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I am acquainted with the gentleman in question, having met him a few times on MSc modules years ago, although have no inside knowledge of Jet Republic other than what I read in the press.
Although I thought his venture to be misguided, you have to acknowledge that a lot of people put in a lot of work to get the company started and sustain it for its brief life. I don't believe they do it with the intention to fail.
If you look at the track record of many entrepreneurs, for every success there are many many failures. It not about falling over, it's about knowing how to get back up again.
There appears to be a lot of Schadenfreude on this thread and while some of the employees involved may have suffered through this, the character attacks seem a bit over the top for someone who would have been applauded as providing jobs and generating opportunities if his venture had succeeded. Just a little balance.
hugel
Although I thought his venture to be misguided, you have to acknowledge that a lot of people put in a lot of work to get the company started and sustain it for its brief life. I don't believe they do it with the intention to fail.
If you look at the track record of many entrepreneurs, for every success there are many many failures. It not about falling over, it's about knowing how to get back up again.
There appears to be a lot of Schadenfreude on this thread and while some of the employees involved may have suffered through this, the character attacks seem a bit over the top for someone who would have been applauded as providing jobs and generating opportunities if his venture had succeeded. Just a little balance.
hugel
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Talking about balance ?
Hi Hugel,
The issue is very simple:
An entrepeneur is by definition someone who takes (calculated) risks, and yes.... some projects fail and some succeed. The best example is Sir Richard Branson. Not every Virgin enterprise has seen a happy ending whilst others were a major success ! You win some, you loose some. However Sir Richard was putting in HIS money, and stuck out HIS neck ! That is an entrepeneur !!
The difference between a guy like Branson and our self proclaimed entrepeneur is that the latter never put a single penny in, by deferring his investment, and when it was finally time for him to put his money where his mouth was all along, he backed out, blaming some "ghost investor" that never existed and leaving his "dream team" hanging out to dry. Now how entrepeneurial is that ?!?
Playing with money that is not yours can hardly be considered a risk would you not agree ?
Not facing the reality of a recession, not controling your spend when you have no revenue, refusing to allow other sources of revenue (charter), spending fortunes on outrageous events and marketing, more fits the profile of megalomaniac individual who cannot deal with reality.
It sort of reminds me of another little guy who still thought he could win the war, even when his opponent was knocking on the door of his bunker.....
The issue is very simple:
An entrepeneur is by definition someone who takes (calculated) risks, and yes.... some projects fail and some succeed. The best example is Sir Richard Branson. Not every Virgin enterprise has seen a happy ending whilst others were a major success ! You win some, you loose some. However Sir Richard was putting in HIS money, and stuck out HIS neck ! That is an entrepeneur !!
The difference between a guy like Branson and our self proclaimed entrepeneur is that the latter never put a single penny in, by deferring his investment, and when it was finally time for him to put his money where his mouth was all along, he backed out, blaming some "ghost investor" that never existed and leaving his "dream team" hanging out to dry. Now how entrepeneurial is that ?!?
Playing with money that is not yours can hardly be considered a risk would you not agree ?
Not facing the reality of a recession, not controling your spend when you have no revenue, refusing to allow other sources of revenue (charter), spending fortunes on outrageous events and marketing, more fits the profile of megalomaniac individual who cannot deal with reality.
It sort of reminds me of another little guy who still thought he could win the war, even when his opponent was knocking on the door of his bunker.....
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Hugel,
you seem to think the 'character attacks' on JB are a little over the top. By your own admission you only met him 'a couple of times'!! I guess thats why you're being generous to him!!
you seem to think the 'character attacks' on JB are a little over the top. By your own admission you only met him 'a couple of times'!! I guess thats why you're being generous to him!!
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It is not a case of being "nice" to him, but showing him some respect as someone that started a venture that didn't work out, but I don't feel it is reasonable for others post some of this real damning stuff that could severely damage someones reputation from the safety of anonymity. Some of it may just be in the form of "in my opinion". But shouldn't even opinions should be moderated ?
hugel
hugel
Hopefully it will damage his reputation in such a way that in future nobody will give him money for suicide-projects like JR!!! This is the purpose of the critics! JB is not a manager, he's not even a good pilot...
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Dear Hugel,
Actually we are rendering your "friend" a service, by exposing some of his business practices which can all be proved as facts. Some people are a danger not only to the business community, but also to themselves.
Lacking any sense of entrepeneurship, messing up people's lives, burning money that isn't yours are all qualifications of a person that has lost touch with reality and lives in his own "wonderworld".
The only person responsible for damaging his "reputation" is the self proclaimed entrepeneur in question himself.
I would totally agree with you if he had put his money where his mouth was. Fact is that he did NOT, whilst he was burning 30M€+ of investors money in one year, and ignoring reality.
To walk away from any responsibility and call it : Bad luck but at least he tried, is perhaps a case of seeing things a bit too simple.
That is why our so called entrepeneur should never have an opportunity again to damage the reputation of the business aviation industry like he did.
Small guy, oversized ego. History has seen plenty of those, and they all ended up in the same miserable way. Let's just make sure he doesn't make any more victims that he will take down in his fall.
Actually we are rendering your "friend" a service, by exposing some of his business practices which can all be proved as facts. Some people are a danger not only to the business community, but also to themselves.
Lacking any sense of entrepeneurship, messing up people's lives, burning money that isn't yours are all qualifications of a person that has lost touch with reality and lives in his own "wonderworld".
The only person responsible for damaging his "reputation" is the self proclaimed entrepeneur in question himself.
I would totally agree with you if he had put his money where his mouth was. Fact is that he did NOT, whilst he was burning 30M€+ of investors money in one year, and ignoring reality.
To walk away from any responsibility and call it : Bad luck but at least he tried, is perhaps a case of seeing things a bit too simple.
That is why our so called entrepeneur should never have an opportunity again to damage the reputation of the business aviation industry like he did.
Small guy, oversized ego. History has seen plenty of those, and they all ended up in the same miserable way. Let's just make sure he doesn't make any more victims that he will take down in his fall.
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I am a bit disappointed by the way some PPruners are commenting on this. I have no idea of whether what is posted is true or not, which matters to me not much: but will matter a great deal to anyone whose reputation was sullied in this way. To have to view personal (as opposed to business or even behavourial) attacks highlights for me the importance of traditional journalism.
There is little point on my continuing to comment on this thread.
hugel
There is little point on my continuing to comment on this thread.
hugel
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Hi Hugel
No idea what you are trying to say.......... but I totally agree with your decision to discontinue your contributions to this thread.
It is probably the best thing to do, if you have no idea what happened inside the Jet Republic, and what the real role and contribution of your "study mate " was.
Good call
No idea what you are trying to say.......... but I totally agree with your decision to discontinue your contributions to this thread.
It is probably the best thing to do, if you have no idea what happened inside the Jet Republic, and what the real role and contribution of your "study mate " was.
Good call
Last edited by Mentiroso Brisa; 18th Feb 2010 at 07:36.
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but will matter a great deal to anyone whose reputation was sullied in this way. To have to view personal (as opposed to business or even behavourial) attacks highlights for me the importance of traditional journalism.
I´m just a little pilot, to dumb to be an entrepreneur or anything, but even I know that:
1) NetJets needed roughly 10 years to make a profit in Europe
2) NetJets is backed by one of the richest guys on this little blue ball
3) NetJets would not sit back and let someone else take the butter of their bread
4) The Lear 60 was the wrong aeroplane to begin with. Just look up London City on a regular day and the movements of NetJets, then you know why its essential to have an aeroplane that is capable of going to other places than 5000ft plus runways.
5) Fresh Coffee does not make the difference
I thought about applying to JR at the time, but decided against it because of 1 to 5.
So what did JB achieve and/or invent? His business idea was basically NetJets 2.0, his choice of airplane most likely only cost-driven, thus he cornered himself.
What are his merits? a few years of RAF, a few years of NetJets. has he been outstanding succesful in either role? I don´t know, but if he would have, probably one would have read about it.
Add these ingredients to selfcentrered PR and you´ll earn comments like the ones you can read here.
Maybe I´m dead wrong, but having met more than one of the type in aviation...
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Hugel, stop worrying for JB.
The only person that sullied JB's reputation was JB. He was no entrepreneur except in his own mind. Pity the people that he uprooted to follow his impossible dream. I came across JB in a business context and wished I hadn't. Mentiroso is spot on. No one should waste time feeling sorry for this guy; half of Bizav saw JR for what it was; the other half now know. So now we all know for next time: if it walks like a duck, sounds like a duck, looks like a duck....
End of story.
The only person that sullied JB's reputation was JB. He was no entrepreneur except in his own mind. Pity the people that he uprooted to follow his impossible dream. I came across JB in a business context and wished I hadn't. Mentiroso is spot on. No one should waste time feeling sorry for this guy; half of Bizav saw JR for what it was; the other half now know. So now we all know for next time: if it walks like a duck, sounds like a duck, looks like a duck....
End of story.
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starting a company these days is a big risk, especially with planes.
when you see how much cost a plane to operate, better to run away when somebody ask you for investments!!!.
when you see how much cost a plane to operate, better to run away when somebody ask you for investments!!!.
