Dragons’ Den star Steven Bartlett has appointed Niki Aryana as chairman of his agency FlightStory.
Aryana, who has over two decades of experience advising major global media brands and high-growth companies, joins as the company accelerates its plans for international expansion.
He will work alongside managing directors Georgie Holt and Christiana Brenton.
Bartlett said Aryana will play a key role in challenging the business, shaping global strategy and helping the team scale effectively.
“My remit to him was really clear,” said the A Diary of a CEO host. “Challenge us, question all of our ideas, push us to be better, call us out when we need it, help us understand the global landscape and work with us on our international expansion.”
Aryana spent 25 years at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) as its managing director and senior partner, advising some of the world’s largest media businesses across broadcasting, streaming, publishing, music and information services.
On the appointment, he said: “So delighted to join Steven Bartlett, Georgie Holt, Christiana Brenton and the team to take FlightStory on its next chapter of growth.
“It will be amazing to work with such a talented team.”
The announcement follows a 60-day internal experiment at FlightStory to explore the power of AI agents across departments. The initiative led to £860,000 in efficiency savings and freed up over 65,000 hours of employee time, according to Bartlett.
The entrepreneur and podcast host said the company will reinvest the savings into new projects, hiring and international growth.
Bartlett cited a personal anecdote from a conversation with Virgin founder Richard Branson when announcing Aryana’s appointment.
“I had a conversation with Richard Branson two years ago about business and he said something to me that rewired my brain: ‘I was 50 years old, running the largest group of private companies in Europe, and I was in a board meeting. One of my directors was presenting something, and I asked him, ‘Is that good news or bad news?’ He looked at me and said, ‘Richard, come outside for a moment.’
“‘So I stepped outside with him, and he said: ‘Richard, you don’t actually know the difference between gross profit and net profit, do you?’ ‘I replied: ‘No, I don’t.’
“‘He pulled out some colouring pens and a piece of paper. He drew the ocean, then a fishing net in the water, and then little fish inside the net.
“‘He said: ‘The fish inside the net – that’s your net profit’. I said to him ‘got it’. But those things don’t really matter… I’m good at surrounding myself with good people… I’m good at delegating.’
“So Richard Branson was 50 years old…. he had built one of Europe’s top business groups in Virgin and he didn’t know the basics of business… but it did not matter… why?
“Because he realised what he was bad at and become a master of surrounding himself with some of the world’s best people who he hired to tell him what to do!”
The chairman’s appointment also follows the recent hiring of Harri Walsh as head of happiness and health – a role Bartlett described as one of the most important in the company’s history.
Virgin Media O2, boohoo, Bytes, PNE – the week’s best-read stories