This weeks pitches on Dragons’ Den were:

• Restore – Asking for £50K in return for 10% equity to produce and market “Ben the Bin” a way of reusing carrier bags as a portable bin. Having only turned over £8K in 8 months it didn’t look like an investable business opportunity, but Debra Meaden and Theo Paphitis felt differently and offered £50K for 30% which was accepted.
• Tipsy Feet – This business provides slip-on slippers and a bag for your high heels, ideal for ladies with aching feet after a night out, didn’t get much time on air or any investment but it looks like a workable idea.
• Goblin Films – An attempt to turn the book “Dance of the Goblins” into a movie. Unlike the Dragons’ I can see how a book could be great, but only sell a few thousand copies – especially as the publisher is tiny, however I wasn’t convinced that the film was viable based on her pitch. I think she’d have been better off dumping the million pound actor and getting an up and coming British actor on the cheap, the budget of £500K would then be much more achievable. I’m still not sure if it would make money, but then again Bad Taste was a tiny production that was profitable and he went on to direct Lord of the Rings.
• MOO-VIT – A fruit milk drink didn’t go down well with the Dragons, not enough shown for me to comment on.
• Teach Mix – A business that teaches people how to become a DJ. The were offering the Dragons the opportunity to invest £75K but had no takers.
• Aqua nought – A terrible name for a business especially one that is going to franchise, as it’s an uncommon spelling and the correct spelling is used by hundreds of other businesses. They wanted £150K for 15% equity in their waterless car wash. They projected growing to £2M turnover in three years with 75% net profit which is more than a little optimistic. No one took the opportunity to invest. Again, like last weeks franchise they were offering franchises but didn’t seem to have a proven profitable pilot to backup their earnings claims or even to prove the business was viable.
• BoxTidy – I’m sure we’ve seen this on the show before, or something very like it. I think it’s a useful product, I might even buy one, but as an investment opportunity I can’t say as we didn’t see enough of his pitch.
• Cush n Shade – Were asking for £100K for 15% equity. The numbers seemed to rather random making roughly £1 per unit sold, selling 10K units but making around £30K profit… He walked away with offers from Meaden, James Caan and Peter Jones all offering £50K for 20%. He accepted a joint investment from Jones and Meaden. Based on what we saw I’d not have invested, however looking at the website it’s had some great press coverage and should do well.

So what did you think of them?

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