🛎️ #0011 Interview: Diary Of A CEO Podcast

HOST: Steven Bartlett

This is the Seraphina Speaks Interview Series where you hear about the behind-the-scenes worlds of podcasters. Some of my questions are ones I don’t see being answered anywhere else. If you’re nosy curious like me, these answers might give you ideas or a gentle harumph of human recognition.

Would you consider supporting my podcast career by becoming a paid subscriber or a Founder member? I’m 11 years old and an emerging talent.

Frank Racioppi writer of

Ear Worthy

said this about me: "If I had a crystal ball, I'd predict that in the future, Seraphina will be either the most popular podcaster in the world, a future Prime Minister, or an influential social activist". As far as I’m concerned, I’m just doing my bit to make this world a better place. Please help me do it all the more. Thank you for being here!

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Hope you enjoy this big interview Friends!

What’s your name?

Steven Bartlett

Describe what your podcast is about

I’m surprised you don’t know Seraphina. I forgive you. One way of describing DOAC is that I give a candid and thought-provoking account of my journey as a young entrepreneur and CEO. Themes we cover are leadership, personal growth, and the challenges of building a successful business.

If you want the formal bumpf then it’s this: A few years ago I was a broke, university dropout, at 18 I built an industry leading social media marketing company, and at 27 I resigned as CEO. At 28 I co-founded Flight Story – a marketing and communications company, and thirdweb - a software platform, making it easy to build web3 applications. I then launched private equity fund, Flight Fund, to accelerate the next generation of European unicorns. During this time I decided to launch 'The Diary Of A CEO' podcast with the simple mission of providing an unfiltered journey into the remarkable stories and untold dimensions of the world’s most influential people, experts and thinkers.

If your podcast had a human name, what would it be? 

Whoop

Describe your podcast recording space in 8 words

A studio with expensive tech crammed in it

Can we take a peek?

What’s your podcast tech set up?

You probably thought I’d give you a long list of tech didn’t you? I’m interested in this but I’ve got to say that my tech set up is trusted to my production partner Jack who I’ll tell you more about in a minute. First, I’ll level with you. It’s a while since I started out, me at my kitchen table speaking alone into a microphone. It cost me £90 and I had no plan, and no script - I’ll have to see if I can find that first mic for you Seraphina 😉

Jack Sylvester who I produce this podcast with, made a shopping list of all the equipment we would need to make a high quality production and the total for all that equipment came to roughly £4,000.

I told him I want to produce the best podcast in the world. Come back to me with a list that's even more ambitious. A few days later Jack came back to me with a list that cost £40,000. I’m uncompromising about quality. I’m known for my high standards.

What’s your go-to podcasting outfit, including footwear?

I change from my Represent branded black top into a completely unbranded black T shirt. If my outfit changed every week, it would be part of your psychological story, so I wear the same outfit. It has Diary of a CEO written in the corner in a black Sharpie and is a 10-dollar T-shirt that I got from Topman or wherever. I want to fade away and not have it be about me or the outfit, and it comes with me whether we film in New York or LA.

With my shoes, I wear this brand called Barefoot. I have a custom insole shaped to my feet because a lot of us walk wrong.

I drink PerfectTed, a matcha-based drink when we’re recording the show. It's a nice form of energy and doesn’t give me the shakes.

What's your typical pod listening speed?

1.5X

Name the one ingredient that contributes to your podcast success that you don't mention, usually.

That’s easy. Getting myself into a loving relationship with a wonderful woman has totally been my greatest achievement - that’s what I’m most proud of, because it’s probably the hardest thing.

What's the best interview question you've ever been asked, or asked on a podcast?

The human name of my podcast. That was a first. Well done you!

What three things do kick-ass podcasters have in common?

They produce high quality work with a high degree of integrity and work that they can be proud of.

Suppose you could get rid of 2 cringiest podcast issues, what would they be?

I know when to quit something I’m not interested in. I don’t listen to cringey podcast issues.  

If you could do a pod takeover, which podcast would it be for, and why?

I’m not a huge podcast listener. It’s bizarre, but it is what it is. People will be quite shocked to know that I don’t listen to any business podcasts, or self-development podcasts, or anything like that.

I listen to three podcasts. Doing a takeover of these wouldn’t work. They Walk Among Us is an English true crime one. Sword and Scale is another great one, and Case File… those are the three I listen to.

What's the biggest podcast opportunity still left on the 'table'? 

I want to interview Elon Musk as well as Michelle and Barack Obama. That’s the opportunity left on my table.

Throw down ten words of wisdom for wannabe great podcasters

Lead with curiosity, the rest will follow if you’re interesting.

What's coming up for you and your podcast?

In 2023 I launched an internal goal for myself and my podcast team to achieve a far more global reach for The Diary of a CEO. I codenamed the mission “Moonshot” to channel US president John F Kennedy’s successful challenge at the beginning of the 1960s to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.

Moonshot is about making sure that our team knew that we’re irrelevant around the world. In the grand scheme of things, we’re reaching such a small amount of people, there’s seven to eight billion people on Earth. We’re reaching 40-50 million a month.

Any social handles or websites we could mention on the show?

Steven’s Diary of a CEO podcast

What loving pep talk would you give your eleven year old self?

You too can be a business person. Decide you can, then do it. Don’t let anyone say you can’t.

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Thanks so much for your genius answers Steven¹

Seraphina 🎙️

1. Quick confession. It’s April Fools Day. I thought to myself "I’m sure Steven would like to answer my questions”. I blame me he hasn’t said yes. You see I’ve not invited him yet. To put together his answers I used interviews he’s made with other people, as much as I could. Other replies I used a little April Foolery to help them along.