![]() Since going on the show in Season 9, she’s coached several other entrepreneurs who were looking to pitch to the Dragons. “You wonder, ‘Do I really have what it takes to do this?’ Getting an offer from four of five Dragons and being able to answer every question they asked… it was really positive and empowering.” “As a business owner, you second guess yourself a lot,” she says. She says that, in addition to money and exposure, going into the Den made her more confident in her skills as an entrepreneur. “A lot of people told me they thought that was pretty badass.” ![]() “I counter-offered and successfully negotiated to get a larger sum,” she says. Knixwear founder and CEO Joanna Griffiths admits she went on Dragons’ Den “really early in my entrepreneurship journey.” But she handled the Dragons like a pro, becoming one of the few pitchers to leave with more money and a higher valuation than she initially asked for. “If you get an offer from a Dragon who brings the right experience, be willing to accept a lower valuation.” “Think about what else your business needs, and what the different Dragons bring as a value add,” he says. In turn, he has donated to Wilson’s charitable fund.ĭell’Accio advises future pitchers to think about more than just money when they walk into the Den. “He keeps buying mattresses from us,” says Dell’Accio. Brett Wilson, who gives him advice from time to time. “We can still tell when the episode airs as a rerun based on the spike in website traffic.”ĭell’Accio is still friends with W. “For years, I got people coming in and saying, ‘I saw you on Dragons’ Den,’” he says. He says that being on the show paid immediate dividends for the business. “And I said, ‘Sure.’ Any opportunity to talk about the brand was valuable to me.” ![]() “I was in the office, and our marketing guy popped his head in the door and said, ‘I’m gonna pitch you to be on Dragons’ Den,’” says Dell’Accio. “We operate on a subscription business, and every January, we get a wave of renewals, because that’s when the episode aired,” says Velan.Įssentia founder Jack Dell’Accio initially saw the show as a publicity opportunity. Having a Dragon in their corner allowed them to get meetings with big manufacturers, who agreed to give them a better price on superior sticks.ĭragons’ Den fans (aka Den Heads) have become some of the brand’s most loyal customers. “At one point we were throwing a quarter of them out.” “When we started out, we couldn’t get the USB manufacturers to take us seriously, so we wound up buying really low quality USB sticks off ” says Algire. ![]() The pair say their appearance on Dragons’ Den has been instrumental in that growth.īut it also helped in other, unexpected ways. Their computer virus repair stick is now in every major retailer in North America, and selling in the U.K. In the five and a half years since then, their business has grown massively. “If we sold 10 units in a day - so that’s $600 in sales - we’d be high fiving across the desk,” says Algire. When FixMeStick co-founders Marty Algire and Corey Velan pitched in Season 8, their business was still pretty small. We talked with the Den’s most successful alumni to find out how the Den changed their business, and we get their advice for aspiring pitchers. Dragons’ Den has been helping Canadian entrepreneurs grow their businesses for 13 years, and for some of them, it’s been a launching point for massive success.
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