Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography

by Richard Branson

My home has moved from a houseboat to a paradise island, while my company has grown from a UK business to a global brand. My dream of flying private citizens to space has gone from a childhood fantasy to the brink of reality,

I view life as one big adventure; I’m always learning, and finding new things to try and challenges to overcome. I’m still Finding My Virginity every day.

The late Steve Jobs, the entrepreneur I most admire, said: “My favorite things in life don’t cost any money. It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.” That thought has been on my mind as I write this book, thinking back to all the good times and tough times behind me, and looking forward with wonder at what lies ahead. I’ve always lived every day as if it’s my last, fiercely loving my family and friends and trying to make a positive difference. We only get one life, and this is mine.

I had created and sold the biggest independent record label on the planet, and fought doggedly to build Virgin Atlantic into the best airline in the world. The Virgin Group had grown from a couple of companies to more than a hundred

Within the space of twelve months we would launch nine different companies

a year to get a business off the ground, from the initial idea through planning, market research, development and launch. Personally, I’ve always disregarded this rule. As far as I’m concerned, anyone following it should

But failures didn’t put me off at all. They had all been fun to get stuck into, and we’d learned a lot of important lessons.

The sweet spot was always where we could differentiate from the competition, in service and in product, and where there was a real appetite for change. We

It’s amazing who you can get talking to and what you can get discussing over a few drinks at 30,000 feet. I’ve heard hundreds of business pitches at our sky-high bars over the years and several have gone on to become successful companies.

One thing I’ve learned over the years is that the average customer is usually far smarter—and more appreciative of a joke—than big businesses give them credit for.

I asked Stephen Murphy and investment guru Gordon McCallum why we weren’t already investing. They were ahead of the game, quickly showing me a Goldman Sachs report about the possibility of MVNOs—mobile virtual network operators.

I saw change as a challenge, and wanted to meet it head on.

“There is no point trying this half-heartedly—we have to really go for it, or give up. Are we giving up?”

For them to offer us A$250 million made me think we might just have all the cards in our hand.

I had presumed their idea was limited to gyms in the UK, but they explained how they saw this brand expanding globally. This was my kind of thinking. I was keen for Virgin to continue growing our presence around the world, and it was great to see how important the brand’s values were to their strategy.

Now I understood. Put simply, we used surveys to pinpoint the specific locations where gaps in the market existed with lots of potential customers living nearby.

I set about buying Ulusaba, with a view to turning it into a luxury reserve for people to visit and support the local community. With Karl and Llane Langdon at the helm, we have developed Ulusaba into a haven for wildlife as well as a beacon for the surrounding region. Today we employ 107 team members, of whom seventy-six are from the local villages.

If I had to give one reason why I have been fortunate enough to experience some success, it would be my knack of bringing together wonderful people.

He had plenty of reasons to be terrified; the ride was far from smooth. At 170,000 feet the spaceship went into a series of vertical rolls, spinning a record twenty-nine times up to 300,000 feet. It was out of control, speeding faster than a bullet out of the Earth’s atmosphere. How Mike didn’t pass out I’ll never know. But the system worked, the spaceship went up into space at 102.9 kilometers and Mike got back to Earth in one piece.

No desire to leave earth...I have seen space and galaxies in documentaries and films.

Since the first person went into space in 1961, fewer than 500 others have followed, most of them male, white and English-speaking. It was great that those lucky hundreds had made it out of the atmosphere, but I was excited that we could help many more people from different countries, cultures and languages.

By law, non-Americans may not own more than 25 percent of the voting shares of a US airline, a ruling that we were careful to stick to. While we licensed the Virgin brand and considered Virgin America very much part of the family, the Virgin Group did not control the airline. But by objecting relentlessly, our competitors managed to delay our launch and cost us tens of millions of dollars at the same time.

Good to know!

Traveling at over 100 mph, the wind picked me up and smashed me painfully hard into the side of the building. Fortunately, I hadn’t spun around, so it was my backside that hit the wall rather than my head. It completely ripped the back of my jeans off, cut my legs and arm open and badly bruised my hand. As I finally started to slow down, the searing pain mixed with acute embarrassment and I hung there in midair like a rag doll, feeling an absolute fool. I slowly twirled around and the crowd gasped at the sight of me holding my bleeding bottom in both hands, a look of agony on my face.

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to focus on superior customer service, innovative products and design and empowering staff. One of the most satisfying elements of Virgin America’s growth has been hearing so much praise for how unique our team is.

The industry response bore this theory out: in nearly every major survey of US airlines, United came out last, while Virgin America was top of the pile. Size rarely equates to quality.

“I phoned ten people for financial help when I was in trouble,” he said. “Five of those people said they wouldn’t help me.” This rejection had not gone down well: Donald went on to spend the rest of this bizarre lunch telling me how he was going to dedicate his life to destroying those five people. “I don’t think that’s the best way of spending your time,” I told him when I could get a word in. “This is going to eat you up, and do more damage to you than them.

A lunch between Branson and Trump in Manhattan; very revealing and I rather not share on Twitter. Folks you gotta read this book!

But I decided that it would be too far-fetched, and no one would believe anybody could be so crass. I remember contrasting it with a subsequent lunch I had with Hillary Clinton, which we spent talking about education reform, drug policy, women’s rights, conflicts around the world and criminal justice reform. She was a great listener as well as a very eloquent speaker. As far as Donald Trump is concerned, the meeting was a completely wasted opportunity. I left his apartment feeling quite sorry for him.

Night and day difference and I proudly voted for her! Wow this chapter is titled Rebel Billionaire.

The Rebel Billionaire, by contrast, promised to be different. Rather than setting the contestants business tasks, I would instead be able to share my experiences through extreme adventures.

The point of the exercise was to see if the contestants had the courage and good sense to say no. It is very important to take risks in life and business, but they need to be calculated—there is no point risking your neck for something with little chance of success (as I’d learned the hard way in Vegas!).

It’s one thing being bold; it’s another altogether risking your future on pure chance.

Sara and I are now good friends and she joined me on the judging panel for Virgin Media Business’ pitching contest for start-ups, VOOM. It was really satisfying seeing her pass on the expertise she has learned from her years in business.

As well as the amphibious crossing, I also hold records for an assortment of different challenges, including the First Pacific Crossing by Hot-air Balloon, the First Transatlantic Crossing by Hot-air Balloon, the Fastest Crossing of the Atlantic in a Boat, the Most Followers on LinkedIn and, rather bizarrely, the Richest Reality TV Presenter!

He had set a world record for the longest nonstop flight in history: 26,389.3 miles in sixty-seven hours. Boeing and Airbus were quickly in touch and visited Scaled’s factory to see how they had developed the aircraft. They were astounded that a plane built out of carbon-composite material could fly around the world nonstop, using less fuel per hour than a four-wheel truck.

A year later, he disappeared while flying over the Great Basin Desert in Nevada. I was distraught and hoped against hope he was alive.

It was only a few years earlier that Steve had been a commodities broker. He had gone on to inspire millions with his achievements. So

There will only ever be one Steve Fossett.

“I don’t just want to be strapped tight into a seat in a chunk of metal, blasted to space and back again without seeing anything,” I told the design team. “I want people to come back changed by what they have witnessed—we need big windows, comfortable seats and the space to float around in zero gravity.”

Shai explained how we could launch the world’s first “quad-play” business, offering cable television, broadband internet, landline phones and mobile all in one simple package. Getting people’s business across such a broad range of products would mean we could keep costs low and reinvest in infrastructure and services.

At heart, I am an entrepreneur, which means I love building businesses and creating new things. In order to keep doing this, however, it sometimes means selling stakes in companies or entire businesses.

Every January, the world’s great and the good gather together in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos for the World Economic Forum.

“I’ve never forgotten your courtesy,” she told me years later. There is a lesson there. Good manners cost nothing: little kindnesses will take you a long way.

There is no doubt humans are increasing the amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at an exponential rate, and that the ever-thickening blanket around the Earth that this creates is driving up temperatures. It was clear to me that unless more was done the consequences would pose potentially catastrophic risks to the Earth’s environment, economies, species, cultures and people.

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As you may have established by now, I believe strongly in people. Entrepreneurship has helped create many of the wonders of the world today, and it can help us overcome many of our challenges for a better tomorrow. New initiatives could help us get to the root of the problem.

my work and adventures have always given me much more of a buzz.

I was particularly taken with Portugal, which in 2001 became the first European country to officially abolish all criminal penalties for personal possession of drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines. In December 2011, I visited the country on behalf of the Global Commission to congratulate the Portuguese on the success of their drug policies and see their impact firsthand.

Surprised that Portugal implemented that rule!

They are at the forefront of an energy revolution that can unlock the greatest wealth-creating opportunity in modern history. We’ve also joined Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Coalition to stimulate reliable, affordable energy for the world. We’re investing in new energy technologies, working with more than twenty countries toward a carbonless future.

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I am always willing to take risks, but they have to be calculated, not reckless.

It was a timely reminder to always examine every aspect of a deal, and go with your instinct if it doesn’t feel right.

Virgin Atlantic will always have an extra special place in my heart. Can you imagine me still running a record label, in my sixties? Virgin Atlantic was the jump-off point from which I built a whole world to live, love and laugh within.

Virgin Atlantic and Virgin America. Virgin Blue customers could now fly to 450 destinations around the globe. In effect, we created the world’s first virtual international airline, a model every other airline has been trying to replicate since, which has transformed air travel. Some people suggested it was like turning from easyJet into BA. I didn’t want us to turn into either, though—I wanted Virgin airlines to be unique.

In 2014, I joined Sam on his 1,000-kilometer journey from London to the summit of the Matterhorn. The Virgin Strive Challenge was a new adventure Sam and my nephew Noah dreamed up on their way down Mont Blanc after we climbed the mountain in 2012: to run, row, cycle, hike and climb entirely under their own steam all the way from the UK to the top of one of the world’s most formidable peaks, the Matterhorn.