Branson's Autobiography

Richard Branson's book Loosing My Virginity - a title in reference to his famous Virgin brand - is a lengthy 572 page autobiography of entrepreneur's life. Unlike Business Stripped Bare which covered only Branson's most recent ventures and social work, this book covers his life from the very beginning.

The full story behind how Branson built his famous companies is amazing. Starting with only a student newspaper and later a small chain of record shops, he very quickly created a multinational company made up by an airline, a train company, a car company, a soda company, a cell phone company - you name it.

His ability to focus his creative energy in so many different industries is mind-blowing. Even more astonishing is the boot-strap way he built his momentum. Financing his new businesses with the profits of existing ones, Branson's masterful control of cash flow may have been the greatest key to his success.

My only criticism of the book is that it discussed in too much detail parts of Branson's life that weren't related to entrepreneurship: namely his many attempts to navigate from continent-to-continent or around the world in a hot-air balloon. Granted, it is his autobiography - and ballooning is obviously something he is very passionate about (and it did help build the Virgin brand in a very indirect way), but still - many reading his book are interested entrepreneurship and only that.

The last 1-2 chapters of the book, while the longest, were the best. In them, Branson reflects on his companies and where they are likely to go in the future. Clearly, he shows no signs of stopping.

Moxie

A lot of books on entrepreneurship (or books on any topic for that matter) contain excess amounts of fluff.

You know the books: There are a few pages of information with really interesting concepts that you can apply to your business or life... then the rest is just feel-good stuff the author tossed in so that they would have enough material to write a book with.


Moxie And Other Fundamental Entrepreneurial Concepts: Simple Truths That Might Make All the Difference by Jim Flowers is NOT one such book. It's fluff-free: 100% straight-forward need-to-know material for entrepreneurs. At just 89 pages, it only took me around an hour to read - and I enjoyed every minute of it.


Flowers, who is the Director of VT KnowledgeWorks at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center, highlights four success factors for entrepreneurs:


- Moxie: an entrepreneur's passion, confidence and ability to get things done

- Market: ride the wave of a fast-growing well-identified market

- Magic: your special sauce; what makes your product/service truly unique and desirable

- Mentors: experienced entrepreneurs who can guide you

Here's a brief video of Mr. Flowers explaining these 4 M's:



In addition to Moxie, Market, Magic, and Mentors, the book also discusses the best personality traits of an entrepreneur, what makes a good business model, important things to remember about management, what to do about money, and how to avoid common mistakes.

It's a great little book with some big points to make. I highly recommend it.

I also recommend reading Jim Flower's blog.

Business Stripped Bare

This week I finished reading "Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur" by Sir Richard Branson.

The book shows how global the Virgin brand has become. Branson describes the creation of Virgin Records (his first big endeavor in the 70s), Virgin Airlines, Virgin Mobile, and Virgin Galatic among many others.


He offers a great deal of sound advice, but here were some of my take-aways:

1. Founders can be amazing promoters. Brand not only your business, but also yourself.

- Entrepreneurs are often described as being eccentric. Richard Branson is no exception. From descending from a helicopter, to propelling down a building, Branson seems willing to do anything to promote his famous Virgin brand.

2. Small is beautiful.

- One of the management techniques that Branson has become well known for is that he keeps his business units small - very small. He does not like the idea of more than 250 people working in a building. Once the number of employees grows past this point, people start feeling lost in the mix - and the chances that creative ideas will surface goes down as well.

"...instead of letting it grow bigger and bigger and putting it into bigger and bigger offices, I will take, say, the assistant marketing manager, the assistant managing director, the assistant sales manager, and I'll say: you're now the manager of a new company." - Branson

3. When starting multiple companies, leverage with what you already have - but always have a safety net.

- Branson is a risk taker. He is famous for having started many businesses with his line, "Screw it, let's do it." But as much as he puts on the line with each new company, he never risks everything - there is always a something to fall back on.

Giving back -

Finally, the last chapter in the book details Branson's passion for corporate social responsibility. Many companies and entrepreneurs today claim that they care about more than the bottom line, but few really mean it. I got the feeling that Branson genuinely cares.

And at the end of the day that means something.

Sticky Ideas

I recently finished reading the New York Times Bestseller "Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die" by Chip and Dan Heath.


While not an "Entrepreneurship" book per-say, Made to Stick is about coming up with ideas that will "stick" with people. Managers, politicians, marketers, educators - seemingly anyone - can benefit from reading this. Entrepreneurs especially should read this when trying to generate new business ideas.

Each chapter focuses on one thing that an idea should be:

- Simple
- Unexpected
- Concrete
- Credible
- Emotional
- Story (link the idea to a story)

This got me to thinking about what a good business idea should be...

- Simple: You should be able to explain a business idea to a 5 year old and have them understand it. Be able to sum up the product/service in one sentence.

- Unexpected: More than just being new, the idea should cause customers to say "Oh! Cool!"

- Concrete: An online dating website is abstract. An online dating website that matches couples based on X, Y, Z traits is more concrete.

- Credible: Will this product/service do what you say it will? Why should someone believe you?

- Emotional: Create something that causes people to feel good. By meeting any need you're making someone feel good. The stronger the emotional bond to the product/service or brand, the better.

- Story: When pitching a product, either to investors or consumers, link it to a story. "I created this safety product after I myself was involved in an accident.."

For more about storytelling: Squirrel, Inc. and The Springboard are two great books by Stephen Denning about using storytelling to get an idea across.