Well last night we had another varied range of pitches, including one for £2.5m investment to develop an environmentally friendly car.
As always, there were a bundle of learning points. Here are my key learning points for this week.
Be careful about what you plug
The first person we saw who was looking for investment in his company that helped people write and publish their life stories was plugging being ethical as one of the key things that made the company different. It was clear that this did not sit well with all of the Dragons’.
Persuasion matters
Unless you can positively influence you are never going to be able to move the other party closer to your point of view.
Be careful not to give mixed messages
The chap from Anyway who got investment for inserts in aerosols and spray products got investment. Yet he could have so easily blown it. A good example was when he said to Theo that if he (Theo) called the MD of Proctor and Gamble, he would get to speak to him whilst he personally had been struggling.
A few minutes later he was quibbling about the two Dragons’ wanting a 40% stake when he was offering 5%.
He clearly did a good job at negotiating a deal at 20% but as he already had indicated himself, the reputation and contacts would make a huge difference.
Being clear about what matters most helps reduce the risk of giving mixed messages.
Be grounded and realistic
The chap seeking £2.5m of investment was clearly very bright and had a brilliant track record. Trouble was the Dragons’ exposed some real flaws about his ability to get his eco friendly car produced and to market for £10m.
The most telling point was when asked about marketing the finished product. His budget estimate was £500,000 whilst the Dragons’ stated that a marketing campaign for a new car was likely to be in the region of £20m.
The big learning from this bold pitch was that you always need to go back to basics, do your research and not let your heart rule your head.
So what learning points did you notice from this week’s episode? I invite you to leave a comment to add your perspectives and insights.
