This week Alberto sat down with Richard Harpin, the founder of HomeServe, investor, and author of How To Make A Billion In Nine Steps, to unpack the practical framework behind building a business that sold for $5.6 billion.

Richard’s story challenges one of the biggest myths about entrepreneurship: that you need a completely unique idea to build something great. He explains why copying and improving can be more powerful than inventing, why founders should stay small until they prove the model, why focus matters more than endless new ideas, and why hiring your replacement can be one of the most important decisions a founder ever makes.

He also shares the nine steps he believes helped build a billion dollar business, from copying and improving existing ideas, to testing before scaling, finding the right investor, hiring better people, expanding internationally, staying focused, and developing the character needed to survive the journey.

You will learn

• The 9 steps Richard created to help founders build a billion dollar business

• Why you do not need a completely unique idea to build something great

• How copying, improving, testing, and learning can create a stronger business model

• Why founders should stay small until they have proved the model works

• Why hiring your replacement can help your business scale faster

• How focus, discipline, resilience, and self belief helped Richard build and sell HomeServe for $5.6 billion

• What a billion dollar exit actually feels like, and what success and money do not solve

Follow Sir Richard Harpin:

https://www.instagram.com/richard_harpin/

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/rharpin

https://www.facebook.com/harpinr/

https://twitter.com/richard_harpin

Buy Sir Richard's Book - How to Make a Billion in Nine Steps:

https://amzn.to/3R2cFpu

#thrivingminds #RichardHarpin #Entrepreneurship #BusinessPodcast #StartupAdvice #Leadership #BusinessGrowth #FounderMindset #Success #PersonalGrowth #Investing #ScalingUp #Motivation #HomeServe #EntrepreneurLife

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This week Alberto sat down with Dr Chloe Paidoussis Mitchell, the world renowned Chartered Counselling Psychologist, grief and trauma specialist, and best selling author of The Loss Prescription, to unpack what grief really is, what it does to the brain and body, and why so many people feel like they are grieving in the wrong way when they are not.

In this conversation, Dr Chloe explains why grief is not just emotional pain but a full mind, body, and identity experience, why sudden loss can dysregulate the nervous system, why denial can be a normal early response, and why people do not move through grief in neat stages. She also explores bereavement, relationship loss, trauma, family grief, delayed grief, and the difference between suppressing pain and actually healing through it.

You will learn

• What grief actually is, beyond the clichés people are usually told

• Why grief affects the brain, body, nervous system, and identity, not just emotions

• Why there is no single right way to grieve, and why people in the same family can grieve very differently

• What denial, numbness, anger, guilt, and delayed grief can really mean

• What helps in the first days after a loss, and what makes grief harder in the long term

• Techniques to heal healthy in the long term

• How to support someone who is grieving without trying to fix or rush them

Follow Dr. Chloe:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-chloe-paidoussis-mitchell-cpsychol-dcpsych-afbpss-69809b30/

https://www.instagram.com/dr.chloe.paidoussis.mitchell/

Buy Dr. Chloe's book:

https://amzn.to/4dlgy1j

#grief #mentalhealth #healing #selfawareness #trauma #emotionalhealth #personalgrowth #psychology #copingwithloss #healingjourney

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Alberto sat down with Viviane Paxinos, former Warner Bros Vice President, former AllBright CEO, and one of the most accomplished growth and transformation executives in media and digital, to unpack a career built on ambition, reinvention, resilience, and the courage to keep moving when things do not go to plan.

Viviane shares how she grew up in a Greek immigrant family in Canada, moved to London on her own, built a remarkable career across Viacom and MTV, BBC Worldwide, A+E Networks, Warner Bros Discovery, UNiDAYS, and AllBright, and then faced one of the hardest leadership chapters of her life under public scrutiny.

In this conversation, she speaks openly about ambition, burnout, public failure, identity, leadership shame, female leadership, fundraising, resilience, and what it really takes to rebuild yourself personally and professionally when a business goes through a painful transformation.

You will learn

• How to build a career across media, tech, and leadership without having everything planned from the start

• What Viviene learned from leading global businesses through growth, transformation, and public failure

• Why women often internalize business struggles more personally, and how to stop doing it

• How to adapt to new industries quickly, even when you are not the obvious expert in the room

• Why success, identity, and self worth should never be tied tightly to your title

• The habits and mindset shifts that helped Viviane recover from stress, burnout, and intense professional pressure

Follow Viviane:

https://www.instagram.com/viv_paxinos/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/viviane-paxinos-378a513/

#podcast #entrepreneurship #leadership #personalgrowth #business #mindset #resilience #womeninbusiness #careeradvice #startup #wellness #storytelling #thrivingminds

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.