41–45 of 45 posts
One of the things I learned over the years is that a deal (particularly an investment) hasn't happened until it actually closes. Kind of tough lesson to learn, especially if you've had to parade yourself on a TV program.
Sounds like a weird way to put it. Aren't these programs pretty much cheap national advertising for the participants, even to those who don't get a deal?
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.
Apparently he did his own due diligence and discovered that these fobs already exist. However I'm not entirely convinced, because there is no marketing for Aliexpress goods and a fancy British startup could just sell and distribute these fobs with a nice markup. It's still a viable business I think.
My conclusion too. It would have been useful if the story actually provided any information but it seems the 'journalist' was either asked to, or decided to see if he could stretch a tweet out to a full page article.
What's so special about that specific deal/product? Did I miss something? Because it's not that special that those deals fall through. I don't know about Dragons Den, but afaik Shark Tank US as well as the german version "Die Höhle der Löwen" had seasons with 60% of the "deals made on air" not happening.
This bit of advice has served me quite well over the years. At a celebration party for a new investment in a company I'd previously co-founded but was only a stockholder at the time, the CFO excitedly told me that I was 'worth millions', and asked 'how did it feel?'. I told him that "I'll tell you when we get an exit" and changed nothing about my life. Good thing, because while the check had cleared on that investment, the exit several years later wound up with the stock amount value down in the five figures.
One guy I know had co-founded a company, was doing OK. I noticed some impressive new equipment that showed up on his website and we chatted about doing some projects together and how he's got a major deal coming in and had invested well into six figures. The next thing I knew, his company had vanished and he was working for a small shop several states over. They didn't get the project after all, and were immediately bankrupt.
Worse yet, was a story from an attny friend I'd worked with; he told me about a guy (client?) he knew who 'got' a VC investment, divorced his wife, bought a big new house, car, etc. .... and the deal fell through.... not sure what happened to that guy, but I'm sure it wasn't pretty.
Repeat: "The deal is not done until the check clears"...
[edit: typos, clarity]
What's so special about that specific deal/product? Did I miss something? Because it's not that special that those deals fall through. I don't know about Dragons Den, but afaik Shark Tank US as well as the german version "Die Höhle der Löwen" had seasons with 60% of the "deals made on air" not happening.
Probably not. I just assumed it was BBC news giving a bit of publicity to a BBC programme by regurgitating a public tweet.
It wasn't exactly top draw investigative journalism though looks like the journo did at least spark up the My Lupo website and add a couple of stock BBC photos. So that's nice.
One of the things I learned over the years is that a deal (particularly an investment) hasn't happened until it actually closes. Kind of tough lesson to learn, especially if you've had to parade yourself on a TV program.
Kind of tough lesson to learn, especially if you've had to parade yourself on a TV program. Sounds like a weird way to put it. Aren't these programs pretty much cheap national advertising for the participants, even to those who don't get a deal?
What I meant was that I can imagine preparing and appearing on a TV program would be incredibly distracting (getting normal VC investment is bad enough).