Ever run around Rome’s Colosseum? Unless you are a gladiator or a lion, the answer to that question is likely to be ‘no.’ But Hannah Guerin – COO to Richard Harpin, Founder of HomeServe and Growth Partner – has done.
When working in Italy, for the then Home Secretary, Priti Patel, Guerin, a keen runner, did laps of the Colosseum’s perimeter. And the former government Policy Adviser would encourage her team to do the same.
She still runs. But these days she is just as passionate about ‘steps.’ More precisely, the nine recommended by Harpin in his book ‘How to make a Billion in 9 steps,’ which charts the HomeServe founder’s success story.
Harpin and a business partner, Jeremy Middleton, built HomeServe from a £50,000 start–up into a £4.1 billion sale. A thirty-year business journey Harpin believes would have taken him ‘half the time,’ if the UK business environment had been more supportive of companies going for growth.
A problem that, in true entrepreneurial style, Harpin decided to address after selling his business. The answers he came up with were Business Leader, a UK-founder community for £3M+ businesses, and Growth Partner, an investor in growth-oriented founder-led companies.
And now, he’s launched another – the ‘Growth 500’ a high-profile ‘UK growth list,’ by Robert Watts, who compiles the Sunday Times’ ‘Rich List. (The first 500 was announced on July 2nd at London’s Sky Lounge.)
As Guerin enthusiastically explains, ‘Richard's mission is to double the number of large companies in the UK. The Growth 500 is the culmination of bringing those really prestigious founders and CEOs together. We hope that this list will inspire others but also help that mid-size group be recognised and create the right conditions to help them thrive.’
Guerin, a graduate in languages from Bristol University, worked across many government departments before becoming a key member of the Secretary of State for Business’s team. There, her role was focussed on, ‘How do you generate growth, and how do we back business and make sure the right policies are in place to achieve those goals?’ Questions that fascinated her. So, the opportunity to work with Harpin seemed like a ‘perfect fit.’
‘It's the wealth generators and the wealth makers and businesses that really make the make the country run,’ says Guerin. ‘I was always very interested in that dynamic; in making sure the decisions we made in government were the ones that allowed business to get on with things; helping businesses thrive.’
‘All of Richard’s focus is on our national mission to build and help this community of mid-sized founders achieve more than they ever thought possible,’ she continues. ‘To help them scale more rapidly. To give them belief, connect them to a peer group with the know-how to go further, faster.’
Harpin’s ‘Business Leader’ community is – as you’d expect from a man who built a four-billion-pound business – focused, professional, and ambitious.
‘Our aspiration is to double the number of large companies in the UK from 7,500 to 15,000. The Growth 500 and the Business Leader community is all about making that happen – bringing mid-size founders together to celebrate them,’ comments Guerin. ‘But also, to put them on the map. Most importantly, to discover what can they teach us, what we can we learn from them to help others do the same.’
The 500 features some familiar names – Ovo Energy, Revolut, and Atom Bank. As well as Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s transformative investment in growing Wrexham F.C. But its complier, Watts, has a telling phrase for many of the other British entrepreneurs in it, calling them ‘quiet achievers.’
Guerin has, I sense from our discussion, something of that about her. But, as those runs around the Colosseum suggest, something of the gladiator, too.