Here are the main pitches to this week’s show:

Buttons - http://elainesarahdesigns.com/

Key people: Elaine-Sarah Comerford

The first entrepreneur into the Dragon’s Den this evening was trained goldsmith Elaine-Sarah Comerford who came with the idea of ‘Buttons’, white gold bracelets and necklaces that have pieces shaped like buttons which have the potential to be engraved to mark special occasions and can be used in a form of a charm bracelet.

Elaine-Sarah was looking for €45,000 and offering 30% of her business. She explained that her market was women aged 30 years and up, and her product was aimed at the top end of the market in Ireland and can be later made into an international expansion.

Niall stated that he was an official silversmith and knew something about the business and enquired about the cost of the pieces. Elaine-Sarah explained that the cost of making each piece was €40 and it was sold to the retailer for €75, and then finally sold onto the customer for €180. Bobby then asked about what the €45,000 investment would go towards and Elaine-Sarah said that €5,000 would go on manufacturing costs, €5,000 would go on packaging and another €5,000 would go on magazines ads and the rest of the money would go on marketing for the product.

Gavin introduces himself and enquires about how would the business go from the small regional market to an explosive international one as she was manufacturing the product herself. Elaine-Sarah explained that it would not be that difficult as it would be easy to make the buttons in large quantities, it’s only the cleaning of them that takes time but would still not be a major issue.

Sean discussed the issue that the jewellery market was very competitive and declared himself out. Niall enquired about the fact that she had to stop working on the product during the year and Elaine-Sarah explained that due to a personal sickness she was unable to continue working on it and it caused a knock on her self-confidence and it wasn’t until now that she felt confident enough to get it back up and running.

Sarah commented that she really liked the product and can really see the attractiveness of it and puts in a bold offer of the full amount… but for 51% of the business as she feels they would work well together but that Sarah would need more stability than the 30% on offer, Elaine-Sarah says that she would be happy to work alongside Sarah but would be uncomfortable in giving someone else the majority share hold.

Niall then makes an offer of the full amount for 45% giving Elaine-Sarah the majority share hold. Gavin then intervenes saying he wants to offer a 4% on either of the offers as someone that would look out for both parties, Sarah is baffled by this offer and immediately says that she will not go in on an offer like that. Niall comments that Gavin is simply trying to ‘Get on the band wagon’. Elaine-Sarah has a think and accepts Niall’s offer.

An OK pitch from Elaine-Sarah Comerford, but an honest and warm one, she did a great job of answering the Dragon’s questions and the jewellery looks top notch indeed!

Leprechaun Hair

Key people: Gary Paul

The next pitch in the Dragon’s Den came from Gary Paul from Dublin who works in the printing business and came with the idea of Leprechaun Hair sold as tourist memorabilia from Ireland, sold both in tourist shops in Ireland as well as sold online through EBay to other countries.

Gary has already had interest from the USA, UK and other countries such as Sweden and has sold a 100 units at €2 a piece. Gary showed the product to the Dragons, it was basically a small card with some writing and pictures of leprechauns with a small plastic bag with synthetic hair in it “leprechaun hair”.

Gary was looking for €10,000 and offering 15% of the business. Gavin introduces himself and enquires about how long it takes to make up a 1,000 pieces, and Gary said it would take about 5 hours. Sean comments that he feels that Gary made a very poor attempt on his appearance in representing himself on the Den and doesn’t feel he’s made enough of an effort.

Niall immediately picks up on when Gary comments that the product was initially made as a joke and Niall felt the whole thing was a joke and stated he shouldn’t leave his job in the printing business and declares himself out. Sean also comments that it’s a disappointment and declares himself out. The other Dragons make various comments about the poorness of the product and how it does little for the Irish name and they all declare themselves out, no investment at all!

Fax Cop - http://www.blockthatfax.com/

Key people: Ken McFeeters

Next into the Den is Ken McFeeters from County Down with his invention ‘Fax Cop’, looking for €85,000 and offering just 10% of his business. Ken explained that fax cop was a small device that sat between the telephone line and the fax machine. It’s unique selling point is that it cuts down on unwanted faxes hence reducing unnecessary ink and paper usage.

Ken put an estimated 10 billion as a potential market projection. Both Gavin and Sean enquire about how the device works and Ken simply states that he is willing to divulge that information only under a non disclosure agreement and not on the show. Sean stated that he felt that Ken may have come too late as emails are being used more often now than faxes, Ken stated that faxes are continuing to be used even though emails exist. Niall comments that he felt that if Ken had come in 1990 it would be an extremely attractive product but he feels it’s too late and unnecessary and declared himself out. Bobby enquires again about how the device operates and again Ken reiterates that only under a non disclosure agreement could he explain, Bobby is not impressed with the cloak and dagger approach and declares himself out. Sarah simply states that it’s too late in the market and declares herself out. Sean comes back to Ken saying that he is interested in the company as he understands the potential market due to the set backs of electronic signatures being secured online and offers half the money for 20%. Gavin says that he feels that he is interested in the product but would like to know more about the operation of it, once again Ken side steps the answer, Gavin was not impressed and declared himself out.

When the focus goes back to Sean he states that Ken over estimated the potential market and wouldn’t feel safe enough to give the whole amount and declared himself out. Very Close but no investment from any of the Dragons. Ken if you’re reading this, What the hell where you thinking, I would have took their hand off?

Green me - http://www.greenme.ie/

Key people: Gina Geagan, Jo Nash

The last pitch into the Den this evening was Gina Geagan and Jo Nash presenting their business ‘Greenme.ie’, a website offering consumers a greener way of life in all shapes and forms.

They stated that over the past two months they made sales of €55,000 and they were looking for a €100,000 investment and offering 10% of their business. Niall enquiries about where the money came from and who were the customers. They explained that at present their main source of income was from their directory on the site which offered businesses inclusion for a fee (and also free, depending on the membership package).

Niall commented that it basically is a greener version of the yellow pages but they explained yes but more as there was more on the site than just the directory but at the moment that was primarily their source of income. It’s the company’s advertising their ‘green’ businesses that have to pay, there are four packages, the first which costs nothing and simply offers a listing of the business and the next three bronze, silver and gold, the company has to pay. The gold option is the highest price and businesses have to pay €5,000 to get in.

Bobby asks about celebrity Duncan Stewart’s role in the business and they explained that he is a non-executive director of the company and owns 20% of the shares in the company as he invested a large amount of time in the business and lent his credibility to Green Me. The Dragons enquired about the potential to sell items online and the two women explained that it is projected in year two to begin an ecommerce platform and they would act as an agent to companies for consumers. Bobby declared himself out as he felt that the credibility of the site could easily be put at jeopardy as anyone could potential buy themselves into the site because at the end of the day they have to make money off the business.

Sarah stated that they were overvaluing the company and declared herself out. Sean enquires about revenue projections and after a while enquires about a better percentage on offer and the two women come back with 25% as the new offer, Sean continues to feel it’s too high and declares himself out. In the afterthought, it came through that they had a hidden agenda of achieving exposure through the show and their only goal was not just a potential investment!