Dragons’ Den cast react as man rejects investment worth £250,000 | Personal Finance | Finance
Richard Williamson entered the Den in 2007 seeking £250,000 for eight percent of his company EDV. EDV is a video production service that turns home videos into biopics.
Whilst in the Den, he told the Dragons that in the current year alone, EDV will have a £1.3million turnover with profitability of 11 percent after tax.
He explained that he would use the investment given to move his office into something more equipped to handle all the editing needed, and for the IT set up.
Peter Jones was not convinced with the pitch as he said he believed that the way technology is going, people can edit their own videos and create family memories themselves.
However Richard explained that what makes this product different is the calibre and quality of the videos produced.
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Peter said: “That’s not good enough for me. I don’t accept that.
“I just feel it is easy replicated.
“I can’t find anything of real substance that I can hang my hat on and say that it is worth putting £250,000 of my money into for a very small share of the company. I’m out.”
Theo Paphitis thought that Richard ran a great company however he said it was all sales led.
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He offered Mr Williamson £125million for 12.5 percent.
Deborah Meaden wanted to help Mr Richardson. She was prepared to match Richard Farleigh’s offer.
Deborah and Richard were prepared to offer the entrepreneur £250,000 for 25 percent of the business in total.
Mr Williamson said: “I can’t, that’s worth half of my absolute lowest and I doubt you’re going to double your offer.”
He was trying to get them to both invest but for 12.5percent equity combined.
Deborah and Richard both told the entrepreneur that they were not willing to offer any further investment, or accept less equity.
Unfortunately the entrepreneur could not accept the Dragons’ offer for £250,000.
He said: “I really appreciate your offer but it’s not one that I can accept.”
As Mr Williamson walked out of the Den, the Dragons’ discussed the offer that he has just missed out on.
Deborah said “Good offer.”
Richard said: “He didn’t want our £250,000. We shouldn’t have offered him cash, we should have offered him a percentage.”
Theo agreed saying “Fantastic offer.”
With Dragons’ Den recently coming to a close for another series, it is interesting to look at previous pitches that have received investment, and one’s that have not.
Despite not leaving with any investment, many entrepreneurs have gone on to do great things with their products.
For example, Tangle Teezer, a hairbrush company, is now worth £200million. Rob’s rejection has also been one of the biggest success stories in the show’s history.
Dragons’ Den is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
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