Enter the Dragon – The Dragon’s Den

Have just read Theo Paphitis’ biography “Enter the Dragon” – it’s really quite a good read and I would recommend anyone who has an entrepreneurial mindset to buy it. In one of the chapters he mentions about the Dragon’s Den, how he was accepted onto the program and what it’s actually like.

The BBC were quite cheeky with their interview in that they didn’t actually tell Theo why they wanted to meet him. He turned up at the studio and was informed that they had some investment opportunities for him. They pitched to him and he responded, little did he know that he was being assessed! It turns out they liked what he had to say and he was given the part.

And a good job, too, in my opinion. He and Peter Jones have a camaraderie that is very enjoyable to watch and Theo’s legendary sayings, such as “I would rather stick pins in my eyes than invest with this” or even better “I hope you don’t take a-fence” (his response to someone who was trying to sell custom painted fencing), crack me up.

I’m already looking forward to next year’s series. The diamondgeezer.com creator has already been on my blog to comment about why he chose not to accept the investment in the latest series. Maybe I can get some insight from some more budding entrepreneurs next year?!

My response to Clive at DiamondGeezer.com

Hi Clive (DiamondGeezer.com),

You could find a needle in haystack!

Thanks for your reply, I would like to make it a new post in my blog and
title it “a response from the diamondgeezer.com”. Let me know if this is
acceptable.

Having read your mail, you may have convinced me that I am closer to
playing the fool than you are as you make some good points in your
argument. What I will also say is that I completely agree with you on the
exposure front – what a great way to get free advertising! I spent a
couple of days looking around your site and I can see why you have won
awards, especially with the custom diamond maker tool where you can move
the slider and create your own diamond.

I am still a little unsure as to whether you did the right thing turning
down the dragons simply because of their connections and their status. If
they want to do business with someone, they command respect from day one,
people know who they are and thus they are taken incredibly seriously. A
part of me thinks that even though giving away 40% is a high amount of
equity, the sound of opening doors may be enough to compensate! That
said, you don’t seem to be doing a bad job on your own!

I was aware that you were probably pitching for at least a couple of
hours…And that you put your balls on the line to do it. So respect
where it’s due. Hats off to you for sticking your neck out to take
criticism from folk like me, standing firm and going for it. I wish you
every success!

Best Regards,
Paul

Response from DiamondGeezer.com to my earlier Google post

Some of you may remember that I took the time to brashly slate off Clive from DiamondGeezer.com for turning down the opportunity to work with the dragons from the BBC television program The Dragon’s Den.

Well, I’m pleased to say that Clive has taken the time to respond and tell us exactly why he chose to go alone.

Here is his response:

Hi this is DiamondGeezer.com
I wondered if your readers would welcome a little input from the ‘horse’s-mouth’, given that everything you and they know of us was created in a BBC cutting-room Please remember you can’t get on the show until the BBC have competed a full and detailed due-diligence, 68 detailed documents in our case, it’s very strict. You have no input on the final-cut and the first time you see what they made of you, is on first airing. Most people would be slightly nervous of that thought, I was merely scared sh**less.

A quick correction it was actually James, THEO and Peter that made the offer NOT Duncan, who according to industry rumour may already have an investment in an online jeweller [which would explain a lot]

Viewers saw 13 minutes of pure TV; whereas I had a very full on, fun but hard, 2 hour 10 minute business meeting surrounded by cameras and production crew. I am amazed how many seem to think Dragons’ Den is live, a minor point that seems to have been missed by some less polite and accusing SEO [search engine optimisation] people on various blogs. It was recorded months ago and as I stated very clearly on screen, the search engine positions quoted were ‘yesterday’ I.E the day before recording. We do have an SEO issue at this time [1st August 2008], we rank low on Google search on generic key words which is due to sloppy work by an now EX SEO contractor and is being addressed. However we are holding our own on other search engines. Our walls are dripping with DTI awards for excellence, staff training awards, website design awards, jewellery design awards and our customer testimonials sparkle. Sadly no SEO award – a service we buy in. Having an SEO problem and addressing it does not make you a bad person!

Now about those profits, and this is a quote from another blog – ‘remember PROFIT is after wages, bonuses, dividends and reinvestment. Shareholders of a family run company can opt to take ALL profits as dividends if they wish they have nothing to prove to anyone’. We haven’t done that but actually reinvested the heathy profits we have made over the last 5 years in our branding and systems, which is why our turnover has risen 10 fold in that 5 years. Remember Amazon made losses for 10 years while they positioned themselves, they were using other peoples’ money, we use our own. We may continue to do so or may take one of the many offers that have been delivered since the show.

Let’s revisit the final offer………….
‘We’ll buy 40% of your property at a 3 year old market valuation [the £255k], you write off the £150K the company owes you and then you gift us 40% of the business that has cost you £1.1 million of re-invested profits and 7 years of sweat-equity to get it where it is’

That’s an asset-grab of 40% of £2.1 million of value, for just £255,000. [12% with no value put on the sweat-equity]

Call me old fashioned, a fool and an idiot [as you did] if you like, but surely its the Bank’s that take property to secure loans, investors requiring large equity stakes match the risks of the founder shareholders, or is that now an out dated business principle? Anyway I’m either the most prudent entrepreneur that ever entered the Den or the biggest idiot – time will tell, immense feedback through the site suggests the former seems to be winning that particular vote, which is satisfying – thank you.

You say ‘you wouldn’t believe how many hits the site has got since the showing’ and let me tell you with an average sale of £2,500, as stated on the show, you wouldn’t believe the business we have done since the show – and me a mere ‘Fool & an idiot’ apparently.

All that said it’s a very LARGE given that I WILL miss the opportunity of working with James, Theo and Peter.

Yours
http://www.DiamondGeezer.com
Fool & Idiot(?)

Google – A powerful tool to have in the locker

A short post from me today just to relay a few thoughts I have been having about Google and it’s huge impact on today’s marketplace.

I was watching the Dragon’s Den on the BBC yesterday (this is a programme that is shown in the UK where budding entrepreneurs pitch for a certain amount of investment from the so-called ‘dragons’) and I was taken back by how much emphasis one of the dragons (Peter Jones – telecommunications and IT expert and millionaire) focused on the search engine ranking of a particular web site.

The entrepreneur making the pitch had built up his diamond company and wanted to launch it online – at http://www.diamondgeezer.com/. He had achieved 9th position on Google for ‘Diamond Engagement Ring’ and 13th position on Google for ‘diamond’, which I thought was a pretty damn good result.

Up until the point the entrepreneur mentioned the google rankings, he had been taking an absolute beating. He didn’t get as far as to answer any questions before one of the dragons ‘Deborah’ turned him down after accusations that he had been in contact with her prior to the show (a breach of the show’s terms and conditions, apparently). Furthermore when James khan asked him about his figures, they weren’t exactly breathtaking; I’m talking no more than 3 grand profit in one year’s worth of trading.

The point I’m making is that despite the crap financials and the other swipes he had taken from the other dragons, Peter Jones was still interested simply because he could see the potential in a high ranking spot on Google.

Peter, Duncan and James made the entrepreneur a combined offer of all the money he was asking for in return for 40% of the company between them. The crazy fool turned them down and walked away.

My points are:-

1) This reassures me that we are doing the right thing in trying to attack the online marketplace and get ourselves into powerful positions on Google.

2) I have just done an alexa check on the DiamondGeezer.com site and you wouldn’t believe how many hits the site has got since the showing – check it out for yourself at alexa.com. If I ever have anything that’s nearly investable, I will go onto that show because it’s a win-win situation. Having said that, many of the entrepreneurs get torn to pieces so you need to have thick skin!

3) The entrepreneur is an idiot to reject a deal from three of the dragons. The one thing you can be assured of is the project will be successful if those guys are on board. What’s more you are establishing a working relationship with 3 of the most powerful and richest men in the UK – who knows what doors would open up from that. FOOL.

You can see this film at the Dragon’s Den web site

A quick google update for my site. Currently for the terms Film Forum we are ranked 13th in google.com and for the terms Film Reviews we are ranked at 298.