How to Make a Billion in Nine Steps
By (Author) Richard Harpin
Little, Brown Book Group
Piatkus Books
14th October 2025
United Kingdom
Tertiary Education
Non Fiction
Small businesses and self-employment
Business strategy
Hardback
256
Width 156mm, Height 240mm, Spine 22mm
A master entrepreneur reveals the nine essential lessons for building an ultra-successful business.
Richard Harpin became an entrepreneur at the age of just seven when he started selling conkers to his school friends. Fifty years later he sold a company he founded, HomeServe, for over 4 billion.In How to Make a Billion in Nine Steps, Harpin shares the lessons he learned along the way, and the things he wishes he had known that could have got him to a billion-pound valuation faster.He reveals his uncomplicated, grounded and honest approach to business, showing that start-up success is not rocket science. And he shares his practical wisdom for building a company from the ground up, identifying opportunities, creating effective marketing, planning for future growth, hiring brilliant people and developing the key qualities of a great leader. It will inspire a new generation of CEOs, fitting them for a world of ever-evolving challenges, and revealing the path to extraordinary success.Richard Harpin was born in Huddersfield and raised in Northumberland. In 1992, with a 50,000 investment, he founded HomeServe, a home repairs and improvements company that quickly rose to become a FTSE 250 listed business serving millions of customers worldwide. Having acquired Checkatrade in 2017, HomeServe was valued at 4.1 billion at the time of its 2023 sale to Brookfield Asset Management, a Canadian investment firm.
Harpin is now the Chairman of HomeServe EMEA, the owner of Business Leader magazine and the Sunday Times business columnist. He devotes half his time to the business and the other half to fostering and supporting entrepreneurship. He lives with his wife, primarily in North Yorkshire, and occasionally in London.