How a founder launched Richard Branson in kitesurf

Karl Jacob was climbing high.

The former Facebook advisor had just started LoanSnap, an AI-based mortgage loan platform. He practiced kitesurfing in the summer of 2018 on Necker Island, one of the major sites of this sport owned by billionaire Richard Branson. Jacob was on the island for a retirement of entrepreneurs, thanks to an invitation sent by a friend. When Jacob came out of the crystal clear waters for lunch, he noticed Branson alone.

"It's something I learned if you see an opportunity like this," Jacob told Business Insider. "We started talking about our sessions, our tips and our jumps and he finally asked what I was doing.When I told him that I had created a mortgage company, Richard would like to know what he was doing. turned to me with a big smile and said: "Interesting, I have four … we should talk."

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According to Jacob, kitesurfing has much in common with starting a business. There are many risks and everything can go wrong at any time. Successful people in both environments share many qualities: they are adventurous, risky and comfortable with chess.

"It's a more natural way for people to meet," says Jacob. "My conversation with Richard started around the sport and ended around the business, and our first impressions of each other were about the sport.You know that this person is competitive and adventurous and overcame his fear, who is an integral part of a good entrepreneur. "

Jacob explains that he is more inclined to take risks now than when he was younger. He stressed that it was important that investors align with longer-term goals and greater risks, and highlighted Pinterest's public offering Thursday as evidence of the profitability of these risks.

"If you're aiming for a big space with a game-changing idea, you'd better have patient investors who understand that you will fail and that you will fail a lot before you win it," Jacob says. "Pinterest is one of the best examples of this. [Pinterest cofounder and CEO] Ben [Silbermann] seven years to make Pinterest work. People who have the discipline to fail and try again, eventually win. "

In the weeks following his unexpected kitesurf trip, Jacob closed the $ 8 million LoanSnap Series A, led by True Ventures. Branson was among the sponsors of the company.