PROFILE DRAGONS' DEN:An Irish version of the hit series 'Dragons' Den' is preparing to open for business - all it needs now is budding entrepreneurs looking for cash, writes Fiona McCann
AS FOREBODING music provides an ominous soundtrack, an unidentified person slowly climbs a dark staircase into an attic filled with dragons. It may sound like a horror show or the latest sci-fi fantasy feature, but this is the weekly opener to a reality television show that has gripped viewers all over the world, and is coming soon to RTÉ.
Good news then, for start-up businesses beset by all manner of trials and obstacles in these credit crunch times on their search for the Holy Grail of cash investment, for the dragons are in fact wealthy entrepreneurs who carry with them piles of cash to throw at any good idea that comes striding up the shadowy stairs.
The show's premise is simple: the cash-strapped entrepreneur gives a short pitch (less than 10 minutes of television time, but nearer two hours in reality) explaining to the sneering dragons how much money he or she will require for a stake in the business.
The dragons snarl, snigger, point out all the flaws in the budding business person's big idea, sniff at projected figures and then typically offer half the amount asked for, and demand control of the business in return for their cash and acumen.
It may sound like hell, but in credit crunching times, such opportunities are not to be turned down lightly and many continue to brave the dragons' firey breath for a shot at the prize.
This is Dragons' Den, familiar to Irish audiences through the BBC version, which aired its sixth series this summer drawing a reported 3.4 million viewers, over 14 per cent of the available audience. What is clearly a winning concept originated in Japan in the form of a show called Money no Tora(Money Tiger). The first of its kind, Money no Torabegan in 2001 and enjoyed a three-year run, during which time some 16 top executives bestowed their yen on the ideas they deemed most likely to add to the piles of cash they kept beside them.
The format is owned by Sony, and has spawned shows in Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Canada, Finland and the Netherlands. A US version on the same theme, to be called The Shark Tank, is also in the pipeline. Now RTÉ has come on board, with deputy editor of the Sunday Business PostRichard Curran lined-up to present the new Irish version.
With an eight-part series set to go into production, and five "dragons" with a range of backgrounds signed-up to take part, all that's missing are the entrepreneurs, with RTÉ calling for applicants with investment-ready business ideas to take part.
Those who make it through the application process will come face-to-face with five dragons. There is Niall O'Farell, the man who made his fortune though setting up the Black Tie chain and the drinks and snack food business Simply Direct; Gavin Duffy, media consultant and part owner of the HRM group of companies, who set up LMFM in 1989 and sold it four years ago for €11 million; dotcom millionaire Sarah Newman, founder of needahotel.com and director of Newmac Equity; Smarthomes managing director Sean Gallagher, a finalist in the Ernst & Young entrepreneur of the year programme in 2006, and Bobby Kerr former managing director of Bewleys Oriental Café, Bewleys Franchising and Bewleys Bakery, and current chief executive of thInsomnia Coffee Group.
According to Gallagher, the dragons will be putting up their own hard-earned cash in return for a stake in the businesses they see as having profit potential. So what will he be looking for? "Two things," he explains. "[One is] the idea that's going to come before us. Is it viable, is there growth potential in it? On the other side, I'll be looking at the entrepreneur, to see what their skill set is, to see if they have the passion and clarity of vision in terms of what exactly they want to achieve."
If the RTÉ show goes anything like its BBC or CBC equivalents, Gallagher and his fellow dragons can expect all manner of weird, wacky and occasionally wonderful ideas to present themselves over the course of the eight shows.
Ideas like the Banana Guard - a plastic casing for bananas to prevent them from bruising and from causing slipping accidents - got short shrift on the Canadian CBC version of the show, while Laylines, a bedsheet with a line down the middle to ensure sleeping partners don't encroach on each other's space, was rejected roundly by the BBC dragons.
There have been plenty of success stories, however, like that of Alistair Turner and Anthony Coates-Smith, who appeared on the BBC show in 2007 with their company Igloo Thermo Logistics, which provides temperature-controlled transport for frozen foods and pharmaceutical goods. Dragons Duncan Bannatyne and Richard Farleigh agreed to invest €202,000 (£160,000) for a 22.5 per cent stake in the business.
Four months on, their business was valued at €5 million (£4 million).
Another entrepreneur touting an interactive teddy bear with a computer in its tummy, was given €176,000 (£140,000) by Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis for a 20 per cent share in a business that has since done a deal with British toy company Vivid Imagination for world distribution, with projected sales of €44 million (£35 million) over the next three years.
THE DRAGONS DON'T ALWAYS spot the winners, however. Take the Tangle Teezer, a hairbrush that claims to reduce hair breakage and tackle, obviously enough, tangles, which was rejected when its creator Shaun Pulfrey pitched the idea on the show last year. Though the dragons refused to put up the requested €107,000 (£85,000) in return for a 15 per cent stake in his business, retail giant Boots thought otherwise, and have offered him a lucrative contract to stock his product all over the world, with Pulfrey's projected turnover this year standing at over €1 million.
Irish entrepreneurs Niall Harbison and Sean Fee were similarly disappointed after, having pitched their idea for ifoods.tv, an interactive website that teaches people how to cook, the dragons declined to invest. Yet Harbison has no regrets about appearing on the show.
"The publicity that you get out of it is second to none," he says. "Ultimately we were looking for the investment, but it's just a fantastic showcase for your product. We've had some fantastic offers since then, so it has helped us progress, definitely." For Harbison, the chance to hear the opinions of the show's dragons was also valuable.
"Feedback from the guys on the show was really good and we've put quite a bit of it to use," he says. "I don't think you could pay for advice from people that rich!"
ONE IRISH SUCCESS STORY was Cush-n-Shade, the brainchild of Jamie Jenkinson, whose pitch to the BBC dragons aired last November. His idea for a portable sunshade and cushion was snapped up by two of the show's investors, Peter Jones and Deborah Meaden, who promised to stump up the required cash in return for 40 per cent of the business.
After the show, however, when other investors approached Jenkinson with an interest in investing, he decided to ditch the Dragons' Dendeal. "We just felt that where the business was going, and with the reaction we were getting from the buyers in US stores, that 40 per cent of the business was too much to give away," explains Jenkinson.
He still feels the publicity generated by the show was well worth the nerve-wracking experience of pitching before five steely dragons and millions of viewers. But Jenkinson warns wannabe pitchers that there's more to appearing on the television show than may meet the viewer's eye.
"I think people's perception of the programme is very, very different to what happens in reality," says Jenkinson.
"People going on to the programme are actually in there for so long, under the spotlight, constantly answering questions explaining their answers to five intelligent and successful business people, so you really have to watch what you say and be clear, and don't open avenues that you're not prepared to discuss. From that point of view it's quite tough."
The programme is being produced for RTÉ by Screentime Shinawil, the independent production company which has already proved with its version of The Apprenticefor TV3 that it can take a popular and established TV franchise and give it an Irish twist.
With the RTÉ show due to air in early 2009, viewers will have further opportunity to watch such failures - and hopefully some successes. Given that the Celtic Tiger is officially dead and gone, there's plenty of room for a few Celtic Dragons to take its place.
CV DRAGON'S DEN
What is it?A reality TV show where budding entrepreneurs try to convince five investors to part with their cash
Why is it in the news?RTE has just announced an Irish version is in production, set to grace our screens early next year.
Most appealing characteristic:With the big "R" upon us, it's a pleasant change to see new businesses getting a chance to get a start.
Least appealing characteristic:Watching somebody's dream being trashed by a panel of smug moneybags is not always as funny as you might expect.
Most likely to say:"And for that reason, I'm out."
Least likely to say:"Take the money and run."