Anthony Ng Monica and Fintan Costello sit down with Steve Varsano, founder of The Jet Business and the man billionaires call when they want a jet.
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Combined exits across our guestsAt this level, nobody’s buying a jet. They’re buying their time back.
Steve VarsanoTwo hosts. One conversation.
We’ve sat at the table for the deals, the exits, the regrets and the second acts. We talk to the people who’ve crossed over — and we’re still figuring out what’s on the other side.
Founder · Investor · London
Co-founded Swogo in 2012 and sold it to 1WorldSync (Battery Ventures) ten years later. Now CEO of Daily Body Coach and NGM Venture Group, advising
founders on the part of the journey nobody puts in the deck. Harvard Business School. Writes Business Unfiltered.
Chairman · Operator · Amsterdam
Online marketing specialist turned chairman, advisor and NED. DCU. Built and scaled BonusFinder.com, advises founders on the things they’re avoiding, and asks the questions they were hoping he wouldn’t. Co-host of The Gambling Files.
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For four decades Steve Varsano has been the man billionaires call when they want a jet. Royalty, heads of state, self-made founders — they all…
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My Tuesday morning, every Tuesday morning, for the last eighteen months. They don’t dodge a single difficult question.
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00:12Anthony Steve, you've been doing this for forty years. The first time you sold a jet, what was that day like?
00:31Steve First sale was 1984. A Citation. The buyer was a Chicago commodities trader and he came in wearing the exact same suit he'd worn the day before. I remember thinking — that's a man who's about to spend twelve million dollars and he doesn't care what he looks like.
02:08Fintan Was that the moment you knew this was your business?
02:14Steve No. The moment was a year later. A heads-of-state deal that took eleven months, and on the morning of the closing the buyer's wife rang me directly to ask if she could change the leather. That was when I understood what the job actually was.
05:42Anthony Talk to us about the showroom on Hyde Park Corner. Why a showroom for jets?
05:55Steve Because nobody had ever done it. Aircraft were sold in hangars, in private offices, on tarmac. I wanted somewhere a billionaire could walk in off Park Lane on a Tuesday afternoon, sit in the cabin of a Global, and decide.
13:00Fintan Royalty, founders, heads of state — what's the common thread?
13:14Steve Time. None of them buy a jet. They buy hours back. Three hours a week, fifty weeks a year, for the rest of their working life. You do the maths.
22:24Anthony Tell us about a deal you walked away from.
22:36Steve Three. The biggest was a sovereign wealth deal — eight aircraft, very large number. Something didn't sit right about the structure. I rang the chairman myself and said no. Lost the bonus, kept the firm.
32:14Steve At this level, nobody's buying a jet. They're buying their time back.
34:00Fintan What does fifty thousand feet teach you about people?
34:11Steve That they tell you the truth up there. There's no PR, no advisor, no gatekeeper. It's just the cabin and a glass of water and the next four hours. Some of the most honest conversations of my career have happened above the Atlantic.
— End of excerpt. Full transcript available on request.
