[Founder Notes] Richard Branson

Limit downside. Cap downside. Maximize optionality and revenue streams. Maintain optionality.

While starting Virgin Air, he limited everything to 1 year. Could return the plane. Contracts mattered. That's not timidity — that's protecting the ability to keep playing.

On cofounders: The problem is misaligned values. Richard: live life to the max. Simon: live for art. They weren't wrong, just different.

Reinvest over dividends. Don't lose control. By being public, you lose time and energy to bankers. Even Richard started to doubt himself because "banker bosses" spent so much time demanding explanations instead of doing the work.

— Jay