How Diary of a CEO Went From 40 Downloads to 120M - Build or Break

How did The Diary of a CEO go from 40 downloads to 120 million a month? Steven Bartlett sits down with Daniel on Build or Break to break down exactly how he created one of the most popular podcasts in the world. He walks us through the failed 18-month bet that eventually cracked it, and how the show now runs in 20 languages with zero human translators involved. Beyond the growth story, he and Daniel get genuinely candid about a rough patch in his relationship with his fiancée and how they worked through it, compare what it's actually like sitting on Shark Tank versus Dragon's Den from the inside, and dig into how he thinks about investing — including the "paper wall" framework he uses to judge whether a limit is real or just assumed. Steven Bartlett built The Diary of a CEO from a self-funded, no-sponsors show recorded at his kitchen table into one of the biggest podcasts in the world — over 120 million downloads a month, roughly 30 million of them in languages other than English, translated and voice-cloned entirely by AI. Timestamps: 00:00 Cold Open 00:55 Guest Intro 01:35 Podcast Philosophy & The Diary of a CEO Origin Story 16:22 Inside the Diary of a CEO Machine 18:04 Depth, Vulnerability & the Craft of Listening 35:22 Shark Tank vs. Dragon's Den 39:47 The Mexican Inqusition 51:25 Pushing on Paper Walls 55:19 Build or Break https://www.instagram.com/DanielLubetzky https://www.tiktok.com/@daniellubetzky https://x.com/DanielLubetzky https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellubetzky https://daniellubetzky.com/ 🙋🏻Become a Builder: https://buildersmovement.org/  Music: Amos Cochran https://www.editscoremusic.com/ Production: Straybird Studios https://www.straybird.studio/ Post Production: Jennell Lewis & Scott Convery Social Media Production: https://www.edits-etc.com/ Build or Break Team: Executive Producer & Host: Daniel Lubetzky Executive Producer: Kristin Schneider Head of Programming & Production: Joel Rubin Marketing & Communications: Sarah Black Associate Producer & Social Media: Taylor Larned Booking & Scheduling: Kayla Rose Network Relations: Julianna Cohen