Dragon's Den
 

Brilliant show this week. Show's just how ruthless the Dragon's can be! For those who missed it I think it's repeated late at night early next week...

Simon

What the hell was that cardoctor on about??
I ring him up and say my car is knackered and he tells me to take it to the garage!!!!!
Then charges me for it!!!!!

You can watch it on the BBC2 website.

I agree it was brilliant tonight.

I don't think the Dragons are fierce, I just think that people have crap, overblown, ill thought through ideas.

I am not sure if it is in the editing but there is far too much focus on the product rather than the business overall.

Class moment of the series was Duncan on the EzyExChair :D:D:D

'What the hell was that cardoctor on about??
I ring him up and say my car is knackered and he tells me to take it to the garage!!!!!
Then charges me for it!!!!!'


LOL his plan was pathetic. I'd buy his whole company for 50 quid :lol1:

That Cardoctor chap was a complete muppet!

http://www.kardocktor.co.uk/

Any takers? :wonder:

:lol1: :lol1:

Got to be one of my favourite programmes

I watched the last series and loved it. Cheers for the reminder - on series link now :)

They were all muppets last night other than the truck washing guy. Still not sure why he didnt take the better financial deal.

Simon

Hi Simon,

He didn't take it because he thought Theo was worth the extra 5%. That's fair enough IMO, although I'm not sure I'd want to work with Deborah.

The only other thing that did strike me about this week was the fact that the picnic bag lady wanted to build up a brand, and that struck a cord with Deborah. I think the Dragons at present are more concerned with making a (relatively) quick buck and then getting out in a couple of years, whereas this was the first woman who showed she wanted to build something more substantial. "Products that sell loads quickly run out of steam. I want to build a brand". Fair enough. If only she had more 'drive' she could go far...

SD yeah I gathered that - just didnt think they offered more than Duncan and Richard considering he only initially wanted to give 20% equity away and they were asking double that.

Was nice to see someone not fazed by them and actually try cutting deals with them all.

Simon

That would certainly help with the guy who had the problem with ScoobyClinic this week. I am sure that they could give a second opinion on the warped disks and worn wheel bearing ;)

Edited to add that the kardoktor is even advertising his appearence on DD!!!! Peter Jones was spot on, "He needs a check-up from the neck-up!!"

I think the picnic bag lady got her sums wrong (or translation). She was talking about nearly 200k of turnover in 3 years and the profit only being 10k. Surely that can't be right. There is no way it takes nearly £55 to make each bag.

Struck me that one of them could have turned the business on its head and made a fortune.

Try being the operative word. He achieved nothing by his attempts from what i saw, except surrender 40% of his business instead of his intended 20%.

But *no-one* walks out of there having given up less than 40% thats the deal, these are all start-ups and no VC is going to offer cash for very much less equity than that so everyone going on there has to face they will be giving up a fair chunk of the pie.

Got to agree...he should have been telling them his aim was to make them even richer so they should stop faffing about and put their cash in.

Cant belive he had 4 out of 5 wanting to invest - at that point i would have been saying "its £300k for 20%" :D

I dont know much about truck washing but i know i'd have left with more than 60% of my company in my pocket!

The egg timer bloke got away with 30% didn't he? And as Tiggs said, when you've got 4 people ready to invest, you know you've got a winning proposition, so have the balls to say no and take the idea elsewhere unless they meet you somewhere nearer to the 30% mark. But he was swayed by the Greek chap so hopefully his decision turns out ok. Good telly though.

He did fail to nail them when he clearly had a chance. They were dealing between each other and obviously wanted in.

That in itself would have told me it's 30% or it's offered elsewhere.

Then again, I'd spoil the programme. :D

I thought similar, if a bunch a "hard ball" investors are all chomping to buy a piece of your business, then you can be confident that your concept is a belter.
This shrewd businessman had the contracts with the service stations, the initial kit, so all he needed was £200k for more kit and a bit of marketing... It didnt need him to give up 40% of the business to get advice on how to make leaflets and phone calls :) :freak3:
Had I have been the warrington chappy, I would have taken pride in their over demanding clamour for a piece of my pie and put up the house as collateral (or bumped off a relative or something) to get my hands on the 200k :)

He could get the money somewhere else, he said that. If it was just about raising the cash he would have gone for the lower % offer & not the higher one (or just got the cash somewhere else without handing over any % of his company.)
He wasn't there just for the money. He seemed very impressed with Theo & wanted him in, enough to give away 5% more than he needed. I agree with him, having the right people on board is vital long term. Theo I think just sold La Senza for over £120m after buying it a few years ago near when it was near bankrupt. That chap had done his homework on these Dragons.

R.