Ireland’s Dragons Den
Just finished watching the Irish version of Dragon’s Den on RTE and was quite worried it would be a little cringey like ALOT of other Irish programming, but it turned out ok, not too bad but not fantastic.
First off, the dragons come across as quite mundane and have no real character in the show (apart from Sean Gallagher) unlike the UK version dragons (I’m looking at you Theo). The production of the show is very good and the set and music resemble the UK version alot, which I really like. The host of the show, Richard Curran does a great job presenting the show.
Here’s a mini run down of the pitches:
Clean Cash – http://www.cleancash.com
Key people: Eamon Nealon, Patrick Fitzgerald
Clean Cash were looking for a €100,000 investment for 15% of their company. Their product is a cash register device that is supposed to clean the money that passes into the cash register. It uses UV light and a clean air system to clean the money. They failed to get any investment – which is what happens when you have a product that nobody really needs anyway.
Booze Berries – http://www.boozeberries.com/
Key people: Michelle Power
Michelle was looking for €125,000 in return for 10% of her premium liquor company. She did get an offer of the full amount she was looking for but she had to give up 40% of her company which she was not willing to do. Not a bad pitch, but you could tell she was very nervous by her voice.
Aqua Images
Key people: Kevin Klatt
Kevin wanted €100,000 for 20% of his tropical fish aquarium company. Kevin’s plan was to offer 3 year contracts to install and service tropical fish tanks in waiting rooms and receptions to make the experience better for the waiting customers. He failed to get any investment or real interest from any of the dragons, but luckily he does have a day job selling photocopiers.
Pedigree Cattle – http://www.pedigreecattle.ie/
Key people: Donall O’Connor, Michael O’Donnell
The guys behind Pedigree Cattle were looking for €50,000 for 10% of the business. Their company’s business is a online marketplace for farmers to buy and sell cattle and I think it’s actually a very good idea and they did manage to secure the investment they needed for 20% I think it was.
Overall I though the RTE did a good job with the show, but the dragons need to pull up their socks and get some more personality going, I suppose it is the first episode of the show. Let’s see how it progesses over the coming months.
Hi Keith
Someone mentioned your comments on your site to me this evening so I went to investigate. Thank you for your nice comments. I do hope you enjoy the show as it unfolds.
Kind regards and congrats on your site.
Sean
Thanks for stopping by Sean. Good luck for the rest of the show and I hope it’s a huge success for you!
Hi Keith
Nerves got the better of me alright,probably my worst presentation ever..I hope at least by doing this show it has raised the profile and brand awarerness of Boozeberries
Cheers
Michelle
Hi Michelle,
Absolutely, I wouldn’t be surprised if you get two or three offers just from appearing on the show. You’re clearly passionate about Booze Berries and you didn’t rollover for the 40%.
Good luck with it and all the very best,
Keith
Hi, Keith,
Just got back from a week away, and my daughter told me about your comments. The most frustrating thing about the show was that I was told before going up those stairs that I couldn’t answer the Dragon’s objections once they declared “in or out.” For example, one said that he’d rather watch election results on a TV in a doctor’s waiting room than a tank of tropical fish, but I’d like to have said “What do you think children would rather look at?” Another said I’d have trouble getting paid every month, but my plan is like a car finance plan–I’d have been paid up front by a finance company. As well, I was targeting “blue chip” clients, such as doctors, solicitors, dentists, etc., people and firms who are unlikely to go out of business, even in these economic times. Anyway, thanks for your comments.
Hi Kevin,
Excellent point, we only see the final version of the episodes and don’t know everything that goes on.
Your responses to the dragons that didn’t get into the show were very good and hold value, but maybe you could have addressed these points before they even had a chance to turn you down, hindsight is 20/20 though.
All the best,
Keith