Every series in the den it seems an entrepreneur gets a second chance against the Dragons, and this series is no exception. Tonight one of the entrepreneur’s from a previous series is returning to try again.
Samantha Gore – Saboteur Crime Prevention
http://www.saboteurcrimeprevention.com
Samantha was pitching for £120,000 for 20% of her company. This is here second appearance in the den showcasing the latest addition to her crime prevention range a electric blind closer and opener.
Here is a clip of Samantha’s first visit to the den. She is the first to pitch and shows her FakeTV invention.
Unfortunately the clip stops half way through Samantha’s pitch so here is the continuation
Since the above program was aired Samantha has developed the FakeTV into a retail product and it is now available to buy for just £27 on Amazon.co.uk.
Back to today in the den though! Not the best start when the BBC announcer (at the end of the previous show) said she was one of the worst pitchers of the previous series. This episode she was pitching her latest invention an electric blind closer. As with previous products this is an “occupency simulator” so when you are on holiday the blinds or curtains will automatically open.
As with all great dragons den technological demonstrations, it didn’t work! The curtains she was demonstrating with failed to open. Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis were shocked that it was around £70 for each set of curtains. Deborah Meaden just didn’t like the product.
Theo Paphitis questioned what she was there for and Samantha admitted she wanted help. James Caan felt she hadn’t moved forwards enough in a year and become commercially viable so he was out, Theo Paphitis was also out but felt she would be successful with a different product.
Peter Jones though said don’t come back! He was out because he didn’t feel the idea was any good.
Deborah felt Sam would be successful but not with this. Duncan Bannatyne was torn but declared himself out, the idea just wasn’t good enough.
I wasn’t sure whether this was a good idea or not. I used to have automatic opening track curtains and this is certainly a inexpensive method of doing a similar job however I would have liked to have seen the curtains close again (I don’t know that they would of. If you are on holiday you need them to open and close daily not just once.
You can buy the FakeTV now at Amazon UK
Ronan McCarthy – The Spit ‘n’ Polish Shoeshine Company
Ronan wanted £108,000 for 10% in his shoe shine company. The Spit n Polish Shoeshine company’s key selling point is their modern shoe shine booths which include a mobile phone charger, TV (for sponsors), mug holder, the day’s papers etc. I wasn’t convinced this could be profitable but after seeing the Apprentice this season make an absolute killing from shoe shining I didn’t want to underestimate Ronan, that said I don’t think the Apprentices had to pay rent!
Ronan gave a solid pitch and demonstration and had already got locations in a couple of BAA airports. James had his shoes shined and Deborah got straight to business, wanting to understand the business model.
Ronan struggled to get a number out of Ronan but managed in the end. The booths cost £5,000 to make and should generate £55,000 a year. Ronan went on to give impressive profit projections to James.
Duncan Bannatyne questioned where the shoe shine station would be as he knows the shoe shiner at Heathrow who can barely make a living. Duncan felt Ronan’s projections were unrealistic to get 7 customers an hour etc and was out. Peter also went out.
Deborah found Ronan exasperating and was out. Theo Paphitis was out too.
This just left James Caan, who liked the model and the booth but felt it was a tough way to make money. He made an offer of £108,000 but for 40% of the business. This is a lot more than Ronan wanted to give away. James felt this was a completely theoretical business with no testing so 40% was what he wanted. Ronan chose not to negotiate but to leave with nothing as the offer was so far from the original 10%
Ian Worton and Peter Neath – Grillstream
Ian and Peter were seeking £120,000 for 15% of their company Grillstream which produces an easy to clean grill tray that collects and stores the fat from sausages and other meats. To look at it is a ridged baking tray but much thicker, much like a George Foreman the fat runs down the ridges. However the difference is that like a grill, there are open bars with gaps between them, the fat clings to the bars and rolls to the front rather than sticking to the grill pan.
Deborah questioned whether it would work if it wasn’t put together correctly and it did work. Theo Paphitis wanted to know what they would do with the money. They didn’t have a clear answer of how they could use the money. They seemed to want to launch the two products but didn’t have a clear idea of how much different things cost.
They felt they would make £350,00 after tax profit in year one despite their current business which one had been working in for 17 years only making £50,00 this year, James was out.
Deborah wasn’t convinced by the product, Duncan felt the offer was too steep, if they just needed help they should have asked for less money or even nothing and was out as was Deborah.
Peter Jones didn’t want to be the face of the grill, the next George Foreman so he was out!
Theo Paphitis felt they had a great product but the only way to make money was offer it built in and licence it to manufacturers. He asked what they would do with the money and they said develop new products (not licence it)
They snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and left with nothing!
Jason Roberts – Tech 21
Please leave a comment with the web address!
Jason from Tech 21 wanted £150,000 for just 5% of his company which creates Impact Protection cases for mobiles and PC’s. I had already heard of Tech21′s products before the iBand for the 3G iPhone and they also have similar products for the iPods but I hadn’t heard of the company. However I felt their offer of just 5% was particularly low.
He gave a rather nervous pitch but once he got into it he covered the key points.
I felt it was a little odd that he is only licensing D3O the technology that the products use, so is reliant on them for the future of his company.
Theo Paphitis want to hear about Jason’s career. He had worked in the bag industry for a long time but wanted to go alone. Theo questioned the 5% but Jason gave some strong revenue figures but maybe not strong enough. Jason revealed he had future possibilities to work with the mobile phone manufacturers to put the technology directly in the phones.
James asked probing questions with regards to current accounts but Jason wasn’t able to answer. Both James Caan and Duncan Bannatyne declared themselves out.
For £100,000 Jason would be the exclusive user of D3O for 3 years. Jason then revealed he had a long term contract for 1000′s of laptop sleeves a month from one PC manufacturer (but is this a real contract in the dragons eyes?)
Peter Jones offered half the money and with his past mobile and technology experience wanted 20% this is 4 times the amount for half the money!
Theo Paphitis was impressed but felt it was very risky, he matched Peters offer. This gave Jason a full offer but for 40%.
Deborah offered half the money for 15% of the business, she would add value in her own way but agreed Theo and Peter were better for the mobile, technology investment for a quicker launch.
Jason thanked Deborah for her offer but took the higher offers from Theo and Peter for 40% off the company.
Buy the iBand and other Tech21 products at Amazon UK
Summary
This was the first episode of the current series not to have 2 deals! I was shocked! However I did feel this week had some of the most “normal” and commercial products of any episode.
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