Sir Richard Branson : How Vitae Connected

Branson was one of if not the first celebrity personality to believe in and interact with Vitae London. We happened to be 1 of 1000 companies to receive the Virgin start-up funding out of a group of 10,000 applicants to begin with. I was then fortunate enough to become one of the Start-up Ambassadors for Virgin which then led to extra support and exposure for the company at the beginning of our journey. 

I knew I had to get a watch to Richard Branson himself and I happened to meet him twice, which meant two opportunities to present him with a watch. The first time was a dinner at his home, which didn’t turn out to be the most suitable opportunity to present him with a watch, there were so many of his team around him and I let fear dictate what I would do. However, with the second opportunity I made sure not to back down. I was lucky enough to be one of two ambassadors who got 1-1 mentorship from Branson himself, and got to interview him in front of a live audience. 

 

I gifted him a watch there and then during the interview because I knew he couldn't really say no in front of a live audience, in return he gave me his old watch and a handful of cash! That moment was then the cover of the virgin start up page for the week after, and the video is still there to be seen on the page till this day!