Dragons Den – What’s it really like to pitch?
Dragons Den, the long-running BBC business investment show has been running since 2005, presented by Evan Davis. Each episode of the show features several entrepreneurs pitching their businesses to a panel of five wealthy investors, ‘The Dragons’ of the show’s title, looking for financial investment.
As part of the Leeds Digital Festival, I was fortunate enough to interview four lucky entrepreneurs who have appeared on the show;
Emmie Faust – (2007) Online Gambling Portal (from 45 mins)
Mark Walsh – (2017) Cloud-based quiz game
Brian Smillie – (2018) Web-based app creator
Chris Reed – (2019) Parking app
We covered the following points, and more….;
- How did you even get to the point of being considered for Dragons Den? Why did you consider it? How does the process work running up to getting on the show?
- What is it like on the day of the show, up to the point of standing in front of the Dragons?
- Ok, so the lift door open…. then what happens…..
- How does what you see on TV and what really happened, compare?
- What does it feel like watching yourself on TV? And what happens on the night of the show/immediately after?
- What are the lessons that you have learnt from it? What would you change from the show?
- How does it effect you personally after being on the show?
- What is the value of being on Dragon’s Den?
- Would you recommend a business owner to go on the show? Would you do it again?
Watch our discussions below;
If you’d like to connect to my guests on Linkedin, you can find them at;
You can also hear me discussing my business strategy planning tool “FFS” (the Fraser Five Step) on Emmie’s podcast here.
The Wikipedia page on Dragons Den is really useful if you are a fan of the show.
If you found this webinar of interest you can see and hear more of my discussions, interviews and webinar appearances here.
What Next?
If you liked what you heard in the podcast above, or feel that your are in need of a Business Sounding Board, then please give me a call or WhatsApp me, drop me an email or connect with me on LinkedIn. Details are below.
I’ll be happy to have chat with you to explore how I may be able to help you. I’ll be honest and I may not be able to help you myself and in that scenario I’ll try and point you in the right direction.