Richard Koch is an author, entrepreneur and investor. He has written 20 books on ideas and business, including The 80/20 Principle, which has sold over 800,000 copies and been translated into 33 languages. His ventures have included Filofax, Belgo, Plymouth Gin, and Betfair, with returns on his investments between 5 and 53 times his original stakes. Formerly Koch was a strategy consultant with the Boston Consulting Group, a partner of Bain & Company, and a founder of L.E.K. Consulting. He was educated at the University of Pennsylvania and Oxford University.

Koch has actually had three careers, the first as a strategy consultant. He worked for the Boston Consulting Group in the days when Bruce Henderson was dominant and at his most creative. Koch became a partner of Bain & Company when it was a fledgling rival to BCG and was deeply influenced by Bill Bain as well as Henderson. Koch went into business on his own account when he was 33 as a co-founder of LEK Consulting. The firm was said to be the most successful strategy boutique of the 1980s, expanding from 3 to 350 professionals during six years Richard was there, with several offices in the US, Europe and Asia. LEK, in line with the advice it dispensed, not only grew very fast; it was also extremely profitable.

Having put in 80 hours a week for 13 years as a strategy consultant, he retired before he was 40 and has since divided about half his time between two hobbies he finds delightful – helping to start or expand new ventures, and writing books on business ideas. He has started or provided early backing to Filofax, Belgo, Plymouth Gin, and Betfair, and made over £100m personally from these ventures. He is the author of The 80/20 Principle which has become a business classic and global bestseller, and 19 other books providing ideas for business. The other half of his time is spent enjoying life to the full. He believes that everyone and every business can achieve more by doing less, by combining extreme ambition with a relaxed and civilized daily life.

In 1997, The 80/20 Principle pioneered a reinterpretation of the so-called Pareto Rule – extending the idea that most worthwhile results come from a small minority of effort from business, where it was well known, to include personal life and careers. The book, substantially updated in 2007, has become a business classic, being named by GQ as one of the top 25 business books of all time. Richard’s most recent book – written with Greg Lockwood – is Superconnect: How the Best Connections in Business and Life Are the Ones You Least Expect. Eagerly awaited and due to be published in April 2013 is The 80/20 Manager, which gives ten different ways that managers can achieve extraordinary results from ordinary effort.

Management, Corporate Strategy, Finance, Capital Markets, Corporate Finance, Venture Capital, Joint ventures, Entrepreneurship, Business, Business Leadership, Leadership, Consulting, Economy