Dragons’ Den Theo Paphitis Talks about Enterprise Suggestions
Theo Paphitis is an investor on Dragons’ Den and also on the board of Smarta. So we asked him to reveal his views on final night’s episode, and what it has been like to be a Dragon throughout this season.
As the last episode of series eight of Dragons’ Den pitches comes to a close, there’s only 1 question left. where did the final 10 weeks go? Could someone please tell me?
Given the feedback from people on the street, this season has been much more lively and entertaining than they have expected. Yes, Dragons’ Den is about businesses but business should be fun as well.
The frost between Duncan and James at the beginning of this series mellowed as time went on. Our extremely 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 several strident exclamations of incredulity been delivered by someone with such a smooth forehead. Duncan really is created for HD TV.
I love sitting next to Deborah for the five weeks of filming. She is brighter, funnier and more caring than all from the rest of us Dragons put together, yet she is edited very harshly. The great factor is that she is confident and bold enough to take it in her stride. She’s some lady!
Tonight saw Adam Philips pitching his company My Baby Limited. The word ‘fabulous’ explained my first impression from the pitch, but that rapidly gave way to ‘confusion’ because of a huge number of misunderstandings that came to the surface.
JP and Selina Edwards had a mobile text tracking device that looked interesting but had a venture model that had no value of its own as Peter Jones described 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 the fact that we are all extremely competitive. So in tonight’s programme Duncan dismissed a hot gloves invention simply because he had tried them in Canada, so they were not fresh. Peter couldn’t let slip that he had tried them in Switzerland. We all suspected it was St Moritz but did not ask.
Two of my favorite investments this year have been the fashion footwear business WedgeWelly and the antiques valuation website, ValueMyStuffNow. Both are exceptional enterprise suggestions, however it is the individuals who have the brains behind the enterprises that make the propositions so fascinating.
If Dragons’ Den teaches us something, it is that patents are essential however it is the power of personality that always wins the day.
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