One key to entrepreneurial success is to get a great group of people around you who believe in your idea.
I have always believed that the only way to cope with a cash crisis is not to contract but to try to expand out of it.
Having colleagues nearby, whether at the beach or in a crypt, means the ideas are always flowing.
A generation ago, the image was that you had to trample everyone else down to succeed; but I don’t believe that makes good business sense.
When we start a new venture, we base it on hard research and analysis. Typically, we review the industry and put ourselves in our customer’s shoes to see what we could do better.
Choose great people and shine in their shadows.
Whatever business you are in, every company can shoot for the start in their own way.
My general attitude to life is to enjoy every minute of every day. I never do anything with a feeling of, ‘Oh God, I’ve got to do this today.’
Growth does not always lead a business to build on success. All too often it converts a highly successful business into a mediocre large business.
With the casino and the beds, our passengers will have at least two ways to get lucky on one of our flights.
Like getting into a bleeding competition with a blood bank.
The funny thing is people won’t let me pay for things. I’ll be in a restaurant and the manager will say, ‘Oh no, it’s on the house.’
We’re introducing separate rooms with double beds in all of our planes so people can actually go with their partner and have a proper night’s sleep.
The jet stream is a very strong force and pushing a balloon into it is like pushing up against a brick wall, but once we got into it, we found that, remarkably, the balloon went whatever speed the wind went.
The music industry is a strange combination of having real and intangible assets: pop bands are brand names in themselves, and at a given stage in their careers their name alone can practically gaurantee hit records.
I don’t think so, in that Virgin is already a global brand. Brands like Amazon have had to spend hundreds of millions of pounds you know, building their brands, whereas Virgin is already well-known around the world.
Communication: the thing humans forgot when we invented words.
You’ve got to take risks if you’re going to succeed. I would much rather ask forgiveness than permission.
Dream big and you will be presented with the opportunity to lead the world on an incredible adventure.
We don’t actually plan to launch new businesses over the next few years, but we are planning to take the ones we have into new territories.