Richard Farleigh

Farleigh was born in 1960 in the Australian country town of Kyabram, one of eleven children; he was placed in foster care at an early age and grew up in Sydney. He has said that this experience gave him something to prove.⁠[1][1][2][3]

He won a scholarship to study economics and econometrics at the University of New South Wales and graduated with first-class honours. He was offered PhD funding by Stanford University but chose to go into investment banking.⁠[1][4]

After graduating, Farleigh worked in the research department of Australia’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of Australia, on economic modelling. At 23 he passed up an academic career and joined Bankers Trust Australia, where he designed and managed swaps and other derivatives and was later appointed head of the bank’s proprietary trading desk. He has said he made money for the bank close to ten years in a row.⁠[1][1][1][1][4]

In 1992 Farleigh was hired to head a private hedge fund in Bermuda. He retired at 34 and moved to Monte Carlo, Monaco, after which he began investing in small companies, mostly in the UK, and worked with the University of Oxford on commercializing its research.⁠[1][1][1][4]

Farleigh has said that in 1999 he invested about £3 million in Arc International, a chip technology company founded by Jez San; before the company’s listing he turned down an offer of £20 million for his stake and signed a six-month lock-in agreement on his shares. When the tech bubble then burst, his holding at one point lost about £500,000 in value each day, for a total loss of around £35 million.⁠[5][5][5][5][5]

In May 2012 London South Bank University announced that Farleigh would succeed Sir Trevor McDonald as chancellor for an initial four-year term; the chancellor is the university’s ceremonial head, awarding degrees at graduation ceremonies and serving as an ambassador for the university. In July 2012 he was formally installed at graduation ceremonies held at the Royal Festival Hall.⁠[6][6][6][7]

Speaking at the ceremony, he told graduates: “A university education is the surest, safest way for anybody to move forward in life.”⁠[7]

The Venture Room interviewed Farleigh on Regent Street in London. He said on the show that his first successful business was Home House; that a broking firm and an advisory firm he started were later sold for 20 million; and that he had been involved in about 120 businesses and had plenty of failures, calling business “a numbers game sometimes” that needs a bit of luck.⁠[3][3][3][3]

On his background, he said he grew up in the care system and that education was his “salvation”; he also said he most values technology businesses whose product is genuinely different, describing Home House, with its casual dress code in a beautiful building, as a form of disruption too.⁠[3][3][3][3]

As of October 2026, Farleigh works as an investor, economist, and independent commentator; he hosts the interview programme The Boardroom, publishes Farleigh’s Five weekly on Substack, and serves as chairman of Innovative Physics. He says he has backed more than 100 companies.⁠[2][2][2][2][2]

As a backer and chairman, Farleigh helped convert a Georgian mansion on Portman Square in London into the private members’ club Home House. He has said that of the more than 70 businesses he had invested in, Home House was the one he was most attached to. His other investments have included Net-a-Porter and Wolfson Microelectronics.⁠[1][4][4][5][4]

He was an investor on the BBC business programme Dragons’ Den, where he invested in Levi RootsLevi RootsLevi Roots (born Keith Valentine Graham) is a Jamaican-born British entrepreneur, chef, and reggae musician who grew up in Brixton, London. In 2007 he pitched his Reggae Reggae Sauce on the BBC programme Dragons’ Den by singing with his guitar and won investment from Peter Jones and Richard Farleigh; the Caribbean barbecue sauce went on to be sold in major UK supermarkets and grew into a food brand bearing his name.Open the full entry’ Reggae Reggae Sauce.⁠[2][5]

Farleigh is the author of the investing book Taming the Lion, which sets out 100 investment strategies; he later published Humble Stumbles and Ricky Means Business, a novel about a teenage entrepreneur.⁠[2][2][2][2]

A keen chess player, he has represented Bermuda and Monaco at the Chess Olympiad. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation programme Australian Story made a documentary about his life, There But For Fortune. Because of his own background, he serves as an ambassador for three children’s charities: Action for Children, Their Future Today, and Launch It.⁠[1][2][2][2]

Spend as little as possible when starting out: “If I had a day job, I wouldn’t give it up,” but use evenings and weekends to test the concept with very little risk and money, and find out as quickly as possible whether the business works (at 16:11 in the video).⁠[3][3]

Choose a business with a differentiated product: he divides businesses into “product businesses and price businesses,” and prefers disruption “where you literally the product is different” (at 16:58 in the video).⁠[3]

Treat risk like a lion: you can take risk, but treat it like a lion that could eat you; “You’ve got to work with a lion, but don’t let it eat you” (at 17:24 in the video).⁠[3]

Personal website: https://www.farleigh.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[2]

X: Public account: https://x.com/FarleighRichard (opens in a new window)⁠[2]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-farleigh-7a0a1616 (opens in a new window)⁠[2]

YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/@RichardFarleighOfficial (opens in a new window)⁠[2]