dang i forget it and being in Canada I cn’t even watch it online.

I did. I thought the lipstick thing was good, but i dont wear it so I’d never buy one. I thought the sweetener packet tester things were really neat. I’d take one at an restaurant just to try it, although i dont use sweeteners. The ice cream guy was kind of goofy, but for someone who wants to be their own boss, you could make one yourself and there you go. The coffee shop legal help was kind of dumb and their presentation was awful but funny, sort of…..
I just started watching this show…I’m hoping to learn from it, but when it comes to the shares and money, i just dont know how they come up with an amount.

Take yearly sales and multiply by the percentage you’re willing to give up and that’s the amount you can ask for. So if your present sales are 100K and you want to give up 30% of your company, all you can ask for is 30K. The disconnect between the sharks and pitchers is that pitchers base their valuation on future sales and the sharks on present sales. If the sharks want to be really mean, they will base the valuation on present profits. How do I know this? I’ve been in the Dragons’ Den 3 times (the Canadian version of Shark Tank which also has Kevin and Robert on it.)

What was the lipstick thing? We had a weather bulletin on TV last night and the first 5 minutes wasn’t aired.

I think it was re melt lipstick ends into new lipstick. That would also be a great idea for broken crayons.

That’s a winner!Don’t talk about it——submit it!

I saw it for the first time. I was watching because the Boston Globe said a local entreprenur was going to be on, but he wasn’t. I had wanted to see how his business/product would do.

Anyhow the thing that amazed me was that the applicants weren’t asked to explain how they arrived at the amount of money they were asking for. I would think that could be used as a barometer for how well they had thought out their business plam. Numbers pulled out of the air would indicate a weak candidate, while a good explanation of what the money was needed for would indicate someone who had invested effort and thought into what they were doing.

On one level this show is a venue for only a segment of the inventors here; those seeking to develop a business around their invention. It doesn’t appear to apply to those looking to go the licensing route.

On another level it very much applies to everybody here in terms of how to sell yourself and your idea/product, whether to an investor or a licensee.

And yeah the legal-coffee people were off the wall. I vote them ‘least likely to succeed’ of that night’s candidates.

They already have a crayon remaker. I use to make candles out of my old crayons.
Ugh, i wouldnt want to give up anything, probably the reason i have a hard time with figures.

Ralf, what did you present in the Dragon’s Den? I watch that show on BBC all the time (older ones) and loved the one with the lady (I contacted her and told her to join EN!) with the spill proof pet bowl for traveling!

I’m on the Canadian one. I presented a whole bunch of knick knacks and they all went down in flames like they do on EN.

I have submitted my product last year 2009, I have not heard back yet. Ralf, how long did it take you to get on the show from your first attempt to contact them?

Auditions are in March and tapings are in May every year so the answer is 1.5 months.

Ralf, Can you tell us about the audition? Thanks!

Sure here’s an exerpt from my blog article on how to get in the den:
making it past the audition. I have no insight as to the minds of the producers but I’d say you just need to appear genuine, have a novel idea or successful business and make for good TV. Don’t convey the impression that you wish to exploit the show as a free infomercial because the producers can see right through that. I’d say it’s a good idea to bring your invention or some sort of visual because when you’re pitching an “eyedear”, it’s important to target the eye, not the ear. Remember, however, Dragons’ Den is not an invention show, it’s a business show so you need to tie your idea into making money somehow. Also, a good story goes a lot farther than just a good product alone so have an interesting yarn to tell. That said, I tend not to follow my own guidelines. I offer the producers a plethora of ideas so they can choose which will be presented in front of the dragons. It may not be a “focused” approach but it gets me in the den year after year and I can get my ideas appraised before I invest a lot of time and money in them.
The third step is taping day, usually held from mid-May to early June. Taping day starts out exciting and charged with all kinds of self-importance but as the hours of waiting drag on, expect you may get bumped (happened to me twice). When you finally get the go ahead it’s off to makeup and sound check and then up to the plank. The plank is where they count down before they send you down into the Den; much like jumping out of a plane. It’s nerve racking as you carry your awkward bundle across what seems like a balance beam to the steep stairs that seem no wider than the rungs of a ladder. Nerves and the foggy air ensure you are gasping by the time you reach the Dragons. What’s worse than tripping down the stairs is tripping up during your presentation. The Dragons are busy and can sense if you’re struggling like a fish out of water. They’ll cut you off and suddenly you’re talking to 5 people at once and the questions come fast and furious. It’s easy to lose track. I learned that the first year and vowed never to prepare a script again. Don’t go in there with the attitude that the Dragon’s are better than you, even if it’s true, or they’ll own you and it won’t make for good TV. They like some fight but keep it respectful or you’ll get burned. And don’t get Kevin started by trying to sell him a Yugo for a million bucks. Remember, evaluation is based on current sales not future projections or multiples.

I also was able to talk with Daymond John from Sharktank and wrote a synopsis of that conversation as well.

Great. Very interesting. Thanks Ralf.

I used to watch Dragon’s Den on BBC America. I thought it was cruel to make everyone go up a flight of stairs to meet with the Dragons. They’re nervous to begin with. It’s hard to gain your composure when you’re also out of breath from climbing steps.

Hello Raif, I pplan to go to the auditions of the dragons dens. If I saw correctly these are held in a large room with many people seeing your project. Is that correct? Also do you know if they are wlling to sign NDA’s or should I have a patent application in place? I do remember one person at least had said they had no patent. Thank you for your input. :0)

My input is this: I think patents are a scam and a waste of money (see my reasons in the Q&A with the editor of the inventor mag.) Dragons’ Den has no NDA’s or protection. In Mtl and some cities, it’s a room, in Ottawa, it’s one on one. Either way if you make it on air, which is the purpose, you’re invention will be disclosed to the public. However, unless your idea involves underwear, board games, bikini clad models, cooking sauce, magic, medicinal marajuana or some form of mental illness, you don’t have a good chance of making it on air.

thanks for the info ralf :o)

Ralf as a general rule I don’t like patents becuase of the expense and time involved and the expense defending it. That said I would not go on a show with an idea I wanted to market knowing I have no protection and once the show airs I have basically put it in public domain. If it was a throw away idea and I was just wanting the air time that would be different.
I am constantly having to tell Inventors not to send me their idea in the first email they send me or to my P.O. Box. I want a NDA signed between us before I look at anything, but they are so excited to get feedback they forget protocol and just send it out to anyone willing to give them an opinion. I have several emails every week that I can’t open the attachment because I have had to send them an NDA first. I keep things legit and honest because that is how I want to be treated and I don’t want them to think I would take advantage of them.

http://www.rogerbrown.net

Roger great advice, I know that you are truly looking out for the best interest of everyone and really appreciated your advice and opinions concerning my ideas..

I’m sure just disclosing an idea is not the same as a detailed disclosure of an implementation. An idea isn’t patentable so the only thing to fear is that someone comes up with a better implementation which a patent can’t defend against anyway. Patents defend against copying and how many inventions can only be done in one way? That’s the question people should ask themselves before they fork out for a patent. Protecting your “one way” is useless if other ways are possible. Again, only 2% of product patents (1 out of 8000 of all patent types) make money which is no better odds than an invention scam company will give you.

Roger- Do you handle it differently if someone has provisional? Do you still want an NDA before looking at someone’s idea? I go back and forth on that one because everyone keeps saying great ideas aren’t worth much, it’s the execution that matters. At the idea stage, how much thievery (is this spelled right?) goes on?

Mick.

As a general rule I want an NDA no matter what protection they have so that we have a paper trail between us and what we are doing. Actualy I think execution and a good idea go hand in hand. If you have a great idea and lousy execution it is a flop. If you have great execution and a bad idea it can also be a flop. You want both parts to be their best to move forward and succeed.

http://www.rogerbrown.net