Series three, episode one, of the Dragons’ Den aired on August 3rd 2006. James Seddon walked into the Dragons’ Den asking for £75,000 of the Dragons’ ‘hard earned’ money, in return for a 10 per cent stake in his business. James started his pitch by describing how nutritious eggs are and how they make the perfect breakfast food, but continued by stressing how many difficulties one faces when boiling an egg.

Such problems were said to include five minutes to boil the water, five minutes to boil the egg and then however long it takes to do the washing up! Indeed, fifteen or so minutes to enjoy a boiled egg does seem like a rather long time. James Seddon then claimed that he had invented a way to make boiling an egg as easy as making toast (eat your heart out Delia!).

James presented his solution in the form of the Eggxactly (a play on words that all the Dragons found highly amusing). The Eggxactly is a water free egg cooker that was invented by Mr Seddon after he found himself frustrated when trying to cook his daughter the perfect boiled egg. Fed up with overcooking the egg (or worse, under cooking), James hit upon the idea of using a stretchy soft heating element, which encased the egg and used a microprocessor to control the cooking time and the heat setting. The unique heating element provided good thermal contact with the egg, regardless of the awkward shape.

After this eureka moment, James developed the process further, first by creating a prototype and then improving upon it. By the time he entered the Dragons’ Den, he had spoken to four major companies, one of which was Home Tek (producers of Ainsley Harriott’s successful cooking appliance range). The projections were that the business would turn over one million pounds in its first year and seven million pounds by year four – ambitious targets indeed.

The Dragons that day included Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Theo Paphitis, Duncan Bannatyne and Richard Farleigh. The first to question Mr Seddon was Peter Jones, who had a good look at the product and then, Peter being Peter, examined the prototype and asked for a demonstration of a four minute egg! Perhaps he was feeling peckish that day. Mr Seddon said he could provide a five minute egg but Peter insisted on a four minute egg! James decided to go ahead and cook a five minute egg anyway.

Whilst the egg was cooking, Deborah Meaden questioned the ability of the product to turn itself off. Meanwhile, the device started to beep, signifying that it had finished cooking and – much to James’ dismay and embarrassment – he realised that he had not actually put an egg in the egg cooker! This was enough for Deborah Meaden to declare herself out!

Another disastrous demonstration ensued, during which the Dragons continued to discuss the product. It was explained that Mr Seddon had patents which covered the unique technology contained in the Egg cooker. A further demonstration having failed (the prototype this time), Mr Bannatyne and Mr Paphitis declared themselves out.

Despite failing to successfully demonstrate a working prototype, Mr Seddon secured investment from two dragons: Peter Jones and Richard Farleigh, who both invested £37,500 for 20% each of the company.

So, where exactly is the Eggxactly now? Has Mr Seddon hit that one million target yet? The answer is no, not yet at least. The Eggxactly is due to hit shops during the Autumn of 2009. Originally, it was hoped that the product would be ready for Christmas of 2008 but this was not to be. However, the product is currently gathering accolades whilst still in development. As an example, in March 2008 the Eggxactly won best new green product in the E-On EnergyLab competition.

The Eggxactly website is, however, fully up and running – and what a very attractive site it is. It offers a plethora of egg filled information, from recipes to all the information you ever wanted to know about an egg but never bothered to ask. Most importantly it includes detailed information on the new Eggxactly product. By all accounts, the Eggxactly will be available in six different colours: black, green, yellow, red, blue and pink. Furthermore, interested customers will be able to pre-order it for just £25. Once you have registered your interest, the Eggxactly team will e-mail you with details of when ‘eggxactly’ the product will be ready for distribution.

It seems that while the public greatly anticipates the arrival of a convenient, no water, no fuss, no washing up, ‘non boiled’ egg boiler, we will all have to wait just that little bit longer. The episode in question is also a superb example of the need for thorough preparation and concentration when presenting and selling any form of product or service. However, it seems that this particular story may just be beginning.

Originally written by Lammo.net, a blog all about Affiliate Marketing

Dragons Den: Where are they now? – Eggxactly

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Many entrepreneurs have tried their luck in the Dragons’ Den only to be ridiculed by Duncan Bannatyne, rebuked by Peter Jones or barked at by Deborah Meaden. Indeed, it takes a brave soul to venture into the Dragons’ Den and ask for a portion of the “hard earned inheritance” owing to Theo Paphitis’ children. More often than not, the Dragons will declare themselves out of a proposed business venture and, in doing so, they will leave many entrepreneurs reeling from some fiery words. Therefore, when the Dragons sit up and take notice of a potential business opportunity, it is usually to the credit of the entrepreneur. Even so, moving a Dragon from a point of interest to secure a firm offer, which is in itself one that the entrepreneur would be happy to accept, is a completely different matter. Moreover, a divided Dragons’ Den is a fairly regular occurrence.

It came as little surprise, therefore, that Julie White’s pitch for £75,000 to fund a baby products company called Truly Madly Baby was given a mixed reception. Duncan Bannatyne and Doug Richard found themselves unable to fully understand the target market whilst being left unimpressed by Julie White’s financial projections. Indeed, for a company that had a turnover of just £2,600 in its first year of trading, it was certainly a questionable move by Julie to value the company at an estimated £6 million by year two. In fact, this was enough to end the speculative interest of Rachel Elnaugh, who had suggested that the business would be better placed as a mail order or online company. In any case, all but two of the Dragons had ruled themselves out at this stage.

Multi-millionaire Peter Jones, however, saw the potential in Julie White’s business. Often seen as the champion of the entrepreneurial underdog, Peter Jones will often take a punt on a business venture that targets a market he finds interesting. Speaking after the show, Peter Jones admitted that baby clothes and products were of interest to him and there was a worthwhile opportunity to explore in Julie White’s company. However, having offered the full £75,000 for a 50% share in the business, Peter Jones’ offer was countered by Theo Paphitis, who weighed in with the same figure for a 47.5% share. To Julie’s immense credit and testament to her nerves of steel, she was able to negotiate a better deal with Peter Jones, whose offer of £75,000 for a 45% stake in Truly Madly Baby was gratefully accepted. However, this share was still 20% more than Julie had intended to give up.

Nevertheless, the opportunity to work with Peter Jones and the desire to make her company a success were enough to see Julie agree to the deal. Peter later added that he could see enough potential in the business to convince him that it could become a nationwide force. Moreover, the fact that Peter had recently been made a father again obviously struck a personal chord with the Dragon. In hindsight, perhaps Julie White should have given more consideration to Theo Paphitis and his extensive influence in the domestic retail industry, which would have no doubt placed the Truly Madly Baby product at the forefront of its niche market in the UK. Nevertheless with Peter Jones’ revised offer accepted, the task of making Truly Madly Baby a household name could begin.

Founded in 2004, Truly Madly Baby was in desperate need of a cash injection. Visiting the Dragons’ Den in 2005 was a rewarding experience for Julie White, who described the adventure as “really fantastic and very exciting. a dream come true”. However, her deal with Peter Jones was later rescinded after Julie sought investment from an another source, details of which remain unclear. Nevertheless, the decision not to work with one of the most successful Dragons could be seen as either very silly — or a very gutsy move. Either way, the ties with the Dragons’ Den ended before they really began.

Currently, the Truly Madly Baby business has grown to include somewhere between 200 and 500 consultants in the UK, including Guernsey and the Orkney Islands. Whilst the health of this side to the business cannot be easily assessed, the online element of the company is flourishing. Indeed, the trulymadlybaby.co.uk website has become an important resource for baby clothes and related products. It would appear that Julie took on board Rachel Elnaugh’s suggestion that the online side of the business would be the most lucrative. The website now comprises a number of departments, including those selling products that can be attributed to Learning, Bedtime and Fun time.

The Truly Madly Baby website features a simple yet effective design. One of the most important aspects of e-commerce is to produce a website that is user-friendly and offers intuitive navigation. Without any doubt, trulymadlybaby.co.uk addresses these requirements and more – clean layouts, large navigation buttons and an uncomplicated checkout process make for a pleasant online shopping experience.

Starting up a new business is always hard work. Julie White proved her entrepreneurial skills by attracting investment from one of the most successful Dragons, whilst retaining enough determination to ultimately do things her own way. Whether she prevails in this extremely competitive category in the longer term remains to be seen but early signs are encouraging and Julie certainly seems to have the degree of focus needed to succeed in the current climate.

Originally written by Lammo.net, a blog all about Affiliate Marketing

Dragons Den: Where are they now? – Truly Madly Baby

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Duncan Bannatyne OBE was born in Clydebank, Scotland on the 2nd February 1949. He had a relatively poor upbringing as the 2nd of seven children. At a young age his mother told him she couldn’t afford to buy him a bike, so Duncan asked around the local newsagents to see if he could start a paper round. He was told that to get the job he would need a list of 100 potential customers. He then spent time knocking on doors in the surrounding area, and through his determination, managed to produce the list. He got the job and was able to purchase a bike.

At the age of 15, Duncan decided to leave home to create a new life for himself and so he could see something different. He signed up for 12 years with the Royal Navy to work in a ship’s engine room at RNTE Shotley near Ipswich. Duncan served in the Navy for several years before he threatened to throw an officer off a boat landing jetty in Scotland and received a dishonourable discharge. He says he did this in part as a reaction to this particular officer’s abuse of his position, in part as he was dared by others on the ship to do it, and in part as a way for him to try and get out of the Navy. After this he spent nine months in the Colchester military detention centre before being discharged at the age of 20.

Back in Glasgow at the age of 20, Duncan was penniless and without references or qualifications. At 23, tragedy struck when he lost his sister, Helen, to a suspected brain tumour. The death of his sister saw Duncan go slightly off the rails. He was arrested for being drunk and disorderly and jailed for several days. He still believes to this day that her death was a catalyst in his decision as to how live his life from then on. At that point he became the oldest child in the family overnight and he believes her death made him realise he wanted to make something of himself. After this, he still had no references or qualifications and now had a criminal record. He therefore decided that he wanted to become an entrepreneur.

At the age of 29, Duncan and his first wife moved to Stockton-on-Tees in the north of England from the island of Jersey, as the island represented a difficult business climate for non-locals. At 30 Duncan worked in a bakery when he spotted an opportunity that would change his life forever. To supplement his income whilst he worked in the bakery, Duncan would buy cars from auctions, do them up, and then sell them on. One day he noticed an ice cream van for sale and decided to buy it and start up his own business. He purchased the van for £450, and within 3 years was running a business that used over six vans and was generating annual revenue of approximately £250,000. This roughly worked out at between £30,000 and £60,000 profit each year. After 3 years he sold the business for £28,000.

His next venture was to set up a private care home business, his first development being one of the first brand new purpose built nursing homes in the country. He needed £360,000 to finance this first care home, but at that stage Duncan did not have a financial track record and banks thus refused to lend him any money. He managed to pay the first bill for the new care home from the money he had made by selling the ice cream business. He paid off the second bill by selling his car and loading £30,000 onto three credit cards. To be able to afford to pay the third bill he had to sell his house. Even after he had sold every major asset that he had owned, Duncan still had outstanding debts for the building work of the care home and required extra finance to fund the payments. However, the value placed on this care home was already £600,000, so he returned to the banks. He then decided to remortgage the nursing home, paid off the debts, bought another plot of land, and began building a second care home.

The business then began to expand rapidly, with Duncan not afraid of borrowing money to finance the developments. As soon as one care home was built, he re-mortgaged it and moved on to build the next one. Within three years he owned 9. In 1997, Duncan sold the care home business for over £45 million.

Since then, Duncan has branched into Health Clubs and is now the owner of the popular Bannatyne’s Health Clubs chain. He is the director of Bannatyne Enterprises and oversees an exclusive hotel, bar and casino and, more recently, new housing developments, as well as the Health Clubs chain. In 2006, he acquired 26 Health Club’s from Hilton Hotels, which made Bannatyne’s the largest independent chain of Health Clubs in the UK.

In October 2008, he opened the £12 million Bannatyne Spa Hotel in Hastings. In the 2009 Sunday Times Rich List, his current wealth is estimated to be £320 million. He is also by far the wealthiest of the Dragons in the BBC TV series “Dragon’s Den”.

Originally written by Lammo.net, a blog all about Affiliate Marketing

How Duncan Bannatyne made his fortune

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Charles Ejogo pitched for his company “Umbrolly” on the Dragons Den episode aired on the 4th January 2005. The idea he presented to the Dragons was that of a number of vending machines for umbrellas, including an LCD screen to display advertising of a very high quality, to be placed on the streets of London.

This was to include three hundred in the London Underground for a minimum contract of 12 years. The entrepreneur had come up with the idea whilst walking home in the rain, and wished a vending machine had been nearby so that he could purchase an umbrella and stop himself getting soaked! Each machine had the capacity to hold up to 45 umbrellas and was suitable for use both indoors and outdoors.

Although Charles requested £150,000 from the Dragons for a 20% share in his business, he accepted an investment offer from Peter Jones and Duncan Bannatyne of £75,000 from each of them for 20% equity for each Dragon. However, Charles never received the money for the investment from the Dragons. Both Peter Jones and Duncan Bannatyne had been under the impression that Umbrolly already had all the arrangements in place for the advertising that was to be displayed on the panels of the vending machines. It transpired, however, that this wasn’t the case and that Charles had been hoping to get the contract for the advertising at a later date once a deal with the Dragons had been negotiated.

Following the collapse of the deal, Charles was forced to look elsewhere for the investment he required for his business. However, the exposure he had received by going on to the TV show meant that after the deal with the Dragons had collapsed, Charles was inundated with offers of partnerships and investments in his company from other businesses, and soon accepted an offer, with the business moving into a serviced office in London.

In 2006, the umbrella vending machine was named “Innovation of the Year” by BT Redcare. Later that year, the Mini Machine (thought to be the most compact umbrella vending machine in the world at only 8 inches deep) was designed and prototyped by Seymour Powell, the same group of people who helped to design Richard Branson’s Space Plane. Later that same year, the Department of Trade and Industry named Ejogo as the Innovator of the Year.

In 2007, flaws were uncovered in the original prototype of the Mini Machine, so Charles ordered a complete redesign of the machine to be undertaken. Shortly thereafter, manufacturers for the new Mini Machine were recruited and production of the unit with its new design began. Umbrolly then began to build up a network of retailers who were willing to place the vending machines in their stores. Ejogo has been successful in gaining several high-profile contracts, such as in airports, shopping centres and train stations, where the footfall of potential customers passing the machines, and therefore more likely to use them, is at its highest. Later in 2007, the Mini Machine was named Runner-Up in Auto Vending Magazine’s ‘Product of the Year’.

Charles was then able to agree an exclusive servicing / operating deal allowing Umbrolly to position their machines anywhere they desired within the UK. After signing the agreement with the national service partner, Charles began to find customers who were willing to lease or purchase a machine from Umbrolly all over the country.

The company continued to grow in stature significantly throughout 2007. Later that year, Burlington Investment Partners took a significant (although minority) stake in Umbrolly, which allowed Charles to facilitate further growth not only on a domestic scale, but also globally. Interest from abroad grew rapidly, and Umbrolly began to listen to offers from potential international investors. The Mini Machine then received another award, this time coming second in the Vending International Magazine’s ‘Product of the Year’. After this award, Umbrolly became better known internationally, with machines being delivered to Germany and the USA later in the year and further overseas deals being negotiated.

The publicity Umbrolly received by going on Dragons Den was all important in getting the business moving and allowing it to grow, firstly on the domestic front and then over time on an international scale. Even though Charles’ deal with the Dragons fell through and he never received their investment or business advice, it didn’t prevent his business from becoming a global success. He has ultimately succeeding in turning his umbrella vending machine concept into a reputable, profit-making company. This is yet another entrepreneurial example of persistence paying off in the face of what may have appeared to have been an insurmountable problem at the outset. Affiliates take heed!

Originally written by Lammo.net, a blog all about Affiliate Marketing

Dragons Den: Where are they now – Umbrolly

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Danny Bamping pitched for his company “Bedlam Puzzles” on the Dragons Den episode aired on the 22nd November 2005. The product he was trying to sell to the Dragons was called the “Bedlam Cube”.

The Bedlam Cube was invented by Bruce Bedlam, who hadn’t pursued the product commercially, and instead Danny had spent two and a half years prior to the show developing the product and planning for its success in the UK. The Bedlam Cube comprises of 13 unique geometric shapes, has 19,186 different solutions, no packaging, and is a British invention by a British company. Theo Paphitis and Rachel Elnaugh decided to invest £50,000 for a 15% share of equity in the business each.

However, after the show had been recorded, Danny decided to pull out of the agreement with the two Dragons, opting instead to take out a bank loan for the amount of investment he required for his business and to go it alone without the help of the Dragons. He did this to avoid losing any equity to the Dragons so he kept full control of his business. The bank loan was used to start sales of the Bedlam Cube through retailers online and in one of London’s best toy stores, Hamleys.

Within two years and with the help of the TV exposure received through Dragons Den, the Bedlam Cube had been dubbed the next Rubik’s Cube of the toy world, and had become a phenomenon on a worldwide scale. In 2006, Danny said he believed over 100,000 Bedlam cubes had been sold since the middle of 2005, and turnover of the company was approaching £1 million per year.

The Bedlam Cube became a success in the retail toy, promotional merchandise and corporate gift market through Danny Bamping’s entrepreneurial skill and marketing of the product. In 2006, it was being sold through many major companies, including Argos, John Lewis, Tesco, Debenhams and WH Smith, and was highly popular during the Christmas period of the same year.

To meet the ever-increasing demand for the Bedlam Cube, Danny decided that the business would have to expand. In an eight to ten month period from early 2006, the company grew rapidly, increasing the number of employees to seven and moving to new premises. With the help of the cube’s inventor, Bruce Bedlam, Danny was able to launch a cheaper mini version of the cube in late 2006 to boost retail sales, and also decided that the business should start to operate internationally. A new distribution deal took the cube to South Africa, with approximately 120,000 cubes manufactured in China and then exported directly to South Africa. The cube was also distributed to Australia, New Zealand, and 17 different European countries.

In terms of the cubes appearance in the corporate and promotional gift market, the Bedlam cube was produced for major names such as O2, Siemens, PwC and BP. In the UK’s promotional marketing industry, worth about £20 billion per year, Danny became the winner of the first ever BPMA Entrepreneur of the Industry Award in 2006. In the same year, the company also won the award for the most innovative product.

Danny has always said that he aims to be as green as he possibly can in business, and has continued this promise to himself through Bedlam Puzzles. The Bedlam Cube has no packaging and all wooden versions of the cube are created from sustainable rubber wood. In 2007, Danny announced that production of the cubes would move to the UK and would start to be manufactured from recycled plastic. He believes his very brave decision to move manufacturing of the cube out of China and into Britain has paid off, saying he believed it showed that there had been a real shift in consumer trends in the toy sector of the retail market, as he was selling 4 Bedlam cubes produced in the UK for every one that had been produced in China. Costs in China for production and transport were increasing, so Danny decided to move production back to the UK, as he then could just order the cubes to meet demand rather than sitting on a large and costly inventory.

Danny has now set up another firm called Crazee Thingz, which is primarily used to develop toys and puzzles for markets on an international scale. In early 2009, the ‘Flagship’ toy of the Crazee Thingz brand was introduced, the Crazee Carbon Cube, which Danny claimed is the smallest ‘Green’ Toy in the world. The story seems set to continue.

Originally written by Lammo.net, a blog all about Affiliate Marketing

Dragons Den: Where are they now – Bedlam Cube

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Can you hear me now? – First of all, my apologies for the silence over the last two weeks. Things have been so manically busy as we approached the end of some major projects that it’s been very difficult to find even 5 minutes to post to the blog. Normal service will be resumed from here on.

Proud to be Fat More and More - No, I’m not talking about my ever-expanding “affiliate belly”, although I do believe there’s a link between the size of your stomach and the size of your commission cheques – All that time sat at your computer writing content and blog posts means both get a little bigger each day.

I’m not going to pretend that I’m a 100% fat affiliate, as over the years I’ve had around 50 “thin” affiliate websites that offer nothing whatsoever of value to the end user, all of which made varying amounts of money. I’ve still got a couple of “thin” sites now, and I do partake in Brand Bidding where allowed (I know, boo! hiss!), but I also know that those are not sustainable revenue streams that I will be able to live off in 5 or 10 years time. And for that reason, I’m also slowly building a couple of “brand” sites and publishing somewhere in the region of 100,000 words of unique content every single month.

The “thin” stuff pays the bills today, and enables me to concentrate my time on the “fat” stuff that will pay the bills for the rest of my life. It’s naive to assume that people will ignore the easy low-hanging fruit that brings in shedloads of short-term money, but it’s also foolish to ignore the benefits of building long-term, sustainable revenue streams. Maintaining a sensible weight is the key to a healthy affiliate lifestyle.

Call me Mr. Chairman More – Two weeks ago, I was a humble affiliate. Now, however I am co-owner of a football club, having invested quite heavily (£35) into Ebbsfleet United Football Club. I’m so pleased to have been asked to form part of the small consortium, and I’m sure I speak for the other 28,249 co-owners in saying that we’re sure this is the start of a very bright era for the football club, and we have complete faith in Head Coach Liam Daish (until we lose a few games, and then we’ll be ready and waiting with the dreaded “poll of confidence”)

Does AM need its own UK Magazine? More – It’s a tough one this – I subscribed to Revenue magazine, but soon found I wasn’t actually reading each issue as it was too US-centric. I’d certainly support anyone who took the risk and published a UK Affiliate Marketing magazine. I’ve known so many publications go bust due to lack of advertising/low circulation/high publishing costs that it’s a hell of a risk. But there hasn’t been a decent read for the UK Affiliate since Internet Works went pop, and the Industry is much bigger now, so perhaps the time is right? I certainly won’t be risking my own money to bring out a publication, but will happily support anyone who does.

Dragons Den looking for Entrepreneurs - If you’re unable to handle constructive criticism and think that your business that earned you £20.79 last year must be worth “about a million”, then why not apply for Series 7 of Dragons Den? The BBC are currently looking for entrepreneurs, and have specifically targeted Internet entrepreneurs this year as some of the biggest investments from last series went to online companies such as Hungry House and Gaming Alerts.

If you’d like to take part, then please email dragonsden@bbc.co.uk call 0870 200 3003 or visit their website for an application form. Will I be taking part? No chance – I’d be far too nervous!

Buy.at coming to Plymouth More – After mucho campaigning, the buy.at team are coming to Plymouth this Friday afternoon for a day of networking and fun. So if you fancy a day on the Sunny south coast, taking in some Clay Pigeon Shooting and an evening of fun with the guys and girls from buy.at (as well as the chance to talk turkey with them of course!), then make sure you email events@buy.at to register (it’s free) before Wednesday to grab your place at this top event.

Originally written by Lammo.net, a blog all about Affiliate Marketing

Maintaining a sensible weight is the key to a healthy affiliate lifestyle

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A real change from the usual format this week, starting with my usual few minutes of the lovely Nigella Lawson cooking a nice bit of fish in.. urgh! it’s Rick bloomin Stein! Where’s Nigella gone? A large chunk of the Den today was dedicated to some “Where are they now” stories from this series, which in theory is a great idea, as all the investments are still fresh in your mind.

It doesn’t really work that well for “stories” such as Gaming Alerts. Their “where are they now story” was: They’ve met Theo and picked up the cheque. Erm, and that’s it so far… Why not just cut them, and show someone who’s actually done something since the den?

Anyway, we did have a couple of pitches first, kicking off with Tim Lloyd, who was looking for £150,000 for a 40% stake in his “Tidy Tree Sack” piece of cloth to dispose of your real christmas tree without so much mess. Not a bad idea in itself, but the retail price was as much as a tree itself, and that made it a no-go for the dragons.

James Brown and Amanda Jones

Amanda and James gave a very strong pitch, and dealt with all the questions posed by the dragons very well indeed. Their only potential banana-skin was they didn’t have a working prototype at the time. That didn’t deter James Caan, who had worked in disaster areas like the Kashmir earthquake of 2005, and could instantly see the benefit of quickly sourced clean water. He offered them half the investment, in return for a 10% stake. James’ new buddy Duncan quickly offered to match the offer, so they could have the full £50,000 for a 20% stake. but the three other dragons were still in..

Deborah offered the full £50,000 for a 20% stake, Theo offered the full £50k, but didn’t know what percentage he might like, and finally Peter was also interested, offering them the exact terms they had pitched for – £50,000 for 10%. Theo then engineered a deal whereby all five dragons would invest at that rate, each taking just a 2% stake for £10,000. The deal was done, and Amanda and James walked away with the best deal ever seen in the den – All five dragons, and at the terms initially pitched!

That was the final investment of the series, so let’s have a look at the final investment league table:

1. Theo Paphitis: 6 investments, £457,500
2. James Caan: 6 investments, £345,000
3. Peter Jones: 5 investments, £310,000
4. Deborah Meaden: 6 investments, £242,500
5. Duncan Bannatyne: 4 investments, £185,000

Obviously with all dragons investing at the same level, there’s no positional change in the final week, but we do see that a total of £1.54m was “promised” over the series – I won’t say invested, as we all know that a lot of these deals fall through at the due diligence stage. It’s clear to see who the big guns are though – Theo invested well over twice as much as Duncan who wins the wooden chequebook for this series.

So, the where are they nows.. No real surprises – No-one’s going to appear on National TV and say they’ve failed miserably, so all success stories:

Youdoo Dolls (Deborah invested in episode 2) – Sarah Lu has moved the enterprise out of her back-bedroom into a warehouse, and the dolls are now being made in China rather than by her aunties. Sales have trebled, and Sarah puts it all down to having Deborah on baord.

Gaming Alerts (Theo invested, also in episode 2) – They picked up the cheque. That’s about it.

Cream Cutie (No-one invested in episode 5) – Now selling 12,000 bottles per month. Sales have doubled since getting the investment from a private investor.

Midas Touch (James invested in episode 1) – Now renamed”Gold Genie”, James has persuaded Laben Roomes not to go down the franchise route, and instead to focus on retail, which they’re doing with some success – The products are now being sold in Harrods, and they’re on course to make around £60,000 by the end of the year.

Tangle Teezer (No-one invested in episode 3) – Took Theo’s advice to get a distribution deal, and is now selling 1,000 a week. Seems to have turned into Alan Carr since appearing on the den.

Concentrate (Peter Jones invested in episode 3) – They are working on some new ranges. Not much else given away.

Cuddle Dry (No-one invested, also in episode 3) – They are glad they didn’t accept the offers, and managed to secure the investment privately at a much better rate. They are looking at expanding the range and are on target to meet First Year targets.

Fit Fur Life (James invested in episode 7) – Ordered 200 new treadmills, and fulfilled all existing orders. Currently being trialled by Guide Dogs for the Blind.

Ben the Bin (Theo and Deborah invested in episode 4) – Moved into larger premises and taken on staff. Feels the dragon’s contacts were worth more than the £50,000 cash.

Chocbox (James and Duncan invested in episode 8) – The real success story of the series. Sales have trebled to 3,000,000 per year. They’ve secured their first major retail order of 400,000 units, and there are International deals in the pipeline.

That’s almost it for another year – Don’t forget the Dragons Den Christmas special is on Christmas Day at 8:30pm on BBC2 – there’ll be no update from me on that one though!

Just in case anyone from the BBC is watching this whilst having planning meetings for Series 6, can I make a few suggestions?

• Nigella before the Den works a treat – Rick Stein doesn’t.
• Can we please have a new script for Evan? He uses the same one every week, it’s looking a bit worn by now – “Remember den rules dictate… It is the dragons own money… all think their product will make them millions…”
• Can we please have a swearbox that the dragons have to put money into every time Theo mentions his children’s inheritance?
• And everytime Duncan uses the word ridiculous.
• In fact can we just drop Duncan please?
• And bring back Richard Farleigh?

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Originally written by Lammo.net, a blog all about Affiliate Marketing

Dragons Den: Series 5, episode 9

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First of all, my apologies for the lateness and brevity of this week’s update – It’s due to a combination of being really busy with the Christmas sales, a dose of Man-flu, and taking the night off to go to a Madness gig. Normal service will be resumed next week..

Thankfully, the dragons ensured that there wasn’t much to write home about anyway, with only the 1 investment this week, a real no-brainer, with James and Duncan investing £75,000 each in return for an initial 36% stake in Chocbox, an electrical connector housing box. The company was already selling in excess of 1,000,000 a year for a GP of £300,000 stablised for the last three years.

The entrepreneur made it clear from the start that he was not after the dragon’s money, but rather their expertise in selling to retail and exporting to take an already successful business to the next level. He even went as far as to offer them a “money-back guarantee” that he would buy their shares back whenever they want for at least the price they paid. Not surprisingly, Duncan and James bit his hand off – Even if they do bu**er all for him, they should still see a very healthy ROI.

As much as that was an easy investment, it was clear that the other pitches were without a doubt ones best avoided, such as Jewellery for single people, magnetic light bulbs (good idea… few teething problems, but silly valuation), secret code clothing range, a high-tech hand dryer (did they watch the Syed from The Apprentice follow-up program?), a stripey ice-cream machine, a portable swimming pool alarm, an elasticated pregnancy support belt and breathable saddle pads for horses.

This is how it’s affected the Investment League table, with just one episode to go…

1. Theo Paphitis: 5 investments, £447,500
2. James Caan: 5 investments, £335,000
3. Peter Jones: 4 investments, £300,000
4. Deborah Meaden: 5 investments, £232,500
5. Duncan Bannatyne: 3 investments, £175,000

New dragon James Caan rises up to second place, leapfrogging Peter Jones. I don’t think Theo will be caught in the final episode, and whilst Duncan Bannatyne is closing in on Deborah Meaden, he may have left it too late to avoid the wooden spoon this series.

It’s interesting to see that next week’s episode will also feature a brief “what happened next” from some of this series’ investments – A great idea while the pitches are still fresh in your mind.

Originally written by Lammo.net, a blog all about Affiliate Marketing

Dragons Den: Series 5, episode 8

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One of the benefits of Sky-plussing Dragons Den is that you get a few minutes of Nigella Lawson recorded at the beginning of each episode. Now whilst I’d never sit through a whole hour of her, a few minutes each week seems to be the perfect amount, and try as I might, I can’t seem to fast forward through her…

Sammy French

Yes, I know what you’re thinking, and so was I.. as were the dragons… But this isn’t just a way of exercising your dog without leaving the house – It’s designed to be used by Vets, Kennels, etc as a rehab tool for dogs with injuries that need specific controlled excercise.

Sammy announced that her company “Fit-Fur-Life” had sold 147 treadmills, which didn’t sound a lot until you realise that the company makes £1,300 profit per unit. The dragons felt that she didn’t need their investment given this, but she explained that the bank had with-held a loan she was relying on to buy the stock to fulfill orders, and so had hit cashflow problems.

Peter and Deborah weren’t happy with this (Deborah in particular thought she was being mis-led), and declared themselves out. James probed a little further into her projections, and seemed happy with her estimate level of selling 300 units a year (which equates to a Gross Profit of c390, 000 p.a.). There’s no doubt she’s got her feet on the ground – No wild valuations or stupid projections, and clearly a potentially good investment.

Not suprisingly then, James offered her the full £100,000, but for 50% of the business. Duncan and Theo were still in, but only for a few seconds, as they both advised Sammy to bite James arm off – Thankfully they didn’t tell Daffy to do the same! Sammy accepted the offer, and a good deal was done for both parties I think.

Quickies this week included an Ethical Chocolate and coffee company, a portable boat, a portable soft toy stuffing machine (WTF???), a corporate racing day company (Who have to be given credit for getting an Aston Martin GT up the stairs somehow!), and the return of Roark McMaster (He of the Cucumber-condom fame from last year) with a portable (buzz word of the week!) solar charging device. all rubbish businesses, quickly dispatched.

Andrew Sneath

The dragons weren’t remotely interested in the sharks or other creatures, but James Caan was interested in the actual device for taking people underwater and allowing them to breathe normally whilst observing all around them, called BOB (Breathing Observation Bubble) could have been taken to the coasts of Spain, Tenerife etc for tourists to explore the coastlines.

I’m sure I heard Andrew state that he made approx £4,000 profit per “BOB” sold, and that he had sold 200 of them, but no-one asked the question where his £800,000 profit had gone? He stated a target of selling 50 “BOB’s” per year which would give a profit of £200,000 p.a. Which really put paid to any chance of an investment when he valued the company at £1.5m. James was fairly interested, but clearly not at that price, so declared himself out.

Hafida Sarachi thought she had a brilliant idea for a business – A “women-only” odd-job business called Handygirl, and wanted the dragons to invest £84,000 for a 15% stake. Unfortunately, she failed to heed the warnings of previous “women-only” businesses to have pitched in the den – Sex discrimination works both ways!

Hafida Sarachi from Handygirl

She was looking to expand via the franchise route, and when it was established that she felt “most” male odd-job men did a bad job, yet she had no professional qualifications whatsoever, and wasn’t expecting her franchisees to have either, it was clear that she had not thought things through. Hiring unqualified people to do building repair work is only leading to one outcome – and that’s a string of unhappy customers and potential lawsuits.

It appeared to me that she had no bsuiness acumen whatsoever – I think she had the idea, printed the T-shirt and applied for the den all in the same day. Needless to say, none of the dragons were interested in this “business” and all passed the “opportunity”.

The final couple this week (and therefore a foregone conclusion that they would win the Investment) were Jerry Mantalvanos and Paul Merker from JPM Eco Logistics, who wanted £100,000 for a 20% share in their Eco-friendly haulage company.

Despite the fact that they only have 1 contract, and the idea (trucks that are 98% recyclable and using bio-diesel) is incredibly easily copied, four of the dragons were interested, Peter Jones keeping his sensible head on and declaring himself out.

Jerry and Paul were projecting first year turnover of £400,000, leading to a GP of £106,000, which might lead to the conclusion that the business might be profitable even without the “green” angle. The first offer came from James Caan who offered to put up £50,000 (half the amount they were looking for), but for a 22.5% share in the company. Duncan Bannatyne offered to match the offer, before Theo offered to undercut the pair by only demanding a 20% stake. Deborah matched the offer (as always.. why don’t they just get a room? eeeurgh.. that’s a nasty thought) and Jery and Paul accepted their offer of £100,000 for a 40% stake.

Of the two offers, it clearly made sense for them to accept Theo and Deborahs as Theo already has a fleet of vehicles going up and down the country. A better option might have been for them to try and partner up Duncan and Theo as they would seem to be the perfect match with Duncan’s logistics company Igloo.

Let’s have a look at the updated Investment League Table for Week 7:

1. Theo Paphitis: 5 investments, £447,500
2. Peter Jones: 4 investments, £300,000
3. James Caan: 4 investments, £260,000
4. Deborah Meaden: 5 investments, £232,500
5. Duncan Bannatyne: 2 investments, £100,000

So with just 2 episodes to go, Theo has established a huge lead at the top, and Duncan remains rooted to the bottom (which is hopefully the relegation zone). James has leapfrogged Deborah (eeurg… another nasty thought) to go into third place. Of course, everything can change in the next 2 weeks, as you just know the BIG investments will be saved until the last episodes (especially the final pitch of the final episode).

Originally written by Lammo.net, a blog all about Affiliate Marketing

Dragons Den: Series 5, episode 7

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They say Lightening never strikes twice, so what chance that Duncan Bannatyne would invest two weeks in a row? Well, Ladbrokes were offering odds of 100/1 at one point until there was a flurry of bets from somewhere in Stockton-on-Tees…

We were treated to a bit of a song and dance from our first potential investee this week, Sid Sims and his “Back to the Movies” stage show. Sid was looking for a £50,000 investment for a 25% share (I don’t believe it – a reasonable valuation!). Sid’s big idea was to take the “holiday camp show” format, and take it into proper theatres and charge £18 a ticket.

As the owner of a chain of such holiday parks, Deborah Meaden could spot the obvious flaw with the “business” – at a holiday park, people watch the entertainment becasue they are a captive audience – it’s a no brainer. Going to watch a show for free because there’s very little else to do is very different to choosing to pay £18 to go to the theatre when you could do anything at all.

James Caan picked holes in his marketing strategy (such as thinking that a £25,000 marketing budget was sufficient to sell out a minimum of 80 theatres all across the country), and it was clear that the numbers just didn’t add up, and the dragons were soon muttering “I’m out”.

James and Peter tried to establish the numbers, but it was clear that Ian was an Inventor, not a businessman – He clearly lacked the business sense to take this product forward on his own. He claimed to have a 77% margin, compared to the standard 25% for the Industry, and when Peter asked why he didn’t just reduce the price to be the same as the other showerheads that don’t save lives, and take the entire market, Ian simply replied “I’ve never thought of it”.

Ian was clearly frustrating the dragons with his fluffy grip on the figures, and was just about to lose them when he pulled the proverbial rabbit out of the hat… Deborah asked who his main competitor was. He pulled out their showerhead, that sells for £60 and is disposable (His is £250, but permanent), and declared that there were 1.5 million of the disposable showerheads in hospitals across the UK right now. You could almost see the pound signs rolling in the dragons eyes when he said that (apart from Duncan who looked sick as a dog).

There was an uneasy silence as the dragons didn’t want to reveal their hands too quickly. Finally, Deborah offered Ian the full £145,000, but for a 40% stake. Peter and James backed out as they didn’t want to undercut Deborah, and Theo offered to split the investment with Deborah if that would help persuade Ian that it would give him twice the much-needed business acumen. Thankfully, he agreed and I feel this could be one of the best investments ever seen on the den, if they can get into the NHS budgets.

The “quickies” this week included Coin-Operated diggers, upmarket food and drink parties, swamp soccer (playing football in a swamp.. I actually think there’s a hell of a market for this in end of season parties, stag weekends, etc), a training company run by a very loud geordie, and a moving wrist-rest for your mouse (way to over-solve a problem).

Suzanne Chisty

Aside from the fact that the products themselves looked hideous, Susanne clearly had grasp of numbers whatsoever, and was not listening to a word the dragons were saying. In her first year of trading, she managed to sell a grand total of 136 products, for a gross turnover of just £1,600.

It was left to James Caan to ask the obvious question: “As a former Invesment Banker, how do you go from selling £1,600 of stock to valuing your business at £1.75 Million?” – Her answer was that someone else (also an Investment Banker) came up with the valuation.

There then followed some interesting conversations where the dragons were looking for their amusing ways to declare themselves out…

Theo: “This opportunity is as exciting as a 2 week holiday in Afghanistan.”

Susanne: “Yes.”

Theo: “Yes??”

Duncan: “No one in their right mind would wear this. It’s ludicrous”

Susanne: “Yes.”

Duncan: “Yes??”

Not entirely surprisingly, all dragons were out. Which moved us onto the final couple of the show. Now remember, BBC Rules dictate that the final entrepreneurs shown on each episode must get the investment they’re looking for, or people will switch off.

Mark and Elina Davis

They were clearly nervous to begin with, but once they got into their stride, it was starting to become clear that they had a rather successful product on their hands. They already had deals in place with ASDA and Morrisons, and in their first 8 months of trading, they had already turned over more than £500,000. Even more amazingly (and this is where it started to go wrong), they claimed that the full year turnover would be “around £2,000,000″ – When asked to clarify that they expected a further £1.5m in turnover in the next 4 months, they stumbled more than a bit.

The dragons then drilled down the financials further, and it was established that out of the £1.60 price they were selling for wholesale, they were paying £1.30 to the manufacturers, around 8p for the container, 10p for the cardboard sleeve, and around 12p for delivery. It therefore doesn’t take a genius to work out that they’re not actually making any money, and the old saying “Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity” has never been truer.

It was unfortunate on the couple, who were clearly really nice people. Theo, Deborah and Peter all declared themselves out in the nicest possible way, whilst offering them some very useful advice. It looked as if someone was going to break the cardinal rule of the Den and let the final pitch of the show leave empty handed.

Fear not, however as serial-investor Duncan Bannatyne has yet to declare! And we all know he’s one of the top investors on the den… oh.

As well as Duncan, James Caan was also yet to show his hand, and when he did, it contained a wildcard. He could clearly see the potential in the product if only they could sort out the cost of manufacturing. Well what do you know? James revealed that he knows the industry very well, and his sister and close friend are involved in a similar Indian ready meals business, so of course they can sort out the manufacturing costs. He then proceeded to offer them the full £100,000, but for a 50% stake.

Not wanting to be out-done, and now he’s remembered what to do on an Invesment show, Duncan had a wild-card of his own… He had previously invested in a refrigerated distribution company called Igloo distribution on Dragons De, which could of course further reduce the cost of production. He then made Mark and Elina two offers: The full £100,000 for 50%, or split it with James, £50k for 25%. Not surprisingly, they were more than happy to accept.

This is the perfect example of a good business, with some major problems. The introduction of Duncan and James should almost immediately eradicate those problems, and they should have a ready-made (sorry!) success story on their hands.

One interesting thing after Mark and Elina has disappeared back down the stairs.. Peter Jones said “All I can say is good luck Duncan” – Is there some spat between Peter and James, or am i reading too much into that comment?

Just time for a quick look at the updated Investment League Table:

1. Theo Paphitis: 4 investments, £397,500
2. Peter Jones: 4 investments, £300,000
3. Deborah Meaden: 4 investments, £182,500
4. James Caan: 3 investments, £160,000
5. Duncan Bannatyne: 2 investments, £100,000

No change to any of the placings after this episode – Peter Jones was the only dragon not to invest, thus winning the “Duncan of the week” award, and meaning Theo extends his lead at the top. Deborah’s closing in on second place, but with only three episodes left, is there enough time for her to catch Peter, or will James overtake her?

Originally written by Lammo.net, a blog all about Affiliate Marketing

Dragons Den: Series 5, Episode 6

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