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YOUR BRIEF · PREPARED 18 OCTOBER 2026 · DEEP BRIF · 23 SOURCES

Steven Bartlett

Host of The Diary of a CEO, entrepreneur and Dragons' Den investor
PODCAST PREP

In 60 seconds

Why this guest

Steven Bartlett hosts The Diary of a CEO, ranked the No.1 podcast in the world by downloads and views per episode (Podscribe, July 2026), and runs Steven.com, a media and investment holding company valued at $425 million as of October 2025.

First question

You measure things in the studio most people never would — CO2 levels in the interview room, which coffee sells better. What's the smallest detail you've changed in there recently?

Don't open with

How did Diary of a CEO start? (kitchen table, $100 microphone, sock as a pop shield)

Careful

FlightStory staff count is reported as both 'about 100' and 'about 150' across 2026 sources — confirm current headcount.

The numbers

4times the most repeated question was asked
23sources
54min listened
13questions with a reason

In this brief

  1. 01Before recording
  2. 02Run of show
  3. 03Already asked
  4. 04The person and the company
  5. 05Before and after the episode
  6. 06Sources

How to read: numbers in brackets [n] mark the source and are a click away. ▶ opens the recording at that minute. All sources are numbered at the end.

01

Before recording

The 60-second briefing

  • Steven Bartlett hosts The Diary of a CEO, ranked the No.1 podcast in the world by downloads and views per episode (Podscribe, July 2026), and runs Steven.com, a media and investment holding company valued at $425 million as of October 2025.[3]
  • He made his Shark Tank guest-shark debut on October 7, 2026 (ABC, season 18, episode 3, 'Diary of a Shark'), alongside his role as a Dragon on BBC's Dragons' Den since 2021.[2][3]
  • Key for the conversation: skip the kitchen-table origin story — he has told it on The Breakfast Club, Build or Break, Yahoo Finance and The Tonight Show. Go to what has changed since: team departures, the US expansion, and the $100 million deal he turned down.[1][2][3][4]
  • Careful: FlightStory's headcount is reported inconsistently as 100 and 150 employees across 2026 sources — don't state a precise number on air without confirming.[1]
  • He frames his motivation increasingly around company-building rather than money, and uses a 'five buckets' framework — knowledge, skills, resources, network, reputation — for how people should develop.[5][8]

Stage card: the must-ask questions in order

★ = must-ask; the rest add depth if time allows.

  1. You measure things in the studio most people never would — CO2 levels in the interview room, which coffee sells better. What's the smallest detail you've changed in there recently?[1][4]

  2. You hold a two-hour minimum for interviews and say every attempt to shorten the format failed. For a creator starting today without your audience, where does long-form not work?[3]

  3. The translation project failed for 18 months, including a paused Spotify partnership, before AI agents made it work. What kept you funding it through month twelve?[3]

  4. You've said the show could be run by around 30 people at roughly 50% net margins, and you deliberately staff it bigger. Name one thing you bought with the margin you gave up.[12]

  5. Instead of selling ad reads through a network, you went to brands directly and turned some sponsorships into equity. What did you ask for in the first one of those deals?[19][17]

  6. You ran a two-month internal contest on AI agents that your company says saved about $1.18 million. Which task disappeared, and what did the people who used to do it work on afterwards?[12]

  7. The ASA has banned ads for Huel and Zoe for not making your commercial link to them clear. What changed in how your team handles disclosure after that?[22]

  8. Four core people left the Diary of a CEO team in the months before the end of July, including Jack Sylvester, while the show pushed into the US. What did that period teach you about how you lead?[14]

  9. For someone listening who runs a small team and wants to copy one thing from how you work — what should they do next week?[2][4]

Who they are

Steven Bartlett was born in Gaborone, Botswana, grew up in Plymouth, and dropped out of university after one lecture before co-founding Social Chain. He has hosted The Diary of a CEO since 2017, turning a kitchen-table recording into the world's No.1-ranked podcast by downloads and views per episode. He now runs Steven.com, a media and investment holding company, and sits as a Dragon on BBC's Dragons' Den.[3][10][11][13]

Right now

Bartlett made his Shark Tank guest-shark debut on ABC on October 7, 2026, in season 18, episode 3, 'Diary of a Shark'; other season 18 guests include MrBeast and Mindy Kaling.[2]

Verify live

FlightStory staff count is reported as both 'about 100' and 'about 150' across 2026 sources — confirm current headcount.

Ask for today's numbers on Flight Fund closed capital and named investors, undisclosed as of the AfroTech report.

Childhood experiences of racial isolation and shame in Plymouth are personal and should be referenced carefully, not probed for shock value.[1]

Repeated ASA rulings on undisclosed sponsorships are a compliance issue, not an accusation of personal dishonesty; frame questions around process, not character.[1]

Producer notes

  • He answers in long, structured blocks with frameworks and named examples (Bezos's 2015 shareholder letter, Kurzweil, Zara's Ortega) — let the first one run, then cut in on the second with 'give me the number on that'.
  • He is most specific when asked for mechanics rather than meaning: ask 'which task', 'how much', 'who decided' and he will give it; ask what success means and you get a TED answer.
  • He opens up fast on childhood, shame and his relationship, but those topics are heavily covered elsewhere — steer back to operating decisions unless he goes there himself.
  • On the ASA and the staff departures, stay neutral and factual, give him the floor, and don't stack a second accusation on top — he pushes back firmly when he feels judged ('my right is to live on my terms').
  • When he says 'we built a platform' or 'we decided', ask who was in the room and what the opposing argument was, otherwise the answer stays at brand level.
02

Run of show

Timing

0–6opener: studio details, CO2, the small-stuff culture; set the operating tone early.
6–14warm-up: the 50-year test applied to Shark Tank, and a booking he turned down.
14–40core: two-hour rule and its limits, the 18-month translation failure, margin vs headcount, direct brand deals and equity, the $1.18m AI agent contest.
40–52contrarian: ASA disclosure rulings, the team departures during US expansion, the Flight Fund female-founder commitment.
52–58closing: one thing a small team can copy next week, plus the first sign it's working.
58–60wrap and signposting.

Run of show

★ = must-ask; the rest add depth if time allows.

Opener

  1. You measure things in the studio most people never would — CO2 levels in the interview room, which coffee sells better. What's the smallest detail you've changed in there recently?[1][4]

    Why: Warm, concrete and instantly on-brand: he volunteers detail-level production stories and it sets a 'sweat the small stuff' tone founders can copy.

Warm-up

  1. You use a 50-year test — what would have to be true for you to still want to do this in fifty years. Run Shark Tank through it for me.[3][15]

    Why: Applies his own stated filter to his new Shark Tank role rather than re-asking what the filter is.

  2. You've said you pick every guest yourself. Tell me about a booking you turned down that your team wanted you to take.[1][3]

    Why: Moves past the known 'I pick my own guests' answer to the trade-off between money, reach and curiosity.

Core

  1. You hold a two-hour minimum for interviews and say every attempt to shorten the format failed. For a creator starting today without your audience, where does long-form not work?[3]

    Why: Founders and creators need the boundary condition, not the thesis — this makes him name when his own playbook does not transfer.

  2. The translation project failed for 18 months, including a paused Spotify partnership, before AI agents made it work. What kept you funding it through month twelve?[3]

    Why: A real decision under sustained failure, with a method the audience can borrow for their own stalled projects.

  3. You've said the show could be run by around 30 people at roughly 50% net margins, and you deliberately staff it bigger. Name one thing you bought with the margin you gave up.[12]

    Why: Forces a specific line item behind an abstract principle — operators get a concrete reinvestment decision to compare against their own.

  4. Instead of selling ad reads through a network, you went to brands directly and turned some sponsorships into equity. What did you ask for in the first one of those deals?[19][17]

    Why: The most transferable move in his playbook for creators trying to monetise an audience without scale.

  5. You ran a two-month internal contest on AI agents that your company says saved about $1.18 million. Which task disappeared, and what did the people who used to do it work on afterwards?[12]

    Why: Turns a headline savings number into an operating decision about roles — what operators in the audience are facing now.

  6. You have a head of failure and experimentation. What was the most expensive experiment that person ran that didn't work?[2]

    Why: He offers the role as a culture artefact; the audience learns what a failure budget looks like in practice.

Contrarian

  1. The ASA has banned ads for Huel and Zoe for not making your commercial link to them clear. What changed in how your team handles disclosure after that?[22]

    Why: A documented, repeated compliance failure that any creator taking equity in sponsors will eventually face; he can give the fix.

  2. Four core people left the Diary of a CEO team in the months before the end of July, including Jack Sylvester, while the show pushed into the US. What did that period teach you about how you lead?[14]

    Why: The hardest fair question in the materials, asked about his own conduct rather than about the departures themselves.

  3. You've said that if you don't back the next female-founded unicorn within a decade you'd count yourself a failure with the fund. How is Flight Fund's deal flow different because of that commitment?[8][20]

    Why: Holds a self-imposed, dated standard to an operational test — founders raising money learn what a fund really changes.

Closing

  1. For someone listening who runs a small team and wants to copy one thing from how you work — what should they do next week?[2][4]

    Why: Leaves the audience with one applicable action instead of a philosophy.

Don't ask — and what to ask instead

  • How did Diary of a CEO start? (kitchen table, $100 microphone, sock as a pop shield)Why not: He has told this verbatim on at least three recent shows and the audience has heard it.Instead: What's the last thing about the show's production you changed that listeners would never notice?
  • How do you balance work and life?Why not: He answers it flatly and repeatedly — 'there is no such thing as work-life balance' — and it adds nothing for operators.Instead: You doubled your speaking fee to get fewer offers. What else have you priced deliberately high to protect your calendar?
  • Tell us about the interview where you prepared for the wrong guest.Why not: He told that story on Fallon and it is one of his most circulated clips.Instead: What's a preparation habit you've dropped because it turned out not to matter?
  • How is Shark Tank different from Dragons' Den?Why not: Fully covered, including the 'moving train' line, in a recent long interview.Instead: What have US pitches shown you about where European founders are underpricing themselves?
  • Are you worried about platforming guests who spread health misinformation?Why not: Framed as an accusation he has already pushed back on hard ('my right is to live on my terms'), it closes him down for the rest of the hour.Instead: What has to be true about a claim before your team lets it go out unchallenged in an episode?
  • What's your net worth now?Why not: Published figures come from estimates he doesn't control, and it invites a defensive non-answer.Instead: You've said the group will clear well into the tens of millions in revenue — what share of that still depends on you personally being in the room?
  • What are the five buckets?Why not: It's his book framework, repeated in talks and interviews, and the answer is a recital.Instead: Which of your own buckets is emptiest right now, and what are you doing about it?

Likely questions from the audience

  1. How do I get brands to pay me when my audience is still small?

    He pitched brands directly rather than through ad networks and converted sponsorships like Huel into equity and board seats — push him for what he offered a brand before he had reach.

  2. Is it worth starting a long-form podcast in 2026 or is it too late?

    His thesis is that depth is a moat against algorithm platforms and that 'the message determines the medium' — make him say what he'd start today from zero.

  3. How should a small team use AI without gutting the work?

    He has AI translating every episode into 20 languages in guests' cloned voices and an internal agent contest that saved about $1.18m, but limits AI on LinkedIn — ask where the line sits.

  4. How do you know when to kill a project that isn't working?

    He treats downloads and revenue as lagging indicators and leans on honest feedback from trusted people; the translation project ran 18 months in failure before working.

  5. What do you look for before you invest in a founder?

    He has said he backs people over ideas and favours those who have faced adversity because they pivot better; Flight Fund writes $1–10m cheques.

Backup questions

  • You bought into Stan Store in May 2025 — what did you change there first?
  • FlightStory applies the Diary of a CEO production system to shows it buys, like Hot Smart Rich. What part of the system doesn't transfer to someone else's show?
  • You limit AI use on LinkedIn to keep the voice authentic. Where else have you drawn that line inside the company?
03

Already asked

Most-asked questions

Listened to: 1/7 · 54 min

  • How did The Diary of a CEO start? ×4↗ Yahoo Finance/NYSE Live
  • What's the relationship between money and happiness / risk and failure? ×2
  • Why do you pick your own guests? ×2

Fresh angles — ask these

  • You hold a two-hour minimum for interviews and say every attempt to shorten the format failed. For a creator starting today without your audience, where does long-form not work?[3]
  • The translation project failed for 18 months, including a paused Spotify partnership, before AI agents made it work. What kept you funding it through month twelve?[3]
  • You ran a two-month internal contest on AI agents that your company says saved about $1.18 million. Which task disappeared, and what did the people who used to do it work on afterwards?[12]
  • The ASA has banned ads for Huel and Zoe for not making your commercial link to them clear. What changed in how your team handles disclosure after that?[22]
  • Four core people left the Diary of a CEO team in the months before the end of July, including Jack Sylvester, while the show pushed into the US. What did that period teach you about how you lead?[14]

Topics they light up on

  • Childhood shame tied to race and money – He described chemically relaxing his hair and wearing skinny jeans to fit in as the only Black family in Plymouth, and linked early shame to his drive for money.[1]“I thought that money was the cure to the shame, so at 14, 15 years old I'm doing anything to try and make some money.”
  • Podcast origin story – He volunteered the full detail of the $100 microphone, the sock pop shield and recording at 2am.[2]“It started on my kitchen table with a $100 microphone that I'd bought from Apple. I used my sock as a pop shield back in the day.” ↗
  • Relationship breakup and reconciliation with his fiancée – He disclosed a year-long breakup over an unresolved intimacy problem and flying to Bali to apologise.[3]
  • Meticulous sensory research before interviews – He explained discovering CO2 levels around 1,500ppm in his early studio and compared the cognitive effect to being drunk.[4]“I was like drunk for the first 200 interviews. Like genuinely.” ↗

Topics they handle carefully

  • Specific names and details of Shark Tank filming – On Yahoo Finance he said he could barely recall details of filming despite being asked directly about expectations.
  • Fund investor identities and closed capital for Flight Fund – AfroTech reports he 'hasn't given many details yet about who's a part of his fund' and has not disclosed how much capital has closed.

Unexplored stories

  • He was fired from a call centre called 'Late Rooms' for secretly building his business website during work hours.[1]mentioned briefly in The Breakfast Club interview, not followed up on ↗
  • His mother, illiterate and having left school around age 7 in Nigeria, didn't speak to him for two years after he dropped out of university.[1]mentioned once in The Breakfast Club interview ↗
  • He recently doubled his speaking fee to get fewer but more worthwhile offers, prioritising family time.[1]mentioned briefly in The Breakfast Club interview ↗

What they have already said publicly

  • He started the podcast in 2017 reading his own diary aloud, getting around 40 downloads for the first ten episodes.[3]
  • He requires a minimum two-hour interview length and has never successfully shortened the format despite trying.[3]
  • His company has a 'head of failure and experimentation' who tests details like flat white versus mocha latte sales and CO2 levels during interviews.[1][2]
  • He learned a silence and listening technique from spy Mike Baker's story about a handler who stayed quiet for weeks to extract information from a source.[3]
  • He uses a 'five buckets' framework — knowledge, skills, resources, network, reputation — built in strict order, because the first two can never be taken away.[5]
  • He turned down a reported $100 million network/streamer deal to keep creative control of the podcast.[3]
  • He flew from Perth to Bordeaux for 24 hours to see his fiancée and her family before flying on to Munich.[1]
  • He once spent five hours preparing for the wrong guest, mixed up two same-day interviews, and had to ask the guest (later known as 'Dr. K') to introduce himself on air; it became one of the most downloaded episodes.[4]

In their own words

“There is no such thing as work-life balance... something is going to suffer.”

INTERVIEW: Steven Bartlett On 'The Diary Of A CEO' Podcast, Work-Life…

“The biggest risk is is logically not taking any at all.”

↗Steven Bartlett on Shark Tank, The Diary of a CEO and Embracing Risk

“In order for me to do a podcast for 50 years, I'm going to have to be able to wake up and say, 'Amazing that I get to do this interview today.'”

↗Steven Bartlett on Build or Break with Daniel Lubetzky

“I was like drunk for the first 200 interviews. Like genuinely.”

↗How an Interview DISASTER Became a HUGE Success for Diary of a CEO's…

“There's always an industry protecting the paper wall.”

↗Steven Bartlett on Build or Break with Daniel Lubetzky
04

The person and the company

Story

  • Born in Gaborone, Botswana; raised in Plymouth, England, as part of the only Black family in the area.[1]
  • Attended Manchester Metropolitan University but dropped out after one lecture.[3]
  • 2013: founded Wallpark, a student noticeboard and messaging platform that expanded to seven UK cities.[3]
  • Moved to San Francisco at 20 to work as 'entrepreneur in residence' at Michael Birch's incubator Monkey Inferno.[3]
  • 2014: co-founded Social Chain, aged 21, with Dominic McGregor; it grew to 200+ employees and over $25 million revenue.[3]
  • 2017: launched The Diary of a CEO by reading his own diary into a $100 microphone with a sock as a pop shield; the first ten episodes got about 40 downloads.[1][2][3][4]
  • 2018: Social Chain merged with Lumaland to form the publicly listed Social Chain AG; Bartlett served as co-CEO with Wanja Oberhof until 2020.[3]
  • 2020: stepped down as co-CEO of Social Chain AG when its market cap had reached around $300 million, then went all-in on the podcast with a roughly £40,000 nine-camera studio setup.[1][3]
  • 2021: joined BBC's Dragons' Den as its youngest-ever Dragon.[3][7]
  • January 2023: launched Flight Fund (then Flight Story Fund), a $100 million fund backing European startups.[8]
  • October 2025: Steven.com closed an eight-figure investment round led by Slow Ventures and Apeiron Investment Group at a $425 million valuation, Bartlett retaining over 90% ownership.[3]

Interests & hobbies

long-form interviewingmedia entrepreneurshipinvesting in foundersAI and automationpsychology of success and shamehiring and leadershipwork-life tensioncreator economy

Recent (the year before this brief)

  • Appeared as a guest shark on Shark Tank season 18, episode 3, 'Diary of a Shark' (ABC), which aired October 7, 2026.[2]
  • The Diary of a CEO passed 20 million YouTube subscribers between 28 September and 1 October 2026.[1]
  • Podscribe ranked The Diary of a CEO the No.1 podcast in the world by combined downloads and views per episode in July 2026.[2]
  • Opened a renovated global headquarters for Steven.com and Flight Story in Shoreditch, London, announced August 5, 2026.[2]

Company and context

  • Steven.com is Bartlett's holding company, founded November 2025, spanning media, technology, commerce, community and events, headquartered in Los Angeles with operations in London, Manchester and New York.[3]
  • The Diary of a CEO reached 799 episodes as of February 2026 and over 20 million YouTube subscribers by October 2026.[1]
  • FlightStory generated about $47 million in revenue with roughly 100-150 employees, per 2026 reporting.[1]
  • Forbes' 2026 Highest-Paid Podcasters list ranked Bartlett third globally, with estimated earnings of $45 million between June 2025 and June 2026, behind Joe Rogan and TBPN's hosts.[1]
  • Flight Fund targets $1-10 million checks in blockchain, biotech, health, commerce, technology and space, with portfolio companies including SpaceX, Zoe, Huel, Whoop and Until.[8]
  • Bartlett has co-owned Stan Store since May 2025; it has generated over a quarter of a billion dollars in revenue for its users.[1]

Company timeline

2017: Bartlett launches The Diary of a CEO by reading his own diary into a microphone; the first ten episodes get about 40 downloads.
2019: the show moves from audio-first to a video-first format on YouTube.
2020: after stepping down as co-CEO of Social Chain, Bartlett goes all in on the podcast, investing about £40,000 in a nine-camera studio setup at his kitchen table with no sponsors.
2021: Bartlett joins BBC's Dragons' Den as its youngest-ever Dragon.
January 2023: Bartlett launches Flight Fund (then Flight Story Fund), a $100 million fund backing European startups with $1-10 million checks.
2023: Bartlett founds FlightStory, a media production studio and investment fund.
2024: Bartlett says the franchise generated $20 million in revenue from brand partnerships with LinkedIn, Oracle and Shopify, speaking engagements and merchandise.
The show crosses one billion combined views and listens across Apple, Spotify and YouTube, the first UK-produced podcast to do so, with a 50-strong team at the time.
October 2025: Steven.com closes an eight-figure investment round led by Slow Ventures and Apeiron Investment Group at a $425 million valuation, with Bartlett keeping over 90% ownership.
March 2025/2026 period: Bartlett says the business will do $40 million in revenue in 2025, with triple-digit year-over-year growth, all in-house and separate from equity deals in companies.

How the company grows (public — don't ask again)

  • Monetisation runs outside traditional mid-roll ad reads: Bartlett pitched brands directly rather than through ad networks, turning sponsors like Huel into equity partnerships and board seats.[19]
  • Revenue mix includes brand partnerships (LinkedIn, Oracle, Shopify), speaking engagements, merchandise (hoodies, journals) and equity stakes taken through sponsor relationships.[17]
  • Format discipline: a minimum two-hour interview, with no shorter bookings regardless of the guest's profile, because the medium must match the message of depth.[3]
  • Localisation via AI: a translation effort with a dedicated team failed for 18 months, including a paused Spotify partnership, before succeeding; by 2026, roughly 30 million of about 120-170 million monthly viewers and downloads consume the show in another language, generated entirely by AI agents with no human involvement, including guests' own cloned voices.[3]
  • Distribution independence: he turned down a reported $100 million network/streamer deal to retain creative control and stay independent.[17]
  • Team structure: he estimates the show could be run with about 30 people and roughly 50% net margins, but deliberately staffs it larger (around 100 people group-wide) to keep improving quality.[12]
  • AI adoption extends beyond translation: an internal two-month AI-agent contest saved about $1.18 million, and AI runs an animated children's series, multilingual translations and automated pitches, while use on LinkedIn is limited to preserve voice.[12]
  • Flight Fund writes $1-10 million checks in blockchain, biotech, health and wellbeing, commerce, technology and space, with portfolio companies including SpaceX, Zoe, Huel, Whoop and Until.[20]
  • Playbook replication: FlightStory applies the production, distribution and commercial systems that scaled The Diary of a CEO to acquisitions such as its 2025 investment in Hot Smart Rich, aiming for a tenfold revenue increase there.[21]
  • What did not work: every attempt to shorten the interview format to compete with short-form media failed, reinforcing the two-hour minimum.[3]
  • Compliance friction: repeated ASA rulings against Huel and Zoe ads featuring Bartlett for failing to disclose commercial relationships point to a recurring weak point in brand-partnership disclosure.[22]

Public positions — build on them, don't repeat

  • Depth and long-form are a durable moat against algorithm-driven platforms that a single policy change can kill. — “The message we want to deliver determines the medium, and it should really be that way around.”[3]
  • He runs a '50-year test': what would have to be true to sustain an activity for fifty years. It leads him to reject lucrative but uninteresting guest bookings. — “I'm going to have to be able to wake up and look at my calendar and say, 'Amazing that I get to do this interview today.'”[3]
  • He treats downloads and revenue as lagging indicators that should not decide whether a project continues, preferring blunt feedback from people he trusts.[3]
  • On investing, he bets on two poles at once: deep technology and AI, and 'the irreplaceably human' — community, live experience and content only lived experience can produce.[3]
  • The rise of creator-led holding companies is structural: as AI lowers the cost of producing content and software, audience and distribution become the main competitive advantage. — “It's why we're seeing every creator is becoming a VC... the game actually becomes who's got distribution? Who's got an audience, who can acquire customers?”[23]

What's in it for the guest

  • His Shark Tank season 18 guest-shark episode aired October 7, 2026, with MrBeast and Mindy Kaling also guesting this season — a natural hook for a US-crossover conversation.[2]
  • Ask what he looked for differently as a Shark Tank guest shark compared with Dragons' Den, rather than asking him to compare the two formats again.[2][3]
  • He introduces himself through the podcast and Steven.com, not a single company title — frame introductions around 'host of The Diary of a CEO and founder of Steven.com.'[3]
  • No book launch or fundraising event is confirmed for the next 90 days; current promotional focus is the Shark Tank appearance and FlightStory's US expansion.[1][2]

Ways in nobody uses

  • In a rapid-fire segment he asked, 'What is a question you've never been asked that someone should ask you?' — worth asking him to answer it himself, on record.[3]
  • FlightStory lost four core staff, including a self-described co-founder, in the five months before July 2026 during its US expansion — an opening into team change under growth that nobody else has used.[1]
  • His two-pole investment thesis — deep AI and technology versus 'the irreplaceably human' — is a tension worth pressing him to resolve with a recent deal.[3]

Appearances & sources — detailed

Nine public sources were reviewed; the Breakfast Club, Build or Break, Yahoo Finance and Tonight Show interviews have detailed transcripts or quote capture, while the Sharjah talk and Euronews piece rely on secondary summaries rather than full verbatim transcripts.

05

Before and after the episode

Invitation to the guest

A draft that proves you did the homework. Adapt and send.

I'd like to have you on to talk about what's happening inside Steven.com and FlightStory right now, not retell the kitchen-table origin story of Diary of a CEO again. We'd focus on the recent staff changes during your US expansion, the economics of turning down a $100 million network deal, and how your two-pole investment thesis (deep tech and AI versus 'the irreplaceably human') plays out in a specific deal. The show reaches [audience description] who build and run companies themselves. Would [proposed date] or [alternative date] work for a conversation around 60 minutes?

After the episode

Thank-you note (within a day)

Thanks for the conversation — [specific moment, e.g. the FlightStory staff-turnover story] really stuck with me. I'll let you know the exact air date once we lock the edit, and I'll send you the clip we're planning to lead with.

What you can give them

  • A clip of his strongest moment to share with his own audience.
  • A mention of his Shark Tank season 18 appearance from October 7, 2026.
  • An introduction to any founder in the host's network relevant to Flight Fund's target sectors (biotech, commerce, space).

When to get back in touch, and why

After his Shark Tank season 18 episode: ask how the US audience reaction compared with Dragons' Den.

06

Sources

  1. [1]INTERVIEW: Steven Bartlett On 'The Diary Of A CEO' Podcast, Work-Life Balance, Why He Picks His Own Guests + More ↗podcasts.apple.com
  2. [2]Steven Bartlett on Shark Tank, The Diary of a CEO and Embracing Risk ↗finance.yahoo.com
  3. [3]Steven Bartlett on Build or Break with Daniel Lubetzky ↗daniellubetzky.com
  4. [4]How an Interview DISASTER Became a HUGE Success for Diary of a CEO's Steven Bartlett (Extended) ↗youtube.com
  5. [5]#69: A conversation with Steven Bartlett on Fame, Authenticity, And Leadership ↗youtube.com
  6. [6]The Rise And Fall Of Steven Bartlett ↗youtube.com
  7. [7]From dropout to Dragon's Den investor and serial entrepreneur ↗euronews.com
  8. [8]Steven Bartlett Is On A Mission To 'Back The Next Female-Founded Unicorn' ↗afrotech.com
  9. [9]Steven Bartlett & Jenna Meek's HUGE U-turn | Dragons' Den ↗youtube.com
  10. [10]The Diary of a CEO - Wikipedia ↗en.wikipedia.org
  11. [11]Steven Bartlett (businessman) - Wikipedia ↗en.wikipedia.org
  12. [12]Steven Bartlett Expands FlightStory With AI ↗letsdatascience.com
  13. [13]Diary of a CEO Podscribe Ranking: No.1 Per Episode (July 2026) ↗stevenbartlett.com
  14. [14]Steven Bartlett's 'Diary of a CEO' is losing its inner circle as it chases America ↗thenextweb.com
  15. [15]Steven Bartlett: From the Den to Shark Tank ↗dragonsdenindex.com
  16. [16]Stephen Bartlett's Diary of a CEO hits one billion milestone ↗podnews.net
  17. [17]Why The Diary of a CEO founder turned down a $100M deal to build a podcast empire ↗forbes.com.au
  18. [18]‘Diary of a CEO’ Host Steven Bartlett Is Not Willing to Risk His Happiness ↗hollywoodreporter.com
  19. [19]How The Diary of a CEO went from 0-40 Million Monthly Downloads - LinkedIn ↗linkedin.com
  20. [20]Flight Fund - LinkedIn ↗linkedin.com
  21. [21]Hot Smart Rich Investment: FlightStory and Steven Bartlett ↗stevenbartlett.com
  22. [22]ASA bans Huel and Zoe ads for failing to disclose links to Steven Bartlett ↗uk.finance.yahoo.com
  23. [23]Steven Bartlett's 'Diary of a CEO' Podcast Just Hit a $425M Valuation ↗mvemnt.com
This brief was fully generated by artificial intelligence from publicly available sources. Verify key facts before relying on it.
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