Business as Usual at Dragon's Den
The BBC’s Dragon’s Den is a series that can make or break entrants depending on their business. If you intend to get a loan from the panel of Dragon’s Den you will have to get past Theo Paphitis. This self made mover and shaker has plenty of experience in the business arena. Under his belt is the position of chairman of Rymans. Rymans is a chain of stationery shops raking in millions. To keep him street wise he also has the experience of being a past chairman of the Millwall football club. It was precisely because Paphitis resigned from his position at the football club that he decided to accept the BBC’s offer regarding their Dragon’s Den series that concentrated on business acumen.
Paphitis has admitted that he judges people according to his first impression. It all depends on how they carry themselves, how they speak and how they look. The whole show is based on the fact that there are going to be those who lose and those who win. This and the fact that it could be the viewer standing there asking for money makes the show very popular. His advice is simple. According to this hardened businessman ‘know your numbers know your business, understand that it is going to be hard’. He says be consumed by your idea. In fact, if you talk about it so much that you are boring people then you probably are serious about it. This is good advice to any budding entrepreneur.
The whole show is based on ordinary people who have to convince a panel that they deserve financial backing to get their idea going. The only problem is that Paphitis hates listening to undeserving candidates. His example is those who already have one hundred thousand pounds of their parent’s money and then want another hundred thousand pounds from the show and after two years they still have no idea about the actual numbers involved. Paphitis also made it known that it irritates him when participants get the backing and then pull out because their product is selling well. This shows that they had no idea about their business to start off with.
He did say that the iTeddy had raked in excellent rewards. Imran Hakim had become a millionaire in less than a year. This was the kind of big results that viewers wanted to see. A good idea that makes it big is good for the show. The fact that Argos was convinced to carry the iTeddy has made this product such a huge success. Paphitis, who was born in Cyprus, refused to say which deals should not have had their backing. The show does open the viewers to the world of the entrepreneur.
This particular series of Dragon’s Den is the sixth. Fans of the show can see it on BBC Two on Monday at 9 p.m. If you have a good idea or a deal that you believe deserves backing, then watch Dragon’s Den to see what will work and what won’t.
