Nobody Else In The Country Is Doing This | Dragons’ Den

Foreign And this is my husband Alan Colerain our Company's Rascals memory foam and we're Pitching for 80 000 pounds for 10 of our Business We've been married 28 years and our Company came about from a simple idea we Had whilst we were out caravanning with The children our best-selling product Is also our most Innovative product the Duvela The Dual sleep system is really simple It has a special memory foam base which Smooths out the lumps and bumps in how It Caravan seats it's totally open on One side so you're not constricted like A normal sleeping bag it's also When you're up against the Colt Caravan Wall it's totally joined it can't come Off you never get a cold back or a cold Bottom you can have one for single or Simply but two together to make a double And when you get home from your holiday It's easy peasy to wash you simply take The memory foam out Take the duvet out and you wash it as a Sheet So far we've sold about 10 000 of these Units and each one retails at 120 pounds So that sales of about one million Pounds on this product alone In fact we can't make them fast enough We need your help and expertise to help Us break into the huge European and

American markets Thank you for listening would you like To come and try A well-honed pitch from family business Owners Liz and Alan Colerain they need An 80 000 pound investment to expand Their Caravan accessory company and are Willing to part with 10 equity in return It is quite cozy though having enjoyed The product Hillary duvet is first to Quiz The Duo Liz Allen I think you've got a fantastic Concept what made you think of this I was a housewife until seven years ago We only got the idea because I slept in A caravan and had a bad back and we we Bought a piece of memory foam looked at It thought well we could do that Nobody's doing this we've got pattern Applications pending on it Um I mean at the moment and for the last Seven years there's been Alan and myself Just thrashing things backward and Forward okay tell me epitomize your Vision we're looking at speed here want To get it out Fast roll into different countries at The moment we're only scratching the Surface there's 2.2 million Caravans in Holland Germany the UK and the Netherlands which each have two of these Beds are everybody no matter what Country you're in we'll get up on the Morning from one of those beds with a

Bad back and you're telling me that There's absolutely nobody else in this Country or in Europe doing this no A confident start from the experienced Entrepreneurs Leisure industry expert Deborah meaden Wants to delve into the detail behind Their business Liz Allen um I mean so far Great story so what are your can you Give me some financial information Probably only need a couple of years in 2009 we turned over about 465 000 with a Net profit of about 35 000. 2010 was eight and was about 800 000 with a net profit of a hundred and Ten thousand okay Um the turnover looks fantastic but I Mean it's a nice enough profit but it I Would have hoped that it might have been Higher can you talk me through your p l Just for last year just tell me what You're spending your money on I've got a Factory shop showroom wedges wages stuff About what kind of money are they then Factory Um that's 16 000 a year Shop well that's in with that actually It's all in sales staff We've got 10 staff 10 stuff Um I don't know we don't know those we do Have those details on my fruit

Well we would know within five seconds Of getting back the office I would say No I would say I'm an investor all I Want to know from you is how your Business works and things like what is Your wage bill is pretty simple stuff What can I say It's an awkward moment for the colorants A failure to demonstrate a grasp of your Numbers rarely goes down well in the den Will the couple fare any better under The scrutiny of Peter Jones Liz Allen Just going through those those costs Um I've got 800 000 Revenue this year I've Got 110 000 profit I'm looking for costs Within the business what do you pay Yourselves We pay ourselves a dividend uh from the Profit and we we dip into that for the Salary yeah so what would you say that You took we took about 15 000 each no Between you Okay I got the Feeling do you run your Business a bit like a lifestyle so you Take money when you need to yeah yeah Yes we do actually yeah yeah What else do you spend money on Um I would say we spend Try exhibitions exhibitions yeah we do Loads of exhibitions Assurance like eating Yes yes

Any vehicles that you've bought we've Only got Well you do How much do you think you spend a year When you say you don't spend any money On anything I don't know It doesn't sound good no you could say We should have our finger on the bottom But we are running around like lunatics Running this business we're busy there's Only us two rights as an investor how do You think that makes me feel well I Would think we're running around like Lunatics for the last seven years we Have worked really hard we have brought The product to the market no no Liz when I ask you the questions you haven't got The answers and now you're getting Extremely defensive You should know Absolutely you should know Okay Liz Allen Your numbers don't add up it's Ridiculous and it's ludicrous and I am Out A brief but disparaging contribution From Duncan bannatyne as Liz and Allen Lose their first dragon will Theo Perfetus be more forgiving You knew you were coming here to look For investment Did you not think that someone might

Just ask you those questions yeah we've Thought about every single question you Could think and no we didn't think of That you know you know what a mistake Seriously guys I quite like the concepts purely for Simplicity But it's not investable for me I'm gonna say I'm out Liz Allen As a business I can't see getting a Return at the anything like what you've Offered but I think you've done a really Good job to create something from Nothing you're amazingly passionate About what you've done so good luck on Your journey but I'm not going to invest Today and I'm out I've got no People getting passionate but Liz you Bored are on the defensive You have got to give me a reason and Enough information to want to hand you My money because I honestly I promise You this if you had you'd have had an Investment from me And I think that is a great shame I can't invest I'm sorry Deborah And for that reason I'm out A somber mood takes over the den and the Once confident entrepreneurs look for Lawn just one Dragon remains has Hillary Duvet seen anything in the business that

Could turn around their investment Fortunes Um Liz Allen You see I think that you both need quite A lot of mentoring I think we do need some help You know I think this product's so good That sometimes it's quite daunting There's lots of different uses there's Trucks there's a whole truck Market that That's out there boats we sell them to Boats I think you've got a huge Market Some of which you've not even touched on You need some input into the business to Help you with the direction but unlike Deborah I don't really think that's the End of the world you know I've got People that can teach you that and keep The finger on the button So because I do think it has got vision I'll offer you the full amount I want 26 percent You can't make it 20 no I'm sorry I Can't move between 26 but no Because it's a limited company anybody Owning 75 of a business has got total Control so I need that protection and Therefore I need 26 percent Can't wait gonna be loud A dramatic development in the den as Hilary duvet presents the duo with an Investment Lifeline but it comes at a Cost more than a quarter of their Company

Is it just too high a price to get a Dragon on board [Music] All right okay I I'd like to take it Hillary but I want Alan to be happy with it obviously Alan Don't say all right because your wife Says all right and you've been married 28 years she's not going to divorce you Now yes yes please yes we'd love you yes We love it thank you Liz and Alan have done it in a last Minute turn around they've secured the Den's newest dragon and 80 000 pounds of Her cash Look forward to working with you guys [Music] Stephen Allen are you happy with what You've just signed up to well I am the More I think about it the more happier I'm getting I think we did say 20 was Going to be our limit but For the sake of six percent Which I said to Alan at the wall when we Got to the wall are we going to lose This alum for six percent would we go Home and regret it I don't know we would Have done nothing yeah we probably would Well very good luck with it thank you Thank you [Music]

Your First Funnel Challenge
Quickly Launch Your Idea And Turn It Into A Business That You're Proud Of In Just 90 Minutes A Day!

(This Can Work Even If You Currently Have No Tech Skills, Don't Have A Product, Or Have No Idea What A Funnel Is Yet...!) 

(Challenge Starts Every Monday)

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