-Originally aired On 29th November 2005 on BBCTWO at 8pm
-A confirmed audience of 3 Million
-Repeats are now being run
Dragons Den
Why did I go on the show?
My primary reason for going on the show was to increase publicity
for my company: www.accommodationforstudents.com (the UKs leading student
accommodation website).
Also I felt that if 1 or 2 of the Dragons recognised the opportunity
then it would be good to have them on board. So what happened?(click here to
view clip) Arrival
All pitchers for the day had to arrive at 7am. When we arrived we
were put into a small room with tea and biscuits. Some of us were nervous
and some weren't. However the collective result of all of us being squashed
into a small room for 2 hours meant that we started to make each other
nervous! There was a bit of bantering and I asked to go on first as it
looked like it would be a hot day and there was no air con in the building.
The Holding Area
I had make up(!) and changed into my suit. Then I was lead into what
they call the holding area. This is a room directly below the main Dragons
Pitching room. I had to wait there for a few minutes before being counted
down. Then I was instructed to climb the stairs.
The Pitch
Up until now I had not even seen a dragon let alone speak to one. As
I climbed the stairs into the main room I was surprised by the number of
people in the room. Not only were there the 5 dragons but also about 15
members of assorted filming crew. It was quite intimidating as nobody said a
thing as I walked across the room to the x in the middle of the floor
(conscious of the fact I was being continuously filmed).
I had been instructed to reel off my 2 minute spiel and then answer
the questions. The adrenaline was pumping and I reeled out the speech
without too much of a problem. The dragons were taking notes and were
engaging in direct eye contact and a couple seemed interested.
Questions and Answers
This dragged on for ages and I wont go through everything. Most of
the questions were about valuation and my personal ambitions in life. It
became apparent that it was hard to demonstrate and sell the main features
of a web business without a computer!
Offer
I was offered £150k for 50% of the company which was way below my
valuation of £150k for 15% (which I felt was a fantastic deal for them!) I
turned down their offer and wished them all the best.
The End Result
I was in the pitching room for about 1 hour and this was edited down
to approx 11 mins of screen time. Being on the program has massively
increased the exposure and credibility of accommodationforstudents.com in
the market place. People now know who we are and identify a character with
us rather than just another faceless website. Revenues on the site have now
increase 50% in the 12 months since the program aired. This is more than the
investment that I originally asked for.
What do I think of the show?
I think it is fantastic TV and I regularly watch it when I can. I
think it also challenges people to think about starting their own business
and taking the entrepreneurial plunge - which is fantastic for UK society
and for the economy.
