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Dragons' Den winner has £100,000 funding withdrawn

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Dragons' Den winner has £100,000 funding withdrawn

#31

Post by DaiPlusPlus »

pricechild wrote: post #12
abluecloud wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably why they pulled out. The show is a bit misleading. You can only go by what the people are saying. For instance, I'm sure at some point the dragon asked "are there any products like this cheaper on the market that do the same thing", at which point you can only believe their answer there and then. I'm not surprised that he pulled out. Just wish my dad did the same.

One of the dragons (Duncan, I think) pointed out how old this fob technology was. This triggered what appeared to be the turning point in the pitch where Deborah(?) realized they weren't buying into the physical hardware but the software behind the company. Sarah Willingham pointed out quite early on how useless it was "the instructions say 'make sure the phone is not muted'? What use is this if I've lost it?". Googl…

> There was a great moment in a previous series where Hilary Devey teased out of an applicant that they didn't own the source code for their own website.

(I applied to present on Dragons Den for a robotics project I worked on as an extracurricular at uni - I pulled out when my research supervisor advised that we'd have no chance of having a demo in time)

I understand the Dragons are briefed on the pitches beforehand, and I wouldn't be surprised if they sent their own legal team on the projects - who would dutifully tell them what questions they should ask to the 'contestants' on the show.

...not to say they couldn't possibly have thought of a question like that on-the-spot, on the contrary; but given how fake reality TV is in general (and the BBC is no exception) I'm not betting that what we see on screen is exactly, and only, what happens.

Re: Dragons' Den winner has £100,000 funding withdrawn

#32

Post by pc86 »

bottled_poe wrote: post #15
deutronium wrote: post #2

I saw their product on Dragons' Den yesterday. I found it rather surprising as I've bought similar bluetooth key fobs, from Aliexpress for around $1.40 each and they mentioned they where planning on selling them for around £20.

Sanity check... Let's say I'm particularly careless and so locating my keys costs me 2 hours per year more than it would without this device. (Assuming I can find my phone, which seems unlikely at this point). Also assume this product has a lifetime of 2 years. So it might save me 5-ish hours over the product lifetime. If I value my spare time at, say, $100 per hour, I should be willing to pay several hundred dollars…

Well, your spare time is by definition worth $0. Nobody would otherwise be working during the time they're looking for keys. I think it's important to do this type of calculation for things at work or for side projects but you know how you can not lose your keys and not pay several hundred dollars for a fob? Put them in the same place every time.

Also the fact that you can buy something nearly identical for $1.40 pretty quickly rules out paying several hundred dollars for it.

Re: Dragons' Den winner has £100,000 funding withdrawn

#34

Post by pc86 »

dazc wrote: post #23
kriro wrote: post #13

I think it's pretty shady to air the episodes before the deal is finalized (imo, other people I know strongly disagree). They essentially get free reality TV candidates without any obligation. You can always back out if you want to. [I'd also never take any of theses TV show deals for a software company as they seem pretty bad to me. For something you sell on home shopping networks etc. it seems better because you ge…

The candidate also gets mass publicity for their product/service though whether they succeed in getting funding or not. For some, I'm guessing, this is the main motivation for going on the show?

Not sure about Dragons' Den but on Shark Tank they usually get called out on this and eviscerated, especially by Cuban. Obviously they're still getting a bump but at least the Sharks don't generally play along with it.

Re: Dragons' Den winner has £100,000 funding withdrawn

#35

Post by erikb »

cyberferret wrote: post #4

The article didn't really clarify. Did they lose the funding mainly because the laptop was lost at Heathrow?? Was it because of fear their IP was compromised by the theft?

I also misread the article at first that this was the reason for losing the funding, but actually it's the reason for starting the startup.

Re: Dragons' Den winner has £100,000 funding withdrawn

#36

Post by onion2k »

torgoguys wrote: post #21
deutronium wrote: post #2

I saw their product on Dragons' Den yesterday. I found it rather surprising as I've bought similar bluetooth key fobs, from Aliexpress for around $1.40 each and they mentioned they where planning on selling them for around £20.

Lots of companies offer this functionality. One that is very successful (4.5 million sold) is https://thetrackr.com . I have no affiliation--I just hear their ads over and over on lots of podcasts. They sell them for about $30 each, so they are similarly more expensive than AliExpress type ones.

I'm not trying to defend such a high price point, but there is plenty of scope for adding value on top of the raw product from Aliexpress. Writing good documentation for it, branding it be more appealing to a specific market, writing apps to work with it, releasing library code to build other apps on top of it, etc. The fact something can be bought very cheaply isn't automatically a reason why someone else shouldn't sell the same product at a higher price.

Re: Dragons' Den winner has £100,000 funding withdrawn

#37

Post by cyberferret »

erikb wrote: post #35
cyberferret wrote: post #4

The article didn't really clarify. Did they lose the funding mainly because the laptop was lost at Heathrow?? Was it because of fear their IP was compromised by the theft?

I also misread the article at first that this was the reason for losing the funding, but actually it's the reason for starting the startup.

Yep - It's been a long day of programming here, and it is late evening and I am tired, which is probably why I misread the article and asked for clarification. But the downvote police are seemingly merciless... :-)

Re: Dragons' Den winner has £100,000 funding withdrawn

#38

Post by moomin »

pc86 wrote: post #32
bottled_poe wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sanity check... Let's say I'm particularly careless and so locating my keys costs me 2 hours per year more than it would without this device. (Assuming I can find my phone, which seems unlikely at this point). Also assume this product has a lifetime of 2 years. So it might save me 5-ish hours over the product lifetime. If I value my spare time at, say, $100 per hour, I should be willing to pay several hundred dollars…

Well, your spare time is by definition worth $0. Nobody would otherwise be working during the time they're looking for keys. I think it's important to do this type of calculation for things at work or for side projects but you know how you can not lose your keys and not pay several hundred dollars for a fob? Put them in the same place every time. Also the fact that you can buy something nearly identical for $1.40 pre…

If spare time is worth nothing why do people purchase additional holiday?

Also, the time spent looking for keys is often spent just before going to work, which makes you later for work than you would have otherwise been.

Re: Dragons' Den winner has £100,000 funding withdrawn

#39

Post by pricechild »

DaiPlusPlus wrote: post #31
pricechild wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the dragons (Duncan, I think) pointed out how old this fob technology was. This triggered what appeared to be the turning point in the pitch where Deborah(?) realized they weren't buying into the physical hardware but the software behind the company. Sarah Willingham pointed out quite early on how useless it was "the instructions say 'make sure the phone is not muted'? What use is this if I've lost it?". Googl…

> There was a great moment in a previous series where Hilary Devey teased out of an applicant that they didn't own the source code for their own website. (I applied to present on Dragons Den for a robotics project I worked on as an extracurricular at uni - I pulled out when my research supervisor advised that we'd have no chance of having a demo in time) I understand the Dragons are briefed on the pitches beforehand,…

Good points, it is entertainment afterall.

I want to believe in Hilary though!

Re: Dragons' Den winner has £100,000 funding withdrawn

#40

Post by FussyZeus »

bottled_poe wrote: post #15
deutronium wrote: post #2

I saw their product on Dragons' Den yesterday. I found it rather surprising as I've bought similar bluetooth key fobs, from Aliexpress for around $1.40 each and they mentioned they where planning on selling them for around £20.

Sanity check... Let's say I'm particularly careless and so locating my keys costs me 2 hours per year more than it would without this device. (Assuming I can find my phone, which seems unlikely at this point). Also assume this product has a lifetime of 2 years. So it might save me 5-ish hours over the product lifetime. If I value my spare time at, say, $100 per hour, I should be willing to pay several hundred dollars…

My wife is especially terrible with keys. This would save her way, way more than 2 hours per year.

I wouldn't need one myself but trust me, there are folks out there who would really benefit from it.

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