Quick Facts
Biography
Steven Cliff Bartlett (born 26 August 1992) is an English entrepreneur, investor and podcaster. He founded the social media marketing company Social Chain in 2014. In 2017 he started the The Diary of a CEO podcast, which is one of the world's most listened-to podcasts. Spotify Wrapped ranked it in the top 5 most popular podcasts globally in 2024. In 2021, he began appearing as an investor on the BBC One show Dragons' Den. He is the founder of Flight Group which consists of Flight Studio, Flight Fund, Flight Story, Flight Books. He is also the founder of Thirdweb.
Early life and education
Steven Cliff Bartlett was born on 26 August 1992 in Botswana to an English father and a Nigerian mother. His mother left school at age seven and could not read or write; his father is a structural engineer. Steven moved with his family to Plymouth, England, at the age of two. Here, he grew up, attending a secondary school, Plymstock School, from which he was expelled in sixth form. He went to study at Manchester Metropolitan University, but dropped out after one lecture.
Career
In 2013 Bartlett founded Wallpark, an online messaging board. In 2014 he co-founded Social Chain, a social media marketing company based in Manchester, England, United Kingdom, along with Dominic McGregor, but stepped down as CEO in 2020.
In 2019, the Financial Times reported that Bartlett and Wanja Oberhof would jointly manage Social Chain AG, which was valued at €186M at the time that it merged with Lumaland. In 2019 Social Chain and German online retailer Lumaland merged to become The Social Chain AG, listing on Xetra and the Düsseldorf Stock Exchange. The listing valued the business at over $200 million. In November 2021, Social Chain AG moved to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange's prime standard reaching a valuation of $600 million. Bartlett's website initially said that he founded a $600 million company. However, The Times reported that Bartlett had left the business at the time of the second listing. Bartlett noted to The Times that he retained a "significant" shareholding in Social Chain AG at the time of the second listing and that he was under contract to work for the company "on a range of strategic matters" at the time of the $600m valuation, including the up-listing to the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, for which he received a "further package of virtual shares/options". Bartlett's original company Social Chain Ltd. was later sold for £7.7m.
The Diary of a CEO podcast
Bartlett is well-known for The Diary of a CEO podcast which he has produced since 2017 where he interviews guests, which have included public figures such as Simon Cowell, Jada Pinkett Smith, Boris Johnson, Seth Rogen, Maisie Williams, Thierry Henry, and Richard Branson. By the early 2020s, The Diary of a CEO was one of the world's most listened-to podcasts, ranking #9 in the top most listened podcasts of 2023 on Spotify. In 2023 according to a podcast chart, The Diary of a CEO has the second largest weekly audience in the United Kingdom. Bartlett has been described as taking a largely apolitical stance on the podcast. He has been criticised for having alternative medicine-related guests on his podcast whose assertions are not backed by, or contradict, scientific evidence, and having other guests that promote medical misinformation without any serious pushback by Bartlett. A 2024 analysis of 15 health-related episodes by the BBC found an average of 14 misleading health statements per episode, including unsupported treatments for cancer and anti-vaccine conspiracy theories. The production company claimed in response that the interviews were "thoroughly researched" and that guests were offered "freedom of expression". Bartlett defended his guest on one podcast by saying that he aimed to "present some of the other side" and that "the truth is usually somewhere in the middle".
Projects
Thirdweb
Thirdweb, a Web3 startup founded by Bartlett, raised $5m in seed investment, and an additional $24 million in 2022, nine months after going live. The Series A funding round valued the startup at $160 million. The funding was led by Katie Haun's $1.5 billion crypto fund, with participation from investors including Coinbase Ventures, Shopify, and Polygon. The company aims to simplify the process of building decentralized applications on the blockchain.
Flight Fund
In January 2023, Bartlett launched Flight Fund, a $100 million fund for tech investment. The fund claims to support diverse founders and high-growth startups in blockchain, biotech, health, commerce, technology, and space sectors. The fund had a stated goal to invest in around 20 companies, offering small stakes at discounted valuations in exchange for support from previous founders who are limited partners in the fund. According to a report in The Times, Flight Fund had received criticism over a lack of transparency regarding its portfolio.
Advertising guidelines breaches by or featuring Bartlett
The BBC, which currently airs The Dragons' Den, reprimanded Bartlett in 2022 for breaching BBC guidelines on advertising after wearing jewellery on the programme of a brand which he promoted in posts on social media. In a statement, they told the Radio Times: "We have clear guidelines around talent's commercial activity while working with us. Steven has been reminded of the guidelines." In a statement, Bartlett addressed the issue, adding: "This was a genuine oversight on my part. The posts have now been taken down."
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) took action against Bartlett in August 2022 for breaching the CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 2.1, 2.3 and 2.4, in which he advertised the meal replacement firm Huel on his The Diary of a CEO podcast without clearly disclosing its nature as an advertisement. The ASA ruled that the advertisement must not appear again in its current form and subsequently advised Bartlett and Huel to "ensure that they made clear the commercial intent of advertising content in podcasts in future, for example by including a clear and prominent identifier such as 'advertisement' and making sure the break from editorial content to the ad was clearly and audibly identified."
In August 2024, advertisements featuring Bartlett by Zoe and Huel were banned by the advertising standards authority because they did not properly disclose their relationship with Bartlett.
Recognition and public image
In 2020 Bartlett was inducted into the Manchester Hall of Fame. In the same year, he was included in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. Bartlett's reputation among the general public has been described as polarising.
Books
In 2021 Bartlett released his first book, Happy Sexy Millionaire, which was a Sunday Times bestseller. In 2023 Bartlett released his second book, The Diary of a CEO: The 33 Laws of Business and Life, where he recollects topics from the podcast of the same name and condenses it into a published print version. The Diary of a CEO: The 33 Laws of Business and Life was shortlisted at The British Book Awards for Book of the Year after it became the fastest-selling personal development book since records began.
Other activities
In 2019 he featured in the Channel 4 series The Secret Teacher, going undercover at a school near Liverpool as a teacher.
He created the private equity company Catena Capital, in December 2020 then joined the board of directors of Huel, a meal replacement company, as a non-executive director. In 2021 Bartlett joined the BBC One investment show Dragons' Den.
In September 2023, Bartlett accompanied William, Prince of Wales on Royal visits in Bournemouth after being announced as an advocate of his foundation, Homewards. During his early years Bartlett moonlighted as a rapper under the moniker "Lyricist".
