Dragons Den

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mmclo

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Has anybody been watching this on BBC2. Reality business show probably the best way to describe it, a series of people with business ideas pitch to some particularly tough venture capitalists to see if they'll invest. The whole thing is real and to add to it seemily real wads of cash are sititng on the table. Only a tiny proportions of pitcehrs get anything and usually they are forced to give away a lot of equity to gat anything.
 
Yeo have been watching it for the past few weeks. Interesting to see/hear what investors want and look for in a company with regards to investing. Also interesting to note how unprepared and unprofessional some people are when looking for money.

Thought the lady with the tatoo removal solution was interesting in that she "lied" to the investors and got caught out badly when the husband came on and couldn't back her claims. It would have made great reality TV to see the conversation they had later.

C.
 
Saw a couple of episodes and really enjoyed it. Would love to see a follow up in 12 months on the ones that got investment and - probably more interesting - the ones with good ideas/product that didn't get anything from the Dragons and how they fared.
 
Saw a few episodes of it. Some quite interesting ideas - particularly the unbrella vending idea for the london underground.
 
This week's episode was most interesting on two aspects;

- The level of disagreement between the 'dragons' on what makes a good investment, proving that it is still very personal, down to personal trust & credibility - not just the hard finances
- The lack of preparation of many of those pitching their ideas. The absence of basic figures around gross/net profits etc. If I was ever pitching for money, I'd made sure I had the facts to hand.
 
What amazed me was the fact that they shot so many people down on their presentation skills, and left them walking away thinking that that was the only reason they did not get investment.

However, when the two least-prepared and nervous brothers came bliddering on with some sort of a 3d simulator, two of the Dragons leapt in on the basis of the concept and patent alone.

To add to that, I have no doubt that the two brothers were overflowing with intelligence and definately needed financial and marketing assistance.
 
I get the impression that the producers have a certian approach to this to combine entertainment and business, otherwise we'd all be watching P&L accounts and spreadsheets.

They clearly go for novel ideas, there's obvioulsy no paperwork allowed and it seems visuals are the main communications tool...all perfectly sensible for TV. But the dragons want figures and hard business info. so presenterss need to commit that to memory.

A bit of a flaw I think is their attittude to negotiation. When they want in they drive a hard bargain about the amount of equity etc. if somebody is tough in negotiations they often loose out, but surely this is a skill that should be rewarded. When somebody gives loads away they can loose respect (like UK vs worldwide rights in one case).
 
Venture capitalists are looking for one thing -- a big return. They invest in very risky ventures so the upside has to be big to cover the inevitable failed investments. In this sense they are not interested in getting a "fair" share of the company for their investment -- they need more. And once they are on board they will be looking at their exit strategy, because they WILL get out of the company, usually before it's too late!

It's a pretty realistic show from that point of view. VC's have to be tough. And even if you have a great idea they won't invest if they don't like you (unless they like the idea enough to buy in then push you out, which happens too.)
 
Good points on VC's Extopia...the obvious question then is how many of these entrepreneurs should be going to their bank manager or is the level of risk to high for that??
 
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