EXCLUSIVE: Steven Bartlett‘s media company, FlightStory, is buying into fellow podcaster Maggie Sellers Reum‘s business Hot Smart Rich (HSR) through a “seven-figure” investment.
Terms of the deal haven’t been fully revealed and the size of the stake isn’t known, but the cash will go towards scaling HSR in the U.S. and “aligned” global markets, with plans to growing revenues by ten times through a mix of content production, branding and marketing, commercial deals, “experimentation,” products, e-commerce and community building. HSR also produces video content that runs on YouTube.
For Bartlett, a serial investor who hosts the world’s second-largest podcast by listenership, The Diary of a CEO, the deal is a latest move as he and FlightStory co-founders Georgie Holt and Christina Brenton look to build out their next-gen media business, which is focused on content creators and influencers. FlightStory plans to use the blueprint that scaled The Diary of a CEO on HSR.
“This partnership is more than an investment in me, it’s an investment by Steven and his team into the future of women taking control of their businesses and lives,” said Sellers Reum. “Steven Bartlett has built something truly game-changing with The Diary of a CEO and to know we are about to apply the same methodology to Hot Smart Rich that scaled that blueprint into the second-biggest host-led podcast, matches the ambition I have always held for HSR. Every hard-working woman has the right to be hot, smart and rich, and with this investment, we’re that much closer to achieving it.”
Sellers Reum’s podcast and accompanying newsletter, both run under the Hot Smart Rich brand, see the investor and entrepreneur talk with other female business owners on themes of money, power and relationships. The company has pointed to statistics that show only 7% of business and entrepreneurship podcasts are presented by women.
“As you can tell by the name, we just aren’t afraid to go there,” she said. “I started creating content that felt like you were out to dinner with friends – a place to be vulnerable, learn, laugh, cry and, most importantly, have fun. It’s exhausting for women out there. We constantly have to choose who to bring to the table to feel like we deserve a seat. I started creating content to build my own table when I realized I no longer had to choose what part of me to bring because that was inherently the special sauce of being a female in business.”
“Maggie is a trailblazer who has built an incredible platform and taken a completely fresh approach to the culture of business, entrepreneurship and wealth generation unlike anything I’ve seen before”, said Bartlett. “I was shocked to hear as little as 7% of business podcasts are fronted by women, and yet it is estimated that women control a huge proportion of consumer spend in the U.S. Maggie is not just filling a white space with HSR, she’s disrupting an entire industry.”
HSR, which along with the podcast is a media and investing platform, has reached more than 1.8 million total downloads and reached 500,000 members in its first year, prompting Bartlett’s investment. Her community, known as HSR Angels, hail from the likes of L.A., New York, London, Toronto, Sydney and Paris. It acts as a support group for women creating wealth through their own brands, with 31% describing themselves as an “active entrepreneur.”
Bartlett’s investment comes as creator-focused media companies are coming to the fore, with significant investments being made in people building business around their own brands. Bartlett – first known outside the business world as an investor on BBC series Dragon’s Den – has huge success with The Diary of a CEO and commands a huge audience, though he has faced criticism for amplifying health misinformation.
