"If you look at any business in the history of mankind, ANY
business," says NetJets executive vp Kevin Russell, it is,
if successful, distinguished in some way from its competition
in terms of what it brings its customers.
"Digging a moat and filling it with alligators" is a
Warren Buffett locution that's been embraced by NetJets founder
and president Richard Santulli. "You build a moat around
your product and you continue to broaden that moat," says
Russell. The moat is all the things that make a business different
from its competitors, and the alligators are different product
offerings-a prime example being NetJets' Marquis program for the
pre-purchase of blocks of business jet flying time.
"We continue to broaden the moat between us and the competition,"
Russell says, pointing to NetJets' estimate that it now owns nearly
three-quarters, revenue-wise, of the fractional aircraft market.
