Dragon's Den

[gary]

Did anyone watch this last night? Pretty interesting - couldn't believe how some of the participants argued with the investors as if they knew more than them! Looking forward to the next one!

Gary

[ajdriver]

I thought it was quite good. I presume the investors must have much more information to look at than we see or hear. For example on the last one that they gave some money to, (umbrellas), there was no mention of how and when they can expect their money back.

[gary]

I think that bit is just for show to indicate they are interested. Afterwards they probably look into the details and the investment is then confirmed, contracts drawn up etc.

What I found interesting was how most of the pitchers were so hesitant to give away much of their company in exchange for the money. If you go to a VC they want a large chunk of your business - offering them 10% is hardly worth their effort in paperwork. The other thing is that some of the amounts were not that big and could easily be obtained from Business Angels or other sources, as one of the investors said.

Gary

[kyber]

I really enjoyed it. Yes, we are watching highly edited selected material so you have to be carefull what you read into things but I thought it was informative.

Odd how a guy that had left a highly paid marketing director role could not do a pitch. Not clear on the relationship between him and the inventor. Still despite this the investors were interested because the product was good. By contrast. others that were slicker did not do as well.

I liked it so much I told the TIVO to record future episodes for me.

Stuart

[StartUp]

I really enjoyed it too. Even my partners 11 year old was glued to the screen and he usually only watches cartoons or "childrens films"

I agree with Gary, I couldn't believe the attitude of some of the applicants!

Absolutely amazing that they basically lost the opportunity by either being arrogant or by refusing to give up any shares in their company.

I am certainly recommending it to everyone, there is plenty to learn from the mistakes being made.

I'll be there tomorrow!

Julia

[MikeH]

It was interesting to note that none of the dragons would put up the money on their own. They would always offer some on the basis that another investor coughed up.

I agree that the show is heavily edited, but some of those people should not have made it up the stairs.

Mike.

[StartUp]

I think that that is part of the way the show is set up, they have to get all the money by negotiating with various dragons.

Julia

[Marvin]

I imagine that some of the participants who don't succeed with the dragons still benefit from the publicity. It must help inventors of similar products as well. Does anyone know what the time lag between filming the programme and it being aired is?

Marvin

[Ozzy]

The dragons felt that the guys offering the rubbish bag idea were just their for publicity with no intention of seeking investment. I must say I agree with them on that one!

[SillyJokes]

I believe it was filmed last Sept Oct.

Publicity from it must be brilliant.

I think it is an exciting program and I'm sure they will do a follow up because I for one would love to know which were failures and which were successes.

[Ozzy]

Likewise :)

[gary]

I've missed the last couple of weeks but the ones I have seen have been quite interesting. I'm looking forward to the UK version of the Apprentice, though I can't see it offering an insight into the opulence we saw in the US version with Donald Trump!

[ajdriver]

That Scottish guy, Duncan Banitine has pulled out of a few of the deals apparently. He also invested in some others that were not aired and then pulled out. He has made his money and now he wants to become an actor, this is his publicity stunt.

[adam]

One of the reasons Rachael Lowe (Desitnation London) went on was for the publicity. She aleady had a good deal in the bag.

[Marvin]

I expect other VCs will want to get in on this type of TV (appearing in and investing in!). I like the balance between blaggers (who have a pitch but nothing really to invest in) and mumblers (who have something interesting to invest in but a useless pitch). I expect these two categories must make up most of the people the dragons see.

[Ozzy]

You make an interesting observation there Marvin. So many partnerships are built on two like minded people and quite often those ones hit problems. A good partnership is where the two people in a partnership have very different skills.

Back to the VC's, they need to be skilled enough to see through the persons lack of confidence, but the down side is that sometimes those people who lack confident can end up giving more than they need to away.