Richard Branson: Where Have All the Colorful Tech CEO's Gone?

Posted by: Steve Hamm on June 25

The tech industry used to be full of colorful and dynamic CEOs. Not so much anymore. That makes it much less fun to be a tech industry reporter. I was reminded of this falloff when Sir Richard Branson visited BusinessWeek this week. Probably 30 BusinessWeek reporters, editors, art directors, and interns packed a conference room and there was a buzz of excitement before the brash (“Screw it, let’s do it,” is his business motto) businessman made his entrance 15 minutes late. Branson did not disappoint. He was alternatively funny, provocative, charming, and slightly too self-satisfied.

The most interesting comments he made were about government bailouts. Earlier this week he had urged the British government not to bail out British Airlines, which is in such a cash crisis that it asked employees to work for a month without pay. "Capitalism, for it's faults, works when big companies are allowed to fail because they're inefficient and outlive their time," he told us. He said Virgin Atlantic briefly considered buying BA, but decided against it because "the liabilities outweighed the assets." Now, if BA fails or cuts back services, he hopes to take the opportunity to buy new landing slots for Virgin Atlantic. "Their costs are too high. We'd rather buy slots and start from scratch."

Branson has launched dozens of companies, some successful; many not. Asked which two companies best represent the two ends of the spectrum, he named Virgin Atlantic as the company he's "most proud of" and Virgin Cola as the flop.

Virgin Atlantic took off 25 years ago with one second-hand 747. Now its expanding and buying new aircraft while competitors are struggling mightily. He predicts the Virgin America, which launched last year and still has quite limited schedules, will be a major success too--based on the fact that so much care is being taken with all facets of the experience, from lighting and interior design to the food and entertainment options.

He says he had a lot of fun with Virgin Cola, but going up against Coke, with all of its financial and brand might, was just too much to handle. "Their tanks were larger than our tanks," he sold us. The key lesson Branson learned from his battle with Coca-Cola is that having an exciting youth brand is not enough. You have to differentiate yourself, and be better, if you have any hope of beating the industry giants. In this case, the Virgin Cola was no better than Coke.

Even though he seems quick to enter new businesses, he says he only gets into something if it's not being done well by somebody else. So he's doing health clubs in South Africa, where this isn't much competition, but not other countries where there are plenty of good clubs available.

I asked him a couple of questions about The Elders, but posted about that on my personal blog.

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