Theo Paphitis is an investor on Dragons’ Den as well as on the board of Smarta. So we asked him to share his views on final night’s episode, and what it has been like to be a Dragon throughout this series.
As the last episode of season eight of the Dragons’ Den pitches comes to an end, there is only one question left. where did the final 10 weeks go? Could somebody please tell me?
Given the feedback from punters on the street, this series has been more lively and entertaining than they’ve expected. Yes, Dragons’ Den is about businesses but business ought to be fun too.
The frostiness between Duncan and James at the start of this season mellowed as time went on. Our very personal Mr Whippy, Duncan, or ought I say ‘Doucan’ (thank you washing line inventor John Jackson) became highly animated. This was amusing for us and for viewers. Never have so many strident exclamations of incredulity been delivered by someone with such a smooth forehead. Duncan truly is made for HD TV.
I love sitting next to Deborah for the five weeks of filming. She is brighter, funnier and much more caring than all of the rest of us Dragons put together, however she is edited extremely harshly. The fantastic factor is the fact that she is confident and bold enough to take it in her stride. She’s some lady!
Tonight saw Adam Philips pitching his business My Baby Limited. The word ‘fabulous’ spelled out my first impression from the pitch, but that rapidly gave way to ‘confusion’ simply because of the massive number of misunderstandings that came to the surface.
JP and Selina Edwards had a mobile text tracking device that looked interesting but had a business model that had no worth of its own as Peter Jones discussed that other networks would take up the initiative as standard. I’m with the tall fella on anything telephone techie. What that man doesn’t know about telecoms could fit on a mini sim card.
The funny factor about the Den is that we are all extremely competitive. So in tonight’s programme Duncan ignored a hot gloves invention because he had tried them in Canada, so they were not brand new. Peter could not let slip that he had tried them in Switzerland. We all assumed it was St Moritz but did not ask.
Two of my favourite investments this year have been the fashion footwear business WedgeWelly and also the antiques valuation site, ValueMyStuffNow. Both are fantastic enterprise suggestions, however it will be the people who have the brains behind the enterprises that make the propositions so fascinating.
If Dragons’ Den teaches us anything, it is that patents are important however it will be the power of personality that usually wins the day.
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