Steven Barlett was born in Botswana to an English father and a Nigerian mother. His father is a structural engineer and his mother left school at age seven unable to read and write. He moved to Plymouth, England, at the age of two, growing up poor in a white, middle class neighborhood. He sites living in poverty and not feeling like he fitted in as a driving force behind his phenomenal success. Steven was expelled from secondary school and later dropped out off Manchester Metropolitan University after one lecture, feeling it wasn’t going to be what lead him to success.
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Steven Bartlett | Books
In 2023 Steven published The Diary of a CEO: The 33 Laws of Business and Life, which instantly became a Sunday Time No. 1 Bestseller and has been translated into 35 languages. Steven writes about a set of principles which are at the heart of success, principles that stand the test of time, fundamental laws that will ensure excellence. The laws that Steven writes about are rooted in psychology and behavioral science and are based on the wisdom of tens of thousands of people that Steven has surveyed. He has gained wisdom from speaking to people across every continent and age group, and from conversations he’s had with the world’s most successful people. Steven points out that this is not a book about business strategy because strategy changes like the seasons but the book is about something more permanent and pertinent.
Steven’s first book was published in 2021 titled Happy Sexy Millionaire: Unexpected Truths About Fulfilment, Love and Success. This was also a Sunday Times Bestseller. As an 18-year old, black, broke, insecure, university drop-out, from a bankrupt family Steven wrote in his diary that he wanted to be a ‘Happy Sexy Millionaire’ by the age of 25. By 25 he was a multi-millionaire. However, in achieving everything he set out to, he learned that he was wrong about almost everything, that the world had lied to him about how to attain fulfilment, love and success. In Happy Sexy Millionaire, Steven dismantles the lies, examines the incentives that fuel them and provides practical, scientifically proven and unconventional ideas to help readers live a truly fulfilled life.
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Steven Bartlett | Investment and Projects
- Co-founded Flight Story – a marketing and communications company that works with leading brands
- Lunched a private equity fund, Flight Fund, to accelerate the next generation of European unicorns
- Co-founded thirdweb – a software platform, backed by Shopify and Coinbase, that makes it easy to build web3 applications
- Invested in Huel – UK’s fasted growing e-commerce company internationally
- Invested in Zoe – the personalised nutrition programmed by the world’s top scientists
- Previously invested in The Healing Company, atai Life Sciences, Alto Neuroscience, and AbCellera
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Steven Bartlett | Philanthropy and Social Causes
Steven is particularly focused on inspiring a new generation of entrepreneurs and creators from a BAME background and much of his work after winning the British Black Entrepreneur of the Year award focused on disadvantaged schools and communities. He has partnered with His Majesty’s Prison Service to distribute The Diary of a CEO podcast via their in-cell technology to educate and inspire young adults. Steven saved a Bishop Stortford community gym from closure when he donated £10,000 to help keep it open. He donated thousands of pounds to a woman’s charity allotment used to help people through the cost of living crisis was vandalised, rendering all of its food inedible. He has promised to donate the profits from his The Diary of a CEO tour to charity.
. Steven Bartlett | Recognition
Steven Bartlett won Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017 – at the Great British Entrepreneurship Awards, Most Influential Agency Figure 2018 and British Black Entrepreneur of the Year 2018. In 2021 Steven was listed in the Forbes 30 under 30 European Media & Marketing Moguls Of Tomorrow. He has also been named the Most Influential Individual in Marketing and Social Media Marketing by 100 agency leaders in 2017 and 2018 respectively. In 2022 he was recognised as Amazon’s Best of 2022 Podcast. Steven has been listed on the Powerlist, which captures the most influential Black Britons and aims to celebrate the achievements of the most influential people of African, African Caribbean and African American heritage in the UK.
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To check fees and availability for entrepreneur and investor Steven Barlett, contact Great Business Speakers on 0044 (0)1753 439289
