Dragons' Den: Why new Dragon Steven Bartlett won’t be wearing a suit

When Steven Bartlett was 12 he would pause the TV while watching Dragons' Den, deciding whether or not to invest in the idea he'd just heard. Then he'd deliver an answer as if he was the sixth Dragon.

At 23, when his social media company Social Chain was making waves, he told his team over WhatsApp that one day he would be a Dragon.

And last week, at 28, Steven was confirmed as the youngest ever Dragon on the long-running BBC show - making reality of a childhood dream.

But he isn't joining Dragons' Den just to smile and nod.

The entrepreneur is determined to not fall under the influence of what he calls "happy to be here syndrome". So he made some things clear. Like, don't expect him to wear a suit.

"If you type in 'CEO' on Google, what you see is white men in suits," Steven told BBC Radio 1Xtra's If You Don't Know podcast.

"I'm not against white men in suits, but I am against leaving talent off the field because they don't feel included. And so by being a Black man in a snapback, I will appeal to other Black men, and women… or anybody that comes from an underrepresented background, and I will let them know that they can sit at the table."

'I have a responsibility'

Being kicked out of school for poor attendance and dropping out of uni after one seminar might not seem like routes to success. But Steven knew he had what it took to succeed in business from a young age.

"I knew I was able to manipulate my peers. Manipulation seems like a really ugly thing, but what it is, is sales and persuasion and appealing to their needs."

He noticed his talent after selling thousands of tickets to his own birthday party with just over a weeks' notice.

"I was like, 'these are gonna be the adults that I'm competing against in the real world too. So if I can persuade them now I'll be able to persuade them when I'm 25 and they're 25'. That was my hypothesis."

Now he's got a different hypothesis - that appearing on Dragons' Den, in an authentic way, will show people like him that they can have a path in business.

"I am not represented on that show as an entrepreneur. There's not been a young, Black man on that show.

"I said it to the head of Dragons' Den. I said 'I feel like I have a responsibility to do this because it will show other 12-year-old Steves that they too can be business people."

'You're just trying to hold on'

Steven was aware entering a space like Dragons' Den - a platform he has a lot of respect for - could result in him trying to change himself: "Like, 'OK, now they've invited me in, I'm going to act like them - wear this suit, and be whatever'."

"There is such a thing as respecting an opportunity more than you respect yourself. People do that when they get jobs and they don't speak up, or they just want to blend in."

"It's like 'happy to be here syndrome' - where you never saw yourself this high, so you're just trying to hold on to it. Whereas if you saw yourself higher, when you get there you're still striving, you don't feel like you've punched above your weight.

"And that comes from the immigrant mindset and also, me not seeing another Dragon like me on the show, is going to give me a bit of 'happy to be here syndrome'. And I know that I've got to counteract that."

So, suits are out.

Steven wants to represent "modern" business

"There's not been a day at Social Chain where I wore a suit… so why would I then change for TV?

"I'm trying to represent the real modern world of business and the real world of entrepreneurs and that's not suited and booted for the majority. It's the internet, social media, it's wearing whatever you want."

Tips for succeeding in business

During his chat with De-Graft Mensah and Roshan Roberts on the If You Don't Know podcast, Steven gave lots of advice for succeeding in business, including the idea that quitting is for winners.

"The quitting part is actually the really hard part. Letting go of the branch and falling is much harder than grabbing on to a branch for me.

"People don't talk about the art of quitting and how pivotal that will be - probably even more important for you to become a success."

• Catch Steven's full interview on If You Don't Know, a new podcast from BBC 1Xtra

When it comes to taking the first step Steven - who shares insight from his life on his Diary Of A CEO podcast every week - says there's no "perfect place to start".

"When you're starting a business you have a list of 100 things that need to be done. So just pick one of them and make a start on that."

Another bit of advice Steven gave was around the way we talk about entrepreneurship.

"These binary words like 'entrepreneur' and these taglines like 'be your own boss' - they're super unhelpful if you start buying into them. You should be a bit more broad and say: 'I would like autonomy in my work'.

"You can find autonomy and control in your work whether you are working at Tesco or running Amazon or running a podcast. You can find autonomy in your work and then you'll say 'I want to do something I enjoy'. That's more important right?"

When asked how he deals with the pressure, one of Steven's most important coping mechanisms is to not take life too seriously.

"I approach the biggest challenges in my life - whether it's Dragon's Den, starting a business or a podcast - with this video game mindset where I'm holding the controller, I am not in the game. And that means the character can die.

"At the end of the day if I fail at anything I'm doing, I'm going to be fine. I'm just holding the controller here, I'm not in the game."

Steven begins filming for series 19 of Dragon's Den this summer. You can watch the current season on Thursdays at 8pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.