Dragons miss great opportunity
By Vincent Heeringa,
What a great episode of Dragons’ Den. I like the way the Aussie version is so dynamic. The Dragons play off each more than the Brits ever did, collaborate on deals and even walk off camera. Somehow it feels much more friendly—very downunder, I guess.
Would I have invested differently? Absolutely. To me, the bikini and underwear women had a fantastic business that the Dragons were stupid to ignore. The branding was good. The website was working well, selling some $70,000 in merchandise. They were making a fair amount of dosh. The stumbling block seemed to be that they were spreading their time on other profitable activity. Big deal. I bet each one of the Dragons runs multiple businesses. The women showed initiative and basic business nouse. What’s so unattractive about that? I’m in.
The Dragons were correct to reject the sadly deluded fish and chip man, Nick Newton. Is it that hard to believe that the Chinese have not tried battered vegetables before? I think they’re called spring rolls.
As for Annemaree Verderossa, I’m with Darryn (the one with bad hair) on this one: it’s ludicrous. If it looks like it belongs in a mail-order catalogue then it probably does.
Eckhard Kemmera and his coffin business was by far the best idea in the show. The success is its logic. The funeral industry is desperately in need of innovation. Change is often rebuffed (Dragon Serena fled the scene!) but investors like Peter Higgins have the ability to overcome the initial shock of the new and see the opportunity.
Kemmera also presented well. His delivery was positive and relaxed and began with what every investor wants to hear: how this product will work with real customers.
It’s no surprise that Kemmera and partners walked away with the money and four of the Dragons as partners. Nice one.
Comments
David
I\'m with Vince on much of what he says. I have to take issue on the subject of focus.
The swimwear girls had a good start to their business, but they were seeking funding to grow it. Venture capitalists aren\'t charities. They want a maximum return on their investment. Putting money into the swimwear venture while the principals mucked about in marketing consulting would scare off any canny investor.
The argument that the Dragons have multiple business ventures is a false dichotomy.
They have built their businesses to the point where they can work on them, rahter than in them. But someone has to work in and on and in this case it is the \'applicant\'.
Speaking of focus - I was disappointed by the fuzzy reception on my TV as the signal bounced around the apartment canyons in downtown - when is Free to Air Digital TV happening?
On other though about the current series of Dragon\'s Den - I\'d like to hear more probing questions like: What are you going to do with the money?
David MacGregor
Co-founder & Creative Director
Idealog
wendalls
Eddie (?) the purple dinosaur.
Was the similarity between this character and Barney the Dinosaur not considered?
Would it even have mattered?
h.g.philip
i cant believe that someone thought the coffin idea was good .It is not new there are places in nz you can get this done .
its easy to copy .people need to get out more and see that there are a lot of things happening already in the market place.
Anonymous comments on this post are disabled. Please sign up to post a new comment.