Well the Den is closed for another season, but don’t worry for all is not lost as now perhaps the best bits are on TV. It’s all very well seeing entrepreneurs go into the den, but often what I want to know is what happened next. This season the BBC doesn’t disappoint with 5 episodes of “Dragons Den: on Tour” following the Dragons as they tour the country visiting entrepreneurs both who they invested in and turned down to see where they are now.
Today in Episode one the tour heads south, featuring the colourful father and son team behind Ladderbox, the opening of pop sculptor Guy Portelli’s exhibition, and olive oil enthusiast Michael North, who dared to take on Deborah Meaden during his time in the Den.
Peter Jones catches up with one of his investments, Rachel Watkyn from Tiny Box Company, and the Den Destroyer Theo Paphitis drops in on the man behind one of the most popular products not to get investment – Rob Law’s Trunki – to find out if he was wrong to not invest.
Below I’ve covered some of my favourite bits from the episode.
The program starts showing the Dragon’s Den On Tour Bus, I find it hard to believe that they would all travel together on a bus.but you never know.
Ladderbox
Rob and Geoff Hill came onto Dragons Den in 2008 wanting £100,000 for 15% equity. They were quite an entertaining pitch but ultimately didn’t get investment in the den. The company had been in place quite a while and Duncan Bannatyne felt they had come to Dragons Den to bail them out as they couldn’t sell them.
A year on Duncan Bannatyne, their harshest critic goes to visit them. The pair are keen to show him the newest product in their range, but it’s an odd start as they chauffeur him to the house in a golf cart. They had lost £93,000 on the Mk1 Ladder box, but invested a further £50,000 in development of the Mk2 Ladderbox with paint roller. Rob and Geoff think it will take another £40,000 to get it to market. Duncan believes they should just give up. However the pair have a licencing deal on the table which will mean they don’t have to put in any more money and they’ll get £1 per unit. If they can sign this Duncan thinks this is the best way. However he still believes fundamentally it is a bad idea, do date they have not signed a contract.
Tiny Box Company
http://www.tinyboxcompany.co.uk
The Tiny Box Company produces ethical recycled packaging boxes for the gift and jewellery boxes. Duncan was disappointed with the quality of the product, even Deborah “the ethical dragon didn’t invest”. But Theo Paphitis and Peter Jones were interested, they invested together for 40% total and £60,000. The other Dragons were surprised.
A year on and the Tiny Box company have a new warehouse, and Christian has left the tiny box company leaving Rachel alone despite giving Peter the assurance that he was committed. Peter Jones visited the company and is very pleased with the progress so far. Rachel has a great business but Peter Jones isn’t convinced if it will ever become a big business.
Trunki
Rob Law is the creator of the Trunki, perhaps the most popular product to be turned down by the Dragons three years ago. As ever Theo tested the Trunki to breaking point and snapped the strap, this stopped most of dragons from investing or asking for a large equity stake. Theo went as far as saying he was wasting his time in the den.
Theo “the destroyer” goes back three years on to meet Rob in Trunki Towers. Theo Paphitis says he now sees them everywhere when he goes to the airports. The company has expanded from Trunki’s (now on the Mark 3), to saddlebags and rucksacks which convert into booster seats.
The company is has an annual £1.4 million turnover, but fairly low profits. Theo said it is imperative to ensure he has the cashflow to go forwards as he was worried about the low profit margins and wished Rob the best of luck.
Buy a Trunki today direct from Trunki
Guy Portelli
http://www.portelli-sculptor.co.uk
Guy Portellis offer was an unusual one, he was offering 25% of 100 of his Pop art sculptures which he would display and sell for an investment of £70,000 at a large exhibition. The dragons were interested and this sparked a bidding war. Guy Portellis got Theo Paphitis, James Caan and Peter Jones for £80,000. A key point of this was that this would give him three guest lists.
In Royal Tunbridge Wells James Caan visited Guy in his studio, and admired the range of pieces Guy had already produced. A year later the sculptures have been created and he is ready to exhibit. With the dragons help they have a impressive guest list at the exhibition, but would people buy? Since the exhibition 4 pieces have been sold for a total of £60,000 and guy is now touring the pieces.
Michael North
Michael is passionate about fresh seasonal olive oil. His company was an olive oil club giving his club members 12 bottles of olive oil a year of fresh seasonal olive oil. He annoyed Deborah in the den after contradicting her and none of the dragons chose to invest.
Deborah Meaden went to visit Michael a year to see how he was getting on. Deborah has bought one of her favourite oils and asks how old it is, and he correctly tastes it as a 2007 olive oil. They go on to taste several of Michaels newest freshest oils.
Michael isn’t making a product from the olive oil clubs but he has other products which he now sells, including a Balsamic vinegar spray, for instant salad spraying! Deborah is sceptical that Michael has no unique selling point and he has not spoken to any supermarkets. Deborah feels he needs a business partner to focus on the business side while he focuses on the Olive Oil side. Deborah feels she was right not to invest.
Dragons Den is back again next Sunday at 9pm on BBC2