HOW WE SURVIVED THE DRAGONS' DEN

In case you missed it click here

---

Getting there

It all began with an online application to the show back in November 2005 – well two actually, the first one must have been turned down so it’s good to persevere. After a few telephone interviews I was asked up to a screen test. By the time I was in front the camera I’d practiced the pitch so much I probably knew it backwards and it all went fine. After the first take the producer suggested a few changes to the pitch and pointed out bits of info I should try and get in there.

So I had another go, but trying to learn a new pitch after repeating the old one so many times prove difficult, and half way through the second take I froze. We tried one more time and I managed to get through it but the changes still made it a bit ropey. I thought to myself that if I DID make it onto the show I’d nail the pitch 2 weeks ahead and definitely NOT try changing it 5 mins before I went in the Den.

---

The day before

Everything was ready, I just needed to get a tie on my way to London, so I was going to stop at Cribb’s Causeway near Bristol. I went straight past Cribb’s and only remembered the tie situation about 20 miles from the hotel. I wasn’t worried though- it was London – there’s bound to be somewhere I can get a tie at 6:30pm! No chance. So I made sure I booked an earlier taxi for the next day, checked in, and asked if the Beeb would cover my hotel tv film bill which I thought would be ironic, but sadly they said no.

---

On the day

The taxi driver was clearly loving the fact that he was taking someone with an out-of-town accent to an address I didn’t know, and that it was up to him which tie shop we went via. Just before we arrived at the Den the driver spotted a tie wholesalers. I ran in and pleaded with the lady (whose first language wasn’t English) to buy a just one tie rather than the standard minimum order of 50, and after a bit of looking generally anxious (both of us) she let me have a Dunhill tie for £5. On closer inspection the logo actually said “DadsoLiD” – but it would do.

---

In the green room

The green room is the place where all the entrepreneurs for the day pace anxiously until being called up for a roasting. I got there around 8am and the swanky Bose speakers I was borrowing had arrived and looked very cool, along with their stainless steel touch-button mute control – they’d set just the right impression in front the Dragons.

As filming over-ran I was told I’d have to wait until the following day, then at the last minute there was a change in schedule and I was going ‘up’ in 5 minutes. I practiced the pitch with a producer who helpfully suggested a few changes to remember (joy), then at the bottom of the stairs I was briefed “They’ll listen to your pitch, probably ask a few questions then when they say they are all out just walk back down again” – It wasn’t sounding good!

---

In the den

I was there for about 2 hours and it genuinely felt like 10 minutes. As I walked in 5 well lit and well suited people, some of them familiar, were sat watching me intently. The pitch began ok until we got to the bit where I had to play a bad mix, as a comparison to our system: ‘This is what a bad mix sounds like….’ I pushed play…. silence. After 3 seconds of standing there I considered rooting through all the wires like a madman but realised that it would just might make me look like a muppet on national TV. Instead I apologised to the Dragons, then a sound manager looked over the laptop and it turned out that the swanky stainless steel touch-button mute had been accidentally touched by the soundman as he was connecting things up earlier. At this point I was less keen on the Bose design.

The highlights of the rest you saw on TV. Duncan was out within about 5 mins of the pitch (it was coming up to tea time). I managed to give the dragons a talk about patents which must have been fascinating – I’m surprised it didn’t make the final cut.

It was a pleasure meeting the people who worked on the program and I’d recommend it to anyone to give it a go.

Ian