Steven Bartlett hosts The Diary of a CEO, one of the largest business interview podcasts globally by reported listenership. He also runs Flight Story (his advisory and agency operation), holds multiple investment positions, and sits as a Dragon on BBC's Dragons' Den.
Born in Botswana, raised in the UK. Founded social media agency Social Chain in his early twenties and exited before building the current portfolio. The full operating stack — podcast, advisory, investments, publishing, television — produces the most operator-diverse creator business outside MrBeast's Beast Industries. UK media infrastructure (Dragons' Den, UK business press, UK podcast distribution) anchors a transatlantic audience that extends across US, European, and global markets.
The Diary of a CEO
The Diary of a CEO is Bartlett's flagship media property — a long-form interview podcast featuring conversations with CEOs, entrepreneurs, authors, and operators across business, science, health, and adjacent categories. The podcast has scaled into one of the largest business-interview podcasts globally by reported listenership and produces multiple weekly episodes with consistent guest-quality and editorial production.
The structural significance extends beyond the listenership scale. Diary of a CEO functions as Bartlett's primary brand-amplification mechanism — every guest interview reinforces Bartlett's category-authority positioning, builds his access network to subsequent guests, and produces the kind of editorial credibility that pure-personality-podcasts do not match.
Flight Story and the Operating Stack
Flight Story is Bartlett's advisory and agency operation — working with brands, founders, and operators on marketing, creator-economy strategy, and broader business-building. The Flight Story operation gives Bartlett the operator-revenue layer that pure-creator businesses do not have. The advisory work also produces deal flow into the investment side of the Bartlett operations.
The combined structure — podcast (audience and brand), advisory (operating revenue), investments (long-term equity returns), publishing (the broader Diary of a CEO book franchise), and television (Dragons' Den UK profile) — produces the kind of multi-revenue-surface creator-operator business that few operators of any geography have built to comparable scale.
Where Bartlett Sits in the Creator Economy
Bartlett anchors the UK-origin transatlantic-scale tier of the podcasters and media-business operators category. The competitive set includes MKBHD at the institutional-trust tier, Casey Neistat at the broader-creator tier, Tim Ferriss at the multi-business-operator tier, and Lex Fridman at the long-form-interview tier. Bartlett holds the most operator-diverse business stack outside MrBeast's Beast Industries.
UK-based creator-operator running The Diary of a CEO podcast, Flight Story advisory, multiple investment positions, the Dragons' Den BBC role, and broader media-business activities. Born in Botswana, raised in the UK. Founded Social Chain in his early twenties.
What is The Diary of a CEO?
Bartlett's flagship long-form interview podcast — conversations with CEOs, entrepreneurs, authors, and operators across business, science, health, and adjacent categories. One of the largest business-interview podcasts globally by reported listenership.
What is Flight Story?
Bartlett's advisory and agency operation. Produces operator-revenue alongside the podcast and supports deal flow into Bartlett's investments.
What was Social Chain?
The social media agency Bartlett founded in his early twenties and exited before building the current portfolio.
Written by
EPR Editorial Team
The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces original reporting, research, and analysis on communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question. Publishing since 2009.
