Dragons Den

ush flynn · 21-12-2005, 11:57 AM

Did anybody see the final episode of The Dragons Den on BBC2 last night?
The last person on the show was an engineer and managed to get funding from 2 of the dragons to take his AV stand company international, he makes alloy and glass stands for plasmas for the home, office, conference and exhibition (one stand to hold 60 plasmas!!)

The makes them all by hand and you could tell he had some engineering grand master skills they looked quality, had cable hiding, castors if you need them, and mounting brackets for any type of screen i imagine.
He needed 225k to get his product marketed and allow him to spread into europe and the US and at the same time invest in machines and tooling to help him lower the cost of each unit,

anyway... anybody else see it? What you think of him? Seems very dedicated to providing the best quality but wants to be able to offer it to more people and for cheaper... my kind of guy!

rimibar · 21-12-2005, 12:16 PM

Yep, I saw it Ush. They did look like decent products. Amazing that he managed to build the business up to its current state single-handedly!

kidloco46 · 21-12-2005, 12:20 PM

yeah i saw it, love that program.

shame the only reason they invested was because panosonic had verballaly offered to buy him out for 3.4 mill , which they now have a 50% share in.

nice return eh for their cash.

the guy did seem to know his engineering stuff though, years in the medical industry etc, didnt think the stand that he brought in though was all that. very well made granted but it was butt ugly

Matt · 21-12-2005, 12:23 PM

http://www.mode-al.com/ is the guys website

johndon · 21-12-2005, 1:08 PM

Can't help but thinking that they'll go in, sell the business to Panasonic straight away and then take the money and run...

John

ush flynn · 21-12-2005, 2:29 PM

id say thats what they were in for, i mean 25% of 3.4mil for a 112k investment aint bad return at all! but i like what he said about making them work as hard as he does for thier 50% he wont let them go without gettin set up internationally and with a team for construction and business management which he will be able to pay with his 100% markup

johndon · 21-12-2005, 2:32 PM

According to this article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden/series2_episode6.shtml it appears that they do actually want to invest in the future of the business rather than selling it...

John

ash · 21-12-2005, 6:01 PM

Yep, the stand was a bit crap, with wheels LOL!
Anyway, its hsowing Dragons Den today at 7.00pm BBC2, about how everyone got on etc.

shahedz · 21-12-2005, 6:28 PM

cant help but think that most of the dragons are parasites and all want to be the simon cowell of the programme. best of luck to the guy!

ush flynn · 22-12-2005, 3:53 PM

but they didnt get where they are today by giving away money to everyone who bothered to have an idea or invent something, not everything works or makes a lot of money, just look in one of those free catalogues you get... shoes to airate your garden? who buys that

btw the wheels are very handy for conferences and meetings, my company puts on loads of shows and this thing would be VERY useful and it looks good compared to whats around like that right now