to list off what he feels are valuable, traits of an entrepreneur. The art of delegation, risk-taking,”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“He's describing his dad here. He had a kind word for everyone, an infectious laugh, a cheeky streak, and a thirst for the His favorite phrase was Isn't life wonderful? It truly is, though a little less wonderful without him. Okay, and I want to read, this is one of what I was referencing earlier, one of his letters All right, so this is Richard's letter to a young aspiring entrepreneur. Olivia Hill, a twelve-year-old Schoolgirl who sent me a wonderful note about her own entrepreneurial dreams. She wrote to me asking about the key skills I used when first starting out. I swiftly replied The advice might be useful for other young business students too, so here it is. So I want to read you Richard's letter to young aspiring entrepreneurs. And it doesn't even just have to be young people.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“As he spoke, I understood what he meant. It was like an arrow through the heart. I think he must have known that he only had a few hours left. That night, march nineteenth, twenty eleven, he died peacefully in his sleep. I was devastated. However far away we had been from each other in terms of distance, we had always remained extremely close. Dad felt as constant a part of my life as the sun rising and setting each day. He lived a life, he lived as full of life as anybody could wish So to me, I just took away. It's like, just live your life with purpose. Enjoy it. He was 93 years old. He said, Dad died a happy man. The only way you can do that is by filling your life with purpose and love. What you give, what you do, how you treat people, and how you make them feel.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So he says, I rang up dad to talk about the arrangements for the big day. So he's talking about is that his daughter and his daughter's husband called him up and it's like, will you, can I marry your daughter? Give me a blessing. So he's talking his dad. And then after that, they said, hey, we want to get married on the same day in the same place you did, which was on, I forgot, I think, December 20th on Necker Island. So said, um... Holly and Freddie had decided that they wanted to get married the same date and in the same place as Joan and I had. 20th December on Necker Island. Dad listened carefully and then stopped me in my tracks with his reply. I really hope you all have a wonderful time, he said simply.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I would say melancholy. Maybe it's sad's not the right word, but it's just we have one life, as he said multiple. Like you have to live a life filled with purpose. Do not suffer every day. Some level of suffering in life is inevitable, of course, but don't suffer through it. Like, make your life fill with purpose. Do whatever you need to do to work yourself in that position. And this is the realization that he comes to, you know, he had a really close relationship with his dad and his dad's going to pass away here”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Humans communicate through stories. It's how we make sense of our surroundings, ourselves, and our place in the world. Human beings have glands. This is such an interesting writing to me. Human beings have glands that secrete all sorts of things. But the human mind secrete stories. We live narratives. That is the only way we know how to experience anything. And it is our glory. This is one of my favorite parts of the book because this is what I just read to you is just his insights takes place over five, six pages, and he's wrapping up like what the effect of social media and technology is on today, like the importance of writing, why he takes notes, why he feels you need to delegate if you're going to build successful companies, and then how to tell how to communicate the values of your company by telling stories. There's just a lot of information.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That take lots of time and are not productive. I love this. I love the art of getting more done by the elimination of, there's a Bruce Lee quote. It's like, it's the daily decrease, not the daily increase that you should focus on. Hack away at the unessential. I'm paraphrasing, but it's one of my favorite Bruce Lee quotes. Rather than slave over a spreadsheet, why not write a blog and turn your pitch into a story?”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“My first widely read blog was about the art of delegation, so now we're going from note taking to delegation. This is about two paragraphs later. It was an appropriate theme since delegation has been a secret of my success for five decades. Asking for support is a strength, not a weakness. If you try to do everything yourself, you won't succeed and you'll make yourself miserable along the way. I now work with our content team on around 600 blogs per year, and I call the team several times a day. So that's what he's going back where he's talking about, hey, student was, you know, this is a ragtag group of people trying to make a difference. He's like, well, I'm not going to make a magazine today, but an online blog is kind of best in both worlds. So he's like, we have an in-house online publishing operation, and it's through his. It's through his blog. He has a team helping him, and they're producing a lot of content every year. And if you think that sounds too time consuming, think of all the things you do.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think that would be useful. And I like books that are short, concise, and get right to the point. And I think that's just easier for most of us to learn that way. So, okay, so now we're in the middle of why he's taking notes and everything else. So he goes, if somebody works for me and doesn't take notes, I ask them, are you too important? Note-taking isn't beneath anyone. I take notes in every meeting to keep the frame of mind to learn. I edit as I go along and follow up with dates and tasks in order of importance. I couldn't have written two autobiographies without them.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I didn't know this was less common because I would never remember all this stuff. It's just like you can read a book and then go back five years later and scroll through and just read your highlights and your notes. And there's suddenly these ideas that have escaped to the ether are now forefront of your mind again. I think it's extremely helpful. And there's a, he said, I don't know if I share it on the podcast or not, but is that like Davos taking notes on a presentation and somebody comes over to him like, you're the only one in there taking notes? And his point was just like so comments. I was like, yeah, of course. How else would I remember it all? I think there's, and I certainly used to suffer from this until I saw studies and then my own life experiences that you really overrate how much you're going to memorize. I mean, even now I talk to like my mother-in-law, like I want to try to compare and contrast what goes on with my daughter to my”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You have time to eat, drink, brush your teeth, and dozens of other things every day. Just add writing to the list. I jot down ideas, thoughts, requests, reminders, and doodles every single day. If I didn't, I would forget them before I ever put them in action. So that's part of the reason. There's two things here that are important to me. One, the reason I take notes on books and podcasts, and I didn't know.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And Twitter is basically the same thing, but the modern equivalents. So he's going to come to that realization here. He says, but while Project wasn't a success, I like to think students spirit of outspoken thought and heady fun is revived through a different way of connecting with people. My blog and Twitter account. What does that mean? He's basically, well, we basically started our own in-house online publishing operation. And thanks to social media, I'm back in the editor's chair. To begin with, I was unsure about its benefits, but 20,000 tweets, scores of social networks, 40 million followers, and a world record for most Lincoln followers later, I'm happy to be proved wrong about social media not being here to stay. So I went and looked”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Superseded everything in my journalism career is parked So before we go into the rest of this, just to recap, he's talking about hey, I really wish, like, so I started late in the digital game, right? But then in some ways, I started early by doing an iPad only magazine, except at the time I launched it, not enough people had iPads and certainly not enough were willing to pay for a magazine on just the iPad. But he talks about his first love was, you know, if you're starting a business at 15, chances are you like doing what it is you're doing. So he's like, I was bad in school, but I love to write. And so I'm going to share later on some of the letters he wrote because he has a lot of handwritten letters that, in some cases, are over 20 years old that I found a really instructive for just good advice on how to live a good life. But the reason I bring this up is because I love his ideas. Like, listen, I loved writing. I liked making a difference. Maybe the iPad magazine wasn't the best way to do it. And so he realizes that a blow.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Aged 19, filling with the optimism of youth, I ruminated on the power of individuals to stimulate positive change. But as well as realizing my journalistic ambitions through student, I was trying to make ends meet, calling out potential advertisers and organizing distribution. Without even knowing what the word meant, I was becoming an entrepreneur. Then, as we struggled to balance our books, the mail order record business we had started in the back of the magazine took off. Simultaneously we were running the student advisory center, that's what I was referencing earlier. Our nonprofit organization helping more than 500 young people each week cope with issues ranging from loneliness to contraceptive advice to sexuality. With these projects taking up lots of times and effort, student went on the back burner. Soon, Virgin Record shops and later record labels”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I was disappointed that project didn't work because journalism was where I'd begun all those years before. I started student magazine because I had a passion for making a positive difference in the world and thought one of the best ways to do so was by spreading the word in print about injustices, as well as sharing new breakthroughs and innovation in the arts, culture and politics. While I dislike school, I always love writing.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“However, there have been many episodes along the way for us to learn from. To begin with, this is interesting, we were extremely quick off the mark when it came to the iPad, and we decided to launch the world's first iPad-only magazine called Project. I joined the team outside Apple's flagship New York store covered head to toe in a newspaper. The magazine was great fun, pioneering a new way for people to digest stories. I quickly realized we had completely misjudged the market and we were publishing into a void. The critical reception was positive, but there weren't enough people with iPads and certainly not enough people willing to pay to read a magazine.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Okay, so now I want to talk about. Well, this is on social media, technology, writing, taking notes, delegation, and telling stories. And this is going to unfold over several pages, but I found it really fascinating. It says, two of the big changes over the 20 years since I wrote my first autobiography have been the rise of social media and the way the internet has changed the way we consume information. I did an interview with the New York Times. Richard Branson says the web is ready for his style of business, ran the subheading. The web may have been ready, but I definitely wasn't. In many ways, Virgin wasn't, and this cost us a lot of time and money. One of the biggest mistakes Virgin ever made was not being fast enough off the mark to become a digital leader.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I love this. This is like a thought experiment. What would you do if you were king for a day? If I was king for a day, I would ensure competition laws were more strictly adhered to. I believe in this wholeheartedly, and I love this next quote. I believe small is beautiful. And the more companies competing, the better. Again, something I always reference on the podcast. There's a lot of these ideas that, you know, this is Richard Branson now writing this in 2017, but it could very easily have been Edwin Lan writing it back in the 1940s. It says BA was essentially requesting permission to fix prices and schedules, as well as share marketing and operational data activity that would normally be illegal. It was an unholy alliance. He goes, allowing the two biggest carriers on the planet to merge Would create a hugely uneven playing field”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We have no plans to disappear. Virgin Atlantic was my baby 28 years ago when we set it up with just one plane. Like all children, they never really stopped being your babies and Virgin Atlantic is still much cherished. And he's talking about on the very next page, you know, I think It's funny that he loves it because it seems to be also the one that gives him the most problems.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, this is interesting. I never thought about this, about, you know, he's setting up all these companies. Like, do you have a favorite? And he said, one question I'm often asked is which company is my favorite? Founders, just like parents, shouldn't have favorites. We love all of our kids equally. But if you promise not to tell anyone, I'll admit to you, Virgin Atlantic will always have an extra special place in my heart. Can you imagine me still running a record label in my 60s? That was actually surprising. First of all, I never thought to ask the question and what company is your favorite, but if I did, if somebody had asked the question, I would assume that his response would have been the record label. Virgin Atlantic was the jump-off point. This kind of makes sense why it's his favorite though, he's describing here. Virgin Atlantic was the jump off point from which I built a whole world to live, love, and laugh within. He called that a lateral move. As I said in 2012,”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“In the mid-2000s, lots of people were excited about a new commodity that Goldman Sachs wanted to invest in. I had never heard of it, found it quite confusing, and balked at the amount of money required. We decided to bide our time and get more details. As we investigated the deal further, I grew even more skeptical about the damage it could do to our brand and we turned it down. I forgot all about those commodities until the real estate lending crash sent the financial world into disarray so several years later. Suddenly the commodities were all anybody was talking about. Subprime mortgages. Many experts placed lots of the blame for the crash on subprimes and gold and sacks were fined $550 million by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You just got to try to be a good parent. Just really think about it. It's probably the most important things that we're ever going to do in our lives. Although sometimes it feels like our businesses are, you know? All right Okay, so let me skip ahead. This is interesting because I've told you one of my favorite authors. Is Michael Lewis. He can make almost any subject entertaining. And one of the books that I've read that made a fundamental difference on me, maybe because of the time I was younger when I read it, or I don't know what it was, but it's a big short. So this is right around the time that Richards will be giving a business opportunity. And this is taking place in the early to mid-2000s. And this is the takeaway from this story is to trust your intuition.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That just hit me hard, and I was kind of talking about last night at dinner. That only happens once. So enjoy it. I was very keen not to put any pressure on him or his sister and let them stand on their own two feet. Like me, Sam wasn't particularly academic and told me that school had always made him feel like his options were quite narrow. So he goes on and tells him, hey, take a gap year. Learn who you are first. And so I'm not going to continue reading the rest of that, but just a reminder, you know, if you are whether you are a parent already or you're going to be most likely most of the people listening to this are either a parent already or will be one day.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think they all opeed it for over a billion dollars. I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure. I enjoy the intensity of the building process and the heat of the negotiating table. But as I believe that a business is nothing more than a group of people trying to make a difference, selling always leaves me sad, feeling somehow I have traded people. So when I do have regrets, it is generally about upsetting people along the way or letting anyone down. Sometimes in business, people get hurt, but sometimes too, doing a deal is the right thing for all parties. Okay, so now you know how he feels about selling companies.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I can still taste the tears streaming down my face after I sold Virgin Records in nineteen ninety two to keep Virgin Atlantic floating forty nine percent of Virgin Atlantic in nineteen ninety nine was very tough too, but we needed the funds to kickstart the early stages of Virgin Active. Virgin Actives are like their line of like gyms or health clubs. The expansion of Virgin Money and the creation of Virgin Mobile. I think all three of those businesses are virgin active, mobile, and money. I think all IPO'd, and I think they're all.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Okay, so this is switching gears a little bit. This is how Richard Branson feels about selling companies. At heart, I am an entrepreneur, which means I love building businesses and creating new things. In order to keep this going, however, it sometimes means selling stakes and companies our entire businesses. This is one part of my life I don't enjoy. I am not a person who harbors regrets, but selling companies has always left me with an empty feeling.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Sadly, there was to be no miracle. On September 29th, two thousand eight, a hiker found Steve's identification cards in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California and remains matching Steve's DNA were later recovered. This is Richard's takeaway from this. It's strange how adventurers often die doing something relatively mundane. Steve died flying a normal plane, not while chasing the landspeed record. And this is the last two sentences that I really want you to focus on. And I'll explain how it relates to Free Solo. When you know the dangers are trained for them and are fully focused, you are usually ready to deal with them. Mistakes can often happen in less dangerous situations. So to me, that is a story that can be applied to the risk that you take when you're building companies.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Steve went on to complete two more world record breaking flights in the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer, which were among an amazing one hundred sixteen records he set in five different sports. Okay, so That is a lead up to remember, this whole section is about risk and focus. So he's doing something insanely dangerous, and as such, he has to be completely focused. And now here's the sad part. He says, But Steve's record breaking trials were soon followed by a tragedy. A year later, he disappeared while flying over the Great Basin Desert in Nevada. I was distraught and hoped against hope he was alive. So says they went to look for him. When the Civil Air Patrol called off the search on October 2, 2007, after a month with no breakthroughs, we continued the search using Google's Earth New Satellite Imagery technology.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, this is the result of that stunt. Boeing and Airbus were quickly in touch and visited Scales Factory. This is a scaled composites is the name of the company that built the plane for Virgin. And that guy, Berton, who's a legendary in his own right, is the founder of Scaled Composites. I got to see if there's a book about that guy because he's had a rather interesting life and he'd make a good episode of Founders. So, talking about Boeing and Airbus, they were astounded at a plane built out of carbon composite material could fly around the world nonstop using less fuel per hour than a four-wheel truck. They set about developing their own versions and now planes like the Airbus A350 and the Boeing 787 are largely made of carbon composite material. Years later, Virgin Lanick ended up buying them from both companies, and”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So this is back in the Mojave Desert. Bert and his team were frantically calculating whether the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer had enough fuel to continue the challenge. The wind was playing in our favor if the jet stream remained strong. Steve could still make it. Nearly three days after he left, with almost no sleep, no respite and no landings, he glided back onto the tarmac in Selenus. He had set a world record for the longest nonstop flight in history. twenty six thousand three hundred eighty nine miles in sixty seven hours.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It says, but then the global flyer began to lose lots of fuel very quickly. Next, the GPS system faltered. I was nervous, I have to confess, but had full confidence in Steve's ability at the controls. He was extraordinarily calm under pressure, as he had shown on countless other adventures, including the first person to fly a helium balloon around the world solo. Even so, it was alarming that I could no longer follow Steve's progress in the chase plane. When it got to the morning of march first, I had to stop in Toronto to launch Virgin Mobile Canada and was dumped onto the tarmac at the airport as Steve flew off overhead.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“With every part of the plane built, with ultra light material. If we could pull this off, it could revolutionize the way planes were built and save massively on CO two emissions. As Steve got into the cockpit, I jumped into a chase plane to follow. So he's in a plane. It says, Steve expertly guided the plane off the runway and it flew magnificently from the get go. It was exhilarating flying behind, watching this unique machine zip through the air in front of us. I was already a visioning converting this technology to our commercial jets in the future.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Am I actually gonna tell you what's gonna happen before it happens? Okay, yeah, I am. How am I actually gonna tell you? Let me just read this because the book's going to describe it better than I could summarize it So he says, I traveled down to Salinas in Kansas and was met by a crowd of thousands on a freezing land trip looking up at the majestic plain As Steve Fawcett, so Steve's the guy that's gonna die in a few years from now and I stood on the runway I took a moment to marvel at the sheer strangeness of what we had built okay yeah I was totally tripping over myself he's gonna describe what it looks like here The global flyer had a single jet engine above a short casing in the middle with a tiny cockpit in front of it Steve would have a few feet of space to sit in while he flew around the world without stopping. To either side he could see twin tail booms mounted, making up a thirty five meter wingspan.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I would say marketing stunt that he did that might have been his primary motivation, but it was like the largest flight without stopping to refuel. It's like this future, if you want to Google and you want to see what it looks like, just Google Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer. It's a rather interesting plane design by this guy named Bert Raton, who is also heavy featured in that book, Space Barons, which I did a podcast a few weeks or months ago. But it was just like carbon fiber, futuristic plane that traveled.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But those rewards don't come without a risk attached. And in the mid-90s, I was devastated to lose several heroic men in two separate accidents. So I don't know if that's a typo because it says in the mid-90s, but now we're in February 2005 when this happens. So the guy we're going to talk about that dies, dies in 2007. So I was a little confused by that. In February 2005, I had turned my attention away from Virgin Galactic and back to the project that had led us to working with Bert Rattan in the first place, which is the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer. So Virgin Galactic, you know this is, you probably know this is his attempt to take regular citizens into low Earth orbit into what is defined as like the lowest part of space. Now the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer is this”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The correlation between risk and focus, and this is especially present in my mind because I just saw this fantastic documentary in the movie theater with, I think it's by National Geographic. It's called Free Solo, and it's about this free soloing is mountain climbing with only your hands, feet, and chalk. And it's about what they call one of the greatest athletic feats in human history. And this guy named Alex Honold walks up to this 3,000 foot-tall piece of granite in Yosemite National Park called El Capitan, and he climbs it in four hours just on his own will. So once I finish reading this part, I'll explain to you why I feel like they're connected. So it says pushing the limits of flying and stretching the technology to take us into space offers those who take part in it remarkable never to be forgotten experiences.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So from a consumer's standpoint, like, why do you do that? And you do that because you're trying to eliminate competition. But that's not good for your customers. So it's just something I hate seeing, even though I'm very much capitalist. I don't like concentration. What I find my personal opinion, like this is really crony capitalism. When you have, you know, usually these massive companies that have paid off politicians and now are getting to Like the politicians should be working for the consumer and what is best for the consumer is like a diversified market, lots of little players trying to innovate and constantly improve not only the product they're making but the prices that consumers are paying and letting you know”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I love to hear, and it's something that I think is observable when you take the time to think about it. It's that size, meaning size of a company, rarely equates to the quality of the company. So he says, whenever I flew in America, I encounter the same problems I used to find with international travel. The service was poor, prices were high, the entertainment was almost non-existent, the food was barely edible, and the customers were missing out. It felt like an accepted truth that cross country American flights were something to be endured rather than enjoy. We saw it as a real chance to disrupt a sector where we had already had expertise and a key market where the virgin brand was loved but had room to expand. Why not make flying good again instead of treating customers like cattle so a few pages later he identifies why is that even the case? And he says in their wisdom the US competition authorities somehow let the six largest airlines in the US become three giant airlines. Through sheer size, they dominate the market and control slots.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So he says he was really charming, genuinely mortified by what had happened, and invited me over to their headquarters so he could apologize in person. He told me he was going to fire Harris Jones. That's the guy that came from America that took over Virgin Mobile UK Mobile UK and got them into this whole mess in the first place. And that he accepted the court's judgment. I hope, and this is the surprising part, I hope we can enter into another commercial deal going forward, he said. I was impressed and admired his pragmatism, and this is the lesson, even though he had lost half a billion, he wanted to at least rescue something from it Okay, so this is how he identifies the opportunity for Virgin America. And his conclusion is something that...”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Instead of T Mobile being given our shares for one pound, as they demanded, the judge ordered them to give us all of their shares worth five hundred million pounds for one pound. What's more, they were made to pay the cost of both sides as well as the damages. A bad day for T Mobile just got worse. By taking us to court, they had ended up losing well over half a billion pounds. The following day I had a telephone call from the head of T Mobile or from the head of T Mobile's owners. This is this company called Dutch Duchom.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Being bullied by them, I told the team. Once we gave them a response, T-Mobile attempted to break our partnership by activating a so-called no-fault termination clause. If successful, it would have given them all of our shares worth over half a billion pounds for just one pound. A date in court became inevitable. Say, I don't know when this is taking place because, well, he says by 2003. Okay, so that's about. Ten years after he sold Wrecker Company? Because he's saying they're running out of cash, but he just had 500 pounds. So maybe meaning actual cash flow and he was reinvested into companies. Okay.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And decided to try to snatch our 50% share in a company now worth more than $1 billion. He claimed he was upset that T Mobile had to pay us a marketing fee of around 4.56 pounds a month for every Virgin Mobile customer. The deal was written plain as day in our contract, but this didn't stop T-Mobile calling in their high-powered lawyers and threatening us with court if we didn't change the agreement. I thought it was disgraceful and we immediately took legal advice. However, we were in an acutely difficult position because as we didn't own our own infrastructure.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Mobile was so serious there was no other option. So this is an example of what he means by brand and venture capital. And so we're going to figure out what is Virgin Mobile, like what are the components that make up Virgin Mobile? He says the shame was that Virgin Mobile was actually doing really well. By 2003, Virgin Mobile UK was turning over more than a million pounds a day. Again, I'm so used to talking about dollars that sometimes I'm going to be saying dollars accidentally. It's every number that is in this book is in pounds. As such, we were already looking into floating the business on the stock exchange. Our partners, T-Mobile, was very happy with the way things were going, or so I thought. It all changed with the arrival of the new T-Mobile UK managing director, Harris Jones, from America. He saw our relative inexperience in mobile markets as an opportunity.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But one of the projects that came out of Student Magazine, so Student Magazine was a for-profit endeavor that they funded by selling advertising. But they would do things that, you know, they were young and idealistic. So they started out basically a call center where you could call in, and it's for students that had problems. They wanted to commit suicide. They had sexually transmitted diseases. They had all these problems that some young people have that are uncomfortable telling like maybe their family about. So that's what he's talking about, that's what the student advisory center was. So he's saying, hey, we had these ads saying you need to get checked to make sure you're not spreading venereal diseases. After day in the dock, meaning jail, we were given a nominal fine of seven pounds. But as a result, the outmoded law was eventually changed. Next, the infamous sex pistols case in 1977, when we were taken to court for displaying the band's album title Never Mind the Ballet.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That was a very long wind up to tell you about a little story that's in the book that I want to share with you that has to do with going to court against a partner. And we're going to jump right into it. I dislike going to court almost as much as I dislike wearing suits. Back when I was starting out, I'd scribbled out the words, we don't need lawyers in my notebook and underlined them for good measure. Court cases can keep me up at night with worry, and there have been numerous occasions over the years where we've had to go and defend ourselves. My first, and now we're going to do some flashback before we get to this fight with T-Mobile. My first experience was back in 1970 when I was arrested under the 1899 Indecent Advertisement Act for using the words venereal disease. This is so ridiculous, but it's actually true for using the word venerable disease in our student advisory center leaflets to encourage young people to get sexual health checkups. What he's talking about is one of the, it's not charitable project, but...”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“His modus operandi and how he wants to organize businesses. And my own personal, like it speaks to my own personal philosophical leanings. But there's going to be issues with these because think about what he was just at the very beginning of the book. He was comparing who did he name as the entrepreneur he most admired, Steve Jobs. This is the exact opposite approach that Steve took. And so Steve was all about control. And Richard is more about people and opportunities. And he self-diagnosed attention deficit disorder. So he wants to constantly, you know, his business to be a constant reflection of his personality. But the only problem with that is sometimes when you have, you're not controlling it completely. You're partnering. You can't really control what other human beings are going to do, especially the ones outside of your organization.”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“They're broken up into even smaller companies. And what this does is it caps this downside. It almost looks like, to me, it looks like an out of the money option. So his downside is capped, his upside's potentially unlimited. And I don't know if I'll cover it in here, but it talks about like one airline he started. I think they started with like either $3 or $10 million. They get a buyout offer a few months or a few years later for $250 million. He turns that down and it winds up going public for like $1.5 billion. So that's an example. There's a bunch of examples where he takes these tiny little companies that he starts after several years and they'll IPO for smaller numbers and I think we're used to in America at least where maybe where the outliers, at least the media that I'm exposed to. But there's several of these companies where he'll take public for one to two billion dollars. So that's his basic business idea. And I really like that idea. But the reason I'm telling you all this is not only so you understand”
2018-11-26 · Founders · #48 Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source