
Richard Branson: In it for fun not just money - chegra
http://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/blog/in-it-for-fun-not-just-money
======
kitcar
I am half way through Richard Branson's biography "Losing My Virginity" now
and really recommend it to anyone who wants a fun read -
[http://www.amazon.com/Losing-My-Virginity-Survived-
Business/...](http://www.amazon.com/Losing-My-Virginity-Survived-
Business/dp/0812932293) -

He made a lot of REALLY bad business decisions (i.e. decisions which lost him
lots of money) in the first 25 or so years running Virgin which is pretty good
evidence that this blog post is not just PR.

On an unrelated note, something else I learned from the book is his success
was pretty much 100% due to a cousin of his from South Africa showing up in
London unannounced and looking for a job - turns out that cousin had a great
ear for "what's cool", which resulted in Virgin signing their first successful
artist (a studio musician who hung out at one of their studios), whose record
sales kept the company afloat for its first 10 years.

Just goes to show you the importance of the right team - as well as being in
the right place at the right time...

~~~
jakarta
I read the book 2 years ago so my memory is a bit fuzzy... My biggest takeaway
from that book is he took an approach to entrepreneurship which emphasized low
risk / high uncertainty ventures.

For example, he started his business selling Virgin records by mail and used
pre-orders to limit any real inventory risk. That gave him the cash flow to
fund the eventual opening of the Virgin Record Store.

Then later, when he decides to open an airline, he purposefully chooses to
lease rather than buy planes. That lowered his initial capital outlay and made
the risk of the airline going bust not so bad on his wallet.

I think I also remember that he was really good at setting up his different
companies using a holding co structure. I think that allowed him to segment
out each business and made it so that the failure of one would not affect the
others (esp. re financing).

I also got the idea that he took a lot of small low risk bets. Taking his
Virgin brand and simply applying it to pre-existing products (maybe even cola?
I cant remember too well). Even the airline was already another airline I
believe. So by applying his brand to a wide variety of products he was able to
circumvent having to do a ton of R&D or heavy capital investments.

~~~
kitcar
It's important to separate the decisions he made, versus the decisions his
McKinsey & Co Trade "business manager" made.

I get the impression from the book that people would call Richard up looking
for money, and if it sounded like fun Richard would say "Sure", to which all
the other Virgin stake holders say "Are you nuts?". Then Richard moves forward
with it one way or another, and its up to the other employees to make it work.

That, at least, sounds like the story behind Virgin Atlantic, as well as a few
of his big adventure trips.

------
jacquesm
I completely believe him. Whenever you see Branson in pictures he's always got
this boyish grin on his face.

That's more proof to me than anything else, he can't be in control of himself
that much that he could fake that consistently. He's done some very dumb stuff
knowing full well that it couldn't really hurt him just for the heck of it.

------
harscoat
The titled could have been 'In it for "stuff that matters" not just the
money':

"Most people feel that they can create something that is going to make a
difference to other people's lives - that is how they start their businesses."

Reminds of Tim O'reilly post "Work on stuff that matters"

1/sthg that matters to you more than money

2/ create more value than you capture

3/ take the long view

[http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/01/work-on-stuff-that-
matters-...](http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/01/work-on-stuff-that-matters-
fir.html)

------
aaronsw
I'm curious if pg agrees. He sometimes presents startups as this
extraordinarily painful chore, but my experience is more like Branson's.

~~~
tomjen3
He wrote once that startups are fun in the way that doing survival training is
fun - which is to say, not at all if it is not your thing.

I tend to believe that.

Edit: actual quote

>rankly, though, if I've misled people here, I'm not eager to fix that. I'd
rather have everyone think starting a startup is grim and hard than have
founders go into it expecting it to be fun, and a few months later saying
"This is supposed to be fun? Are you kidding?"

The truth is, it wouldn't be fun for most people. A lot of what we try to do
in the application process is to weed out the people who wouldn't like it,
both for our sake and theirs.

The best way to put it might be that starting a startup is fun the way a
survivalist training course would be fun, if you're into that sort of thing.
Which is to say, not at all, if you're not.

<http://www.paulgraham.com/really.html>

------
Luff
Thanks, I really needed to hear that right now. It might turn out to be bad
advice, but I love getting excuses to do what I really want.

~~~
TheSOB88
Why live your life if you're not doing what you love?

~~~
fmora
You were down to -1 points. Your phrase is awesome and try to live by it every
day. The people that down voted you must be really screw up. I'm really
curious as to why they would do that. What is it that bothers them so much
about your phrase? They are probably old and bitter. Or maybe young and
pessimistic. Who knows. If one of those persons that down voted this comment
could shed some light as to why, it will be greatly appreciated.

Of course, more than likely those same people are now going to down vote me.

~~~
gsk
Your comment and the parent's lack empathy for someone's circumstances. Also,
you should just make your point and not worry too much about votes and points.
I say this because, presumably, the implicit goal of a conversation is to
understand rather than score points.

~~~
fmora
I thought it was pretty clear I was trying to understand why they didn't like
the comment. It wasn't about the points but about why somebody would not like
that quote. You only have one life, once you are dead, you are dead. So why
not enjoy it by doing what you like? (As long as you follow the law of course,
i.e. if you like hurting people then that is a no-no) Why would somebody
dislike a comment like that? That is what I was trying to understand.

------
orblivion
Sounds nice, but I'm somehow very wary of following this logic. Let's hear
from the guy who's living paycheck to paycheck who did what was fun. Though
maybe he's still happy too, who knows. Or maybe the guy who started doing it
and then "wised up" in his 30s but then it was too late and he's stuck in a
job that's more boring than what he could have had if he was more prudent with
his career.

God, I sound like my dad now.

EDIT: Also, him saying that money is a detail only helps in the short run. I
have the same attitude toward an interesting project I'm about to quit my job
for, but I recognize that this "fun", as it were, will be very short lived if
I don't have some revenue. So, trying for real and lasting a year is better
than selling out, but finding a way to make money off of the "real" thing is
necessary if it's going to last.

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KoZeN
I suppose it really does come down to common sense.

If you get into business specialising in something you have little to no
passion about and you are unsuccessful then chances are you won't have enjoyed
the process whereas if you are unsuccessful after attempting something you
truly are passionate about then you will more than likely have enjoyed the
process regardless.

It reminds me of what my Dad used to tell me 'Do it because it makes you
smile, not because it makes you money'.

------
ulf
While I think his attitude is authentic to his younger years, it is still
somewhat amusing to hear a billionaire talk about not being into something for
the money...

~~~
mseebach
If you're a billionaire, and you're still in it, you're NOT in it for the
money, that's pretty obvious. Branson has FU money, and then some. He could
retire and live very comfortably, but he's still working. Don't tell me he's
motivated by being able to buy an even larger small country.

~~~
tortilla
He has FE (Fuck Everyone) money.

~~~
chegra
lol not everyone. SEC and FBI don't take that.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Stanford> Allen Stanford 2.2 Billion

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Branson> Richard Branson 2.6 Billion

In the same league.

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geuis
Has anyone else noticed that in the article photo, what appears to be the
Statue of Liberty behind him and the woman is leaning at something like 30
degrees?

~~~
wolfhumble
This happen often in sailing :-)

Mast bending over due to the wind, photographer compensating for this by
tilting the camera.

~~~
geuis
I thought about that but if you notice, it's only the statue that leans. The
island and all background objects are even with horizon.

~~~
runjake
Fisheye lens effect.

------
chegra
Although they say Iron Man was patterned off of Elon Musk, the first person
that came to mind when watching the movie was Branson.

~~~
pgbovine
phew, you said _movie_ ... i was about to say, when the comic first came out,
Branson was probably still in diapers

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Aaronontheweb
I'm sure owning a private island doesn't hurt either :p

Branson's a fascinating character - that cover story Forbes ran a few years
back about Branson and other successful people who were all afflicted with
dyslexia really helped motivate my younger brother who has a really severe
case, so for being a good role model for people like my brother he has my
thanks.

~~~
mcdowall
The story of how he bought Neckar Island is so compelling! The audacity of
someone so young to offer $100,000 (if i recall correctly) for an island that
was up for sale in the millions is such a great case of guts and bloody
mindedness to succeed.

