can you get an investment? (Dragon's Den)

Member Name: ajbluestar

Product:	Dragon's Den
Date:	29/09/09 (50 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: entertaining and watchable show ,

Disadvantages: overly harsh comments and some stupid pitches

Dragon's Den is a television show broadcast in the Uk with the idea now having been sold throughout the world. The concept of the show is for people to come on with a business idea which they pitch to the dragons (potential investors) in the hope of securing funding for their idea and project in order to pursue it further and to expand and increase their revenue and profits as well as business reach. In exchange for this funding they will usually give over a portion/share of their business which is negotiated in a potential deal.

The show is presented by the BBC's Economics editor who is curently on a sabatical, Evan Davis. The dragons (potential investors) include Duncan Bannatyne who is the wealthiest of the five dragons. His modest business career begun when he bought an ice cream van aged 29 and has now expanded to various businesses including health clubs with a personal wealth estimated at £320 million. The second dragon is James Caan who is a Pakistani-British investor with companies in recruitment and private equity as well as others. Peter Jones is the third dragon with businesses in television, media ,leisure and mobile telecommunications. The fourth investor and the only women in the group is Deborah Meaden who was involved in the holiday business sector. The final current investor is Theo Paphitis who is a British businessman of Greek-Cypriot origin. He is probably most famous for being associated with Ryman and la senza as well as being chairman of Millwall Fc in the past.

The entrepreneurs who come into the den start their pitch by stating their name, the name of the business, the amount of money they are asking for and the percentage of equity they are willing to give away in their company. They then follow this with more information on their idea and any financial information and records. They are then asked questions by the dragons on both their product/idea and also what their forecasts are for potential sales and profits to decide whether they will invest. Once they have one done this the dragons will decide whether to invest or not.If they do decide to invest they will put across an offer for £x for x% of the business. The entrepreneurs can then choose whether to accept the offer/s or not .

The show is great entertainment. You will see people who have prepared well and have a great pitch and plenty others who come ill prepared and when questioned fall apart completely. It is quite useful in learning how to present especially a business idea if ever you might need to do this in the future. It also illustrates the importance of financials and knowing your figures. At the end of the day the dragons will not invest if they do not see potential for profit. Some of the dragons can be pretty harsh at times and at times can be seen to be unlikeable but this is probably just a part of the show as well.

Overall it is a very watchable and entertaining show which attracts business ideas from all kinds of people all with different outcomes.

Summary: enter the Dragon's den