Steven Bartlett backed Maggie Sellers Reum with seven figures to scale Hot Smart Rich fast

Steven Bartlett is trying to turn “Diary of a CEO” into a talent incubator, and his latest test case is Maggie Sellers Reum. Sellers Reum, host of “Hot Smart Rich” and one of Bartlett’s protégé creators, told Business Insider that Bartlett is applying his playbook to her show after investing seven figures through his media company, FlightStory.

The ambitious part is not the investment. It is the timeline and the expectation. Sellers Reum said she believes she can reach a milestone as big as Bartlett’s within 12 to 18 months, even though “Hot Smart Rich” is a fraction of the size of “Diary of a CEO” today. On the metrics she shared, Bartlett’s show is the No. 1 business podcast on Spotify in the US, and it has 17 million YouTube subscribers, while Sellers Reum’s “Hot Smart Rich” sits around No. 13 in business on Spotify with about 33,000 YouTube subscribers.

This is a classic creator-economy strategy that is getting sharper, not softer: superstar hosts build networks, then formalize support. Bartlett is doing it by signing and nurturing other talent, essentially expanding FlightStory’s portfolio. FlightStory has five shows featuring creators in addition to “DOAC,” including Davina McCall and relationships podcaster Paul Brunson, and the company is now using operational muscle to grow the shows. In this model, the founder is busy making their own content, so the network needs repeatable systems, not just vibes.

Jocelyn Florence, a consultant on creators for Soft Shock, explained why this can work: operational support matters because the creator-founder is busy producing their own content. But she also stressed the other half of the equation, which is often overlooked by people chasing “talent”: the creator needs a well-defined brand that can extend to the people they bring into the network. In other words, the platform can amplify, but it cannot replace a brand story that is coherent and recognizably “you.”

Bartlett’s broader play is part of a trend where leading creators, including Alex Cooper and Dude Perfect, pull in other talent to form creator networks. The results have been mixed. Cooper’s Unwell Network reportedly had growing pains, including a split with Alix Earle last year. Theorist, meanwhile, outlasted its founders, which later sold to a startup. Mythical Entertainment has spawned multiple shows under its umbrella, suggesting that scale is possible when the structure is designed for longevity rather than one breakout moment.

Within “Hot Smart Rich,” Sellers Reum is borrowing Bartlett’s operational approach, but changing the presentation to fit her audience. FlightStory, according to Sellers Reum, helped expand her guest list beyond her immediate network, bringing in figures like entrepreneur Codie Sanchez and tech educator CatGPT. The company has also honed guest selection and amplified the show through social media clips, aligning with the idea that distribution is not optional anymore.

But there are meaningful differences in format and framing. Bartlett’s “Diary of a CEO” trailers, as Sellers Reum described them, emphasize a “hero’s journey.” Her trailers do the opposite: they focus on why the audience should care about the guest and what they will learn from the episode. She also adapted Bartlett’s intensive pre-show research process for her listeners. Bartlett calls the resulting 18-page document a “research brief,” while Sellers Reum calls it a “gossip thread,” explicitly tying it to reclaiming what “gossip” means for women. That is branding, not just word choice.

She also described how her interviews differ. She said Bartlett’s are “expert-driven,” while she positions herself as more conversational. Her interview setup is consistent, even physical, with her conducting from a comfy chair, legs folded, and she consistently hits five topics: money, power, relationships, business, and femininity. Sellers Reum argued that female voices in media can be preferred by female listeners when the host is conversational, and she pointed to examples such as “Giggly Squad,” “Call Her Daddy,” and Amy Poehler’s work as evidence of host opinion and relatability playing a bigger role than in many male-dominated podcasts.

The business terms matter too. The “Hot Smart Rich” deal is described as the only one structured as an equity investment, with Sellers Reum being the majority owner. That is notable because it suggests Bartlett is not only buying distribution or production time. He is integrating into the ownership structure, at least in this case. And it fits her own constraints around content. When FlightStory proposed a Q&A-style show to tell listeners how to solve their business problems, Sellers Reum said she pushed back, explaining she could not do that because she is not “better than anyone that listens,” and she referenced investing $2,500 checks rather than positioning herself as a billionaire founder.

Looking ahead, Sellers Reum’s near-term plan includes launching a behind-the-scenes YouTube show. Long-term, she wants to expand beyond the podcast and its WhatsApp community of fans she calls “angels,” potentially into books, TV shows, or products. But for now, her priority is long-form growth. She said she would love guests like Alix Earle and Reese Witherspoon, and she framed her growth approach as earning the right to expand. For executives, investors, and boards watching the creator economy evolve, the point is clear: talent incubators are becoming operational companies. If Bartlett’s playbook works with a majority-owner protégé and a tighter audience identity, the second-order effect will be more “media empires” built around measurable systems, not just celebrity momentum.