Steven Bartlett interview: We speak to the new Dragon in the Den for a bonus episode

This is Money Podcast

This is Money

Business News, Business, Investing, News

4.1 • 650 Ratings

🗓️ 20 January 2022

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Steven Bartlett is the latest star of Dragons’ Den – and we recently caught up with him for a special bonus This is Money podcast episode.

In this frank interview with This is Money’s Simon Lambert, Steven tells us his story, the challenges he’s faced in his business life, how he got ahead and his tips for anyone else wanting to start a business.

At just 29, Steven may be the youngest Dragon the programme has seen but he has already built up a successful business career. He launched a social media marketing agency Social Chain – at a time when the medium was considered to have little value - and grew its revenues to hundreds of millions of pounds.

He also presents the Diary of a CEO podcast, on which he has interviewed everyone from business leaders, such as Starling Bank’s Anne Boden and Deliveroo founder Will Shu, to Rio Ferdinand and Jimmy Carr.

Steven isn’t afraid to share his strong opinions – including how school and higher education is failing young British hopeful entrepreneurs – and has become an author and been a guest on shows including Question Time.

Recently, Steven has launched another new business Flight Story – as well as finding time to be in the Dragons’ Den.

That’s not bad for someone who says that at 21 he was a broke, university drop-out in a Manchester bedroom.

A short part of this interview was already featured in This is Money’s end of 2021 podcast but we wanted to bring you the full discussion as a special bonus episode.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Simon Lambert and you're listening to a special This Is Money podcast bonus episode.
0:05.0	I recently caught up with Stephen Bartlett, entrepreneur, diary of a CEO podcaster and the new dragon in TV's Dragon's Den.
0:13.0	In this conversation, he told me the story of how he went from being a 21-year-old university dropout to building a business with revenue in hundreds
0:21.8	of millions of pounds. And he shared his tips for those wanting to start or grow their own business.
0:27.5	Stephen is open about his life, his motivations, his ambitions, and he's also very generous
0:32.4	with his advice. It's a fascinating conversation with someone who's achieved a great deal in a short period of time.
0:38.5	He's still only 28. So give it a listen.
0:42.5	Thanks for having me. It's an honour. I know this is a bit of an exception because you don't always have guests. So yeah, thank you.
0:48.2	We always like to try and get someone on if they've got something interesting to say. It's not as big as your podcast the diary of a CEO um
0:54.6	which you've had some pretty big names on but you know it's it's it's it's it's it's well listened to
0:59.7	our readers like it i think i've heard it before you know i've heard it before it's often been in i
1:04.7	think the business and finance chart so yeah when they when they told me you were you wanted to have me
1:09.2	on i genuinely felt like it was a bit of an all nice. So thank you. Well, thanks. Well, it's been knocking around for about five years now,
1:14.4	or maybe six years. So we'd be doing it for some time. So I wanted to ask you a little bit about
1:19.2	your story. In less than a decade, you've gone from being a broke 21-year-old, your own
1:24.9	words I've taken there, to building a business worth hundreds of millions
1:29.7	of pounds, to hosting the hugely popular podcast, Diary of a CEO that we just talked about,
1:35.3	and also taking a spot as a dragon on Dragon's Den. Can you tell us a little bit about your story
1:42.5	since you were that university dropout and also a bit of
1:47.0	your story before that too sure so um i i was born in africa and botswana came to the uk when i was a baby
1:53.8	three or four years old moved to devon in plymouth um and joined school really in school, ultimately was kicked out of school.
2:03.2	My attendance hit 30% by the time I was kicked out.
	...

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