What matters is working with a few close friends, people you respect, knowing that if times did turn bad these people would hold together.

Most people assume that a record shop's success lies in selling records. In fact, Virgin's success both in mail order and the record shops lay in skill at buying records.

As much as you need a strong personality to build a business from scratch, you also must understand the art of delegation.

To be successful, you have to be out there, you have to hit the ground running

There's no better satisfaction than watching the people around you, who have worked day and night to get something right, realising the dream.

I believe in myself. I believe in the hands that work, in the brains that think, and in the hearts that love.

From the first days of my career as an entrepreneur, I have always used my own and my team's lack of experience to our advantage. In fact, at our first venture, Student magazine, we used our newcomer status to secure great interviews and generate publicity - people were excited about our new project and wanted to get involved. Our inexperience fed our restless enthusiasm for trying new things, which became part of our core mission.