Richard Harpin

It'll come back to me in a minute.

Actually, it might have been Sir Richard Harpin.

He's written a business book recently.

And he talks about you need a not-to-do list.

And as I always say to people, "A little of a lot is a lot better than a lot of a little."

For long-term listeners of the show, you might recall back in July 2025, I had the privilege of speaking with Sir Richard Harpin about the remarkable scale-up story of HomeServe, which eventually became a plus-4-billion-revenue international enterprise employing over 10,000 people.

Today, we are returning to that story, but through a very different lens.

Jeremy Middleton CBE co-founded HomeServe with his friend Richard, but his distinctive contribution was not simply as the operator.

I'm gonna borrow that term, long-term compounders.

Love that, and we're gonna get into what you mean by long-term compounders as we, uh, develop the conversation.

You indeed co-founded an incredible long-term compounder alongside Sir Richard Harpin, who of course we had on the show back in July of 2025.

Richard, when I had him on, described himself really as the operator, while I've learned that, I mean, you describe yourself as the original investor who recognized both the opportunity and Richard's ability.

Their actual productivity, the AI made them 20% less efficient.

This is the Business Leader Podcast with me, Sir Richard Harpin.

Today's guest shot to fame as author of The Lean Startup in 2011.

It's described by the FT as Silicon Valley's innovation bible and has sold more than two million copies.

So I appreciate that.

It's the ultimate compliment.

I'm Richard Harpin, a Yorkshireman who sold my company HomeServe for £4 billion.

And this is the Business Leader Podcast, where we look at the stories and strategies behind modern businesses.

like proper gorilla like two kids just trying to figure out how do we get people on our website um asking people we knew that had a bit of following can you post us can you like you i think everyone who's set up a young business does that sort of stuff i specifically remember putting out flyers on people's cars at the test center and all these various different things and you do what you can do right it all pays off in that moment you wouldn't do it now because it wouldn't be as effective as other things you can do but in that moment that might be your only way of someone seeing you exactly

It's interesting at that Richard Harpin event we both went to, he was saying that what's direct mail is making a comeback, isn't it? Because your email boxes are so crowded now.

You actually go door to door putting a flyer out there.

For a lot of industries, that is actually really effective now.

Business can be really successful and then be stretched in lots of different ways.

Welcome to the Business Leader Podcast with me, Sir Richard Harpin.

This is the second part of our interview with Sharmadean Reid.

Make sure to check out the first part of the interview if you haven't already.

[laughs]

I'll send you one from Banks' Brewery.

I'm Richard Harpin, a Yorkshireman who sold my company HomeServe for £4 billion, and this is the Business Leader Podcast, where we look at the stories and strategies behind modern businesses.

I'm passionate about helping British businesses scale and succeed.

easier, really.

I was at an event on Wednesday evening at Richard Harpin's house.

Are you familiar with Richard? He sold HomeServe for £4 billion, a big home services business.

And I asked him a very similar question of how did you, when you branched out into the US.

No, I, I completely agree.

There's one I'm reading at the moment, it's called Nine Steps to a Billion, by a guy who I'm going to meet called Richard Harpin.

Right.

Sir Richard Harpin.

I've heard of him, yeah.

Yeah, 50,000, he started the business-