Build your billion dollar business with these 9 proven steps
RORY LINDSAY
You’ve built a successful business. Maybe you’re turning over millions already. But deep down, you know you’re capable of more. You see other founders scaling to billion-pound valuations and wonder what they know that you don’t. The difference is following a proven playbook that most entrepreneurs never discover.
The path to a billion is more systematic than you think. But hardly anyone makes it there. In 2025 there are approximately 5,522 companies with revenues exceeding $1 billion, out of approximately 359 million active companies globally.
Richard Harpin knows this path. He founded HomeServe with £50,000 in 1993 and sold it to Brookfield Asset Management in 2023 for £4.1 billion. Today he invests in fast-growing businesses through Growth Partner, and operates a growth program for founders and CEOs through his Business Leaders organisation, with the goal of doubling the number of large companies in the United Kingdom. His new book, How to Make a Billion in 9 Steps, reveals the exact framework he wishes he’d known from the start. “If I’d known these at the time I could have got there in 15 years instead of 30,” Harpin admits.
I’ve spent years studying how entrepreneurs build massive companies. I’ve seen what separates those who scale from those who stall. Here’s the actual playbook Harpin used to build one of the UK’s most successful companies. Follow them to transform how you think about scale.
How to make a billion in 9 steps, by someone who did it
Step 1: Copy and pivot
“We are taught in school that copying homework is bad – but in business, copying and pivoting is good,” Harpin explains. Look for successful models in other markets or industries. Find what works, then adapt it to your context. HomeServe itself was inspired by an existing plumbing insurance model, adjusted from a struggling emergency plumbing business Harpin was running. Stop trying to reinvent everything. The fastest path to a billion starts with proven concepts.
Your next breakthrough is hiding in someone else’s success story.
Step 2: Get an investor
“Only seek funding when you have proved the business model and need investment for growth, to ‘de-risk’ your life and to pay off your friends, family and your remortgage,” Harpin advises. He learned this lesson the hard way, giving away half his shares for £500,000 when cash ran out. Smart founders raise money from a position of strength. Funding can’t fix your business if it’s broken. Prove your model first. Let investors compete to fuel your proven growth, not fund your experiments.
Desperation makes you give away your empire for peanuts. Do investment right.
Step 3: Get some “coachment”
“A mentor or coach can make a big difference. My first was Nigel Morris, co-founder of Capital One in the United States, who helped me crack America,” Harpin shares. Great mentors unlock doors you didn’t know existed. They’ve already made the mistakes you’re about to make. Find someone who’s built what you want to build. Then actually listen to them.
The right mentor saves you a decade of expensive mistakes.
Step 4: Bricks and clicks and paper
“That may sound strange in a digital world, but omnichannel is the winning model,” Harpin notes, pointing to Next’s £14.8 billion empire. Physical presence, digital platforms, and even print catalogues can work together. Don’t abandon channels just because they seem outdated. Your customers want choice in how they interact with you. Give them every option that makes sense.
Billion-pound businesses meet customers wherever they are.
Step 5: Hire your replacement
“HomeServe’s rapid growth was partly due to putting the right chief executives in place across the world, enabling me to work on the business rather than simply in it,” Harpin explains. You can’t scale if you’re trapped in daily operations. Find leaders who love the work you hate. Promote fast when someone proves themselves. Your job is strategy and vision, not managing the details.
If you can’t be replaced, you can’t grow beyond yourself.
Step 6: Go global with locals
“Appoint a local chief executive who knows the country and its business culture,” Harpin emphasizes. International expansion fails when you send your best UK manager to run America. Different markets need different leaders. Find successful locals who understand their market’s quirks. Let them adapt your model to local realities while you focus on finding the next country to open in.
Americans buy from Americans. The French buy from the French.
Step 7: Evolution, not revolution
“Success is about constantly evolving your business model,” according to Harpin. Radical pivots kill momentum. Small iterations compound into massive transformations. Keep your core strong while testing improvements at the edges. The billion-dollar businesses that last are the ones that never stop refining their model.
Revolution sounds sexy. Evolution builds empires.
Step 8: Follow a not-to-do list
“By resolving to do less, I’ve become better at the things that matter most,” Harpin discovered. Write down every opportunity you’re refusing to pursue. Share it with your team so they stop bringing you distractions. The discipline to say no to good ideas protects your ability to execute great ones. Your not-to-do list matters more than your goals.
Every yes to a new idea is a no to perfecting your core.
Step 9: Hone your character
“Every successful entrepreneur and chief executive shares certain key qualities,” Harpin observes. “The courage to take risks and know limitations. The curiosity never to stop learning. The integrity to confront the brutal facts. The humility that encourages you to surround yourself with people who have abilities that make you better.” Define who you are. Then define who you need to be to become a billion dollar company owner. Work to fill that gap.
Your character determines your ceiling more than your strategy ever will.
Your billion-dollar playbook starts with step one
These nine steps took Harpin from £50,000 to £4.1 billion. They’re not complicated, but they require discipline most founders lack. You already have a successful business. Now you have the exact framework to scale it beyond what you thought possible. Pick one step that resonates. Master it completely. Then move to the next. Your billion-pound exit comes by following a proven playbook with relentless consistency.