The Millionaire Survivalist Extraordinaire
Victor Vescovo, the radical multimillionaire, has made reaching new depths of the ocean’s floor his magnum opus. His wild blend of courage, skill, and deep pockets have enabled him to accomplish more than most could do in a thousand lifetimes. This cowboy explorer from Dallas, TX, is the ultimate millionaire survivalist driven more by inspiration than desperation.
Today on Rob Raskins’ Millionaire Survivalist, we’ll review the accomplishments of a guy with the money to live his wildest dreams and break world records while paying out of pocket to achieve them.
Analysis
As a member of team Five Deeps Expedition, Victor Vescovo reached his goal of being the first to reach the bottom of each of the world’s five seas: the Atlantic, Southern, Indian, Pacific, and Arctic Oceans. This includes being the first to reach the bottom of the Marianas Trench’s infamous Challenger Deep at 10,925 meters, which is just under 36,000 feet. That’s a depth of nearly 6.8 miles!
While each member of the Five Deeps played a crucial part in the entire operation, Victor put up the money. Why? Because he had it. Also, he wanted to be the first to explore the deepest parts of the world’s oceans.
$30M Triton Submersible
The name of the submersible? The Limiting Factor, after an artificial intelligence entity in a science fiction novel. At 12 feet tall and 12.5 tons, The Limiting Factor was designed differently than previous submersibles. Aside from needing to handle pressure equivalent to nearly 300 fueled and fully loaded 747 Jumbo jets stacked on top of it, the Triton submersible would also be designed to allow two passengers to make repeat visits to these depths.
As Victor put it, mankind has done more to explore space than its own oceans, stating that less than 18% of the ocean had been mapped with any significant detail. While I’m certain gravity played a role in this decision, Victor adds that NASA’s 2018 budget was $4B, while the NOAA received $36.5M for ocean exploration and research. Victor’s solution? Put his money where his mouth is, naturally. But, where’d he get the money?
Victor Vescovo co-owns Insight Equity and sits on the board of 10 companies. Before that, he was an investment banker and management consultant. Where he made his millions was in reinventing industrial processes. This is where he raised the investment capital to invest in private equity in the first place. Consequently, this gives a guy like Victor the money to carefully pick his battles and his teams.
Victor is not just a lucky guy who’s smart with money. He pilots his own Embraer Phantom Jet and Eurocopter 120 helicopter. He also speaks seven languages and spent 20 years as a US Navy Reserve intelligence officer with top-secret clearance, including during 9/11.
Before Victor’s deep-sea dive challenge, he’d just achieved the “Explorer’s Grand Slam” by reaching the highest points on all seven continents, including Mt. Everest. He’d also skied about 62 miles to each of the North and South poles.
Victor Vescovo’s rare combination of big brains and brass cojones to match makes him a true millionaire survivalist, far more worthy of the public’s attention and admiration than pretty much anyone I can think of. But unfortunately, this only adds to the ever-widening chasm between the absolute worldviews of those with the capacity to do the extraordinary and pretty much everyone else.
Click here for the whole story: https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/exploration-survival/victor-vescovo-five-deeps/