Does Immense Wealth Make You Arrogant? (Dragon's Den)

Member Name: eyedo6789

Product:	Dragon's Den
Date:	11/03/09 (78 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: You Can Gain Investment For An Eletctric Pooper Scooper

Disadvantages: But Your Company May Still End Up In Deep Do-Do

Dragon's Den is shown on BBC television but originated in Japan.

It is a show where a group of disgustingly rich, self made, venture capitalists seek to humiliate, rip off, intellectually tear to shreds, embarrass, shoot down in flames, and very occasionally invest in the business ideas presented to them by wannabee or established businesses and business owners.

The would be investors are known on the show as "The Dragons" and the room where the action all takes place is known as the "Den". Hence the name of the show.

Investments are made in exchange for a percentage equity stake in the company. Sometimes one dragon invests alone and sometimes 2 or 3 team up to make a joint investment.

Even when an investment is made it is invariably at, what many viewers perceive to be, poor financial terms for the wannabees and business owners.

Most of the dragons come across as curt, arrogant and condescending. Whether this is a deliberately cultivated screen persona or something that is naturally inherent in their personalities we will probably never know.

Such is its popularity with viewers that there are now about 20 different versions showing in various countries.

The BBC Version has so far run for 6 series and is hosted by Evan Davis who is the economics editor of the BBC. He only plays a minor role in the show in my opinion, doing the opening intro, narrating small portions of it and interviewing some of the "pitchers" after their pitch is over.

Although there are huge (probably fake) visible piles of cash on the tables in the "pitching" room and there is much hand shaking, kissing and general back slapping after an investment deal has been agreed, the reality is that the hand shake we see is not legally binding and many of the investments never take place or fall through at the contract stage.

This is because they have to pass due diligence from the investors' point of view, plus quite often the businesses wanting the investment quickly receive a better offer from somewhere else, borrow the money from the bank or simply take a step back and realise that they were "had over" and would be giving away part of their company far too cheaply.

The "Dragons" that have appeared so far across the 6 series are:
Peter Jones
Duncan Bannatyne
Simon Woodroffe
Theo Paphitis
Rachel Elnaugh
Deborah Meaden
Doug Richard
Richard Farleigh
James Caan

For me, the only of these who always came across as a sharp business brain but was also a nice person to all of those pitching was Richard Farleigh.

It's really a very good programme, if quite heavily contrived and edited before it gets transmitted.

Summary: Very Watchable - We All Love To Hate The Dragons