BARTLETT
Steven

• 1. Career

Steven Cliff Bartlett is a British entrepreneur and podcaster. He is the founder of Thirdweb, Flight Story and Flight Fund. He was the co-founder and co-CEO of Social Chain, but stepped down as CEO in 2020. In 2021, he began appearing as an investor on the BBC One show Dragons' Den. He also runs The Diary of a CEO podcast. In 2023, according to Spotify Wrapped, it was ranked in the top 10 most popular podcasts globally.

Career

In 2013, Bartlett founded Wallpark, an online messaging board. In 2014, Bartlett co-founded Social Chain, a social media marketing company based in Manchester, England, United Kingdom, along with Dominic McGregor. In 2017, he created a podcast series called The Diary of a CEO, which has featured guests including Liam Payne and Tom Blomfield. As of 2021, it was Europe's most downloaded business podcast and has featured British entrepreneurs Ben Francis, Lee Chambers and Grace Beverley, as well as other public figures including former Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson. In 2023, according to a podcast chart, The Diary of a CEO has the second largest weekly audience in the United Kingdom.

In 2019, the Financial Times reported that Steven 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”.

In 2019, he featured in the Channel 4 series The Secret Teacher, going undercover at a school near Liverpool as a teacher.

In December 2020, he created the private equity company Catena Capital, then joined the board of directors of Huel, a £72 million food replacement company, as a non-executive director. In 2021, Bartlett joined the BBC One investment show Dragons' Den.

In September 2023, Bartlett accompanied Prince William on Royal visits in Bournemouth after being announced as an advocate of his foundation, Homewards.

Kimaï will be working with Steven and his team to amplify their digital presence, in exchange for a 3 per cent equity stake. The deal is the biggest investment made by The Diary Of A CEO podcast host since he first joined the programme in 2021.