Serial entrepreneur Richard Harpin says copying is the secret of business success
'I'm a great believer that you should share secrets,' says the self-styled angel investor.
His quest is to 'double the number of large companies' in the UK by providing small and medium-sized firms with the money, advice and networking opportunities that they need in order to grow.
A consummate marketer, Harpin has used a big chunk of the estimated £500 million he made from the sale of HomeServe to Canadian buyout group Brookfield in 2023 to back businesses 'that have copied a proven model and are improving on that'.
His investments include Easy Bathrooms, which is modelled on rival kitchen and bathroom retailer Howdens; a fitness club chain in Spain that Harpin says is 'a twist on PureGym' in the UK; and Passenger, a British version of US outdoor clothing business Patagonia.
So it is no surprise that in Harpin's new book, How to Make a Billion in Nine Steps, he lists copying as his top tip.
He describes how HomeServe succeeded because 'we constantly learned from others – especially our competitors – and adapted proven ideas to create even better solutions' for customers.
For Harpin, being the first to introduce a product or service, or to enter a new market, may bring some advantages, but it is no guarantee of long-term success.
He prefers what he calls 'second-mover advantage', noting how streaming giant Netflix began life by copying Blockbuster's video rental model.
'They copied what worked from Blockbuster, and then assessed what the market wanted and how the business could be improved.'
The rest is history. Blockbuster went bust, whereas Netflix is worth more than £400 billion.
'We are taught at school that copying is bad,' Harpin notes. 'This is not true in business. Taking credit for someone else's work is bad, obviously, but copying is simply how we learn.'
He put this philosophy to good use when he stepped in to save his local village pub in 2013. 'I never wanted to run a hospitality venue, but it's different when you're helping your own community,' he explains.
Set in a Grade II-listed building, The Alice Hawthorn is the last pub in Nun Monkton, a picture-postcard village off the beaten track in north Yorkshire with reputedly the tallest maypole in Britain.
Like many pubs, it had fallen on hard times and was reduced to serving ready meals before Harpin stepped in with a £525,000 rescue. But with no experience of owning a pub, he struggled at first.
'It took me ages to find the right people to run it,' Harpin recalls. He lent a neighbour £50,000 to run the 172-year-old pub rent-free, but he lost all of the money.
A couple who ran a restaurant in York were hired, only to discover they couldn't be in two places at once. Their chef, who took over the pub with his daughter, also couldn't make it work.
'I had to find a proven leader with skills I didn't possess, give them equity in the business and proper accountability, and set them free to make their own decisions,' Harpin recounts. Backed by what he calls 'an uneconomic amount of money', a husband-and wife team have finally transformed the pub's fortunes.
But as co-owners with Harpin, they didn't invent a new business – they copied what they saw.
Harpin and his family toured the Cotswolds to assess other pubs and hotels, and were inspired by The Wild Rabbit, an inn in Chipping Norton created by Lady Bamford of the JCB diggers dynasty.
A dozen Scandi-style guest bedrooms were built, the pub was renovated and the restaurant was turned into an award-winning diner serving superior food.
Named after a champion 19th Century racehorse, The Alice Hawthorn is in the Michelin Guide 2025 as one of Yorkshire's best pubs. But Harpin is not aiming for a Michelin star – if only to 'avoid the disappointment of losing one', he quips. The formula seems to be paying off. The Alice Hawthorn now makes around £30,000-£40,000 a month. 'That will never be a sound return on the £5.5 million I've put in,' Harpin says, but he thinks it's been worth it. 'I believe people who've made their money should stay in the UK, pay their capital gains tax and give something back to the community,' he adds.
Of course, he is not alone in this type of venture. Fans have flocked to Jeremy Clarkson's renovated Cotswold pub, The Farmer's Dog, after it featured in his hit Amazon Prime TV show about the perils of running a farm.
Like Clarkson, Harpin is a Yorkshireman who readily admits to being 'tight' with money. But he is happy to subsidise the beer on tap.
The last thing he says he wants to hear from local farmers is: 'They've put the price of a pint up, so I'm not going to The Alice Hawthorn because it's too expensive.'
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