"Did You Come in Here Looking For a Fight?" | Dragons' Den

hello I'm Fiona Houston from Mara seaweed and this is Rory McPhee like seaweed hunter we turn this humble seaweed this forgotten superfood into beautiful premium seasonings that are delicious and healthy alternative to salts I'm here to ask you for a hundred thousand pounds for three percent of our business we are two-thirds of the way through our second round of funding which we're going to close out in the next couple of months and we are going to build this company into a seven million pound export brand with 70% of our sales coming from exports since we launched our products last year in premium retailers in the UK like Harrods and Harvey Nichols we've extended throughout the retail in the UK and we launched in March and Spencers nationwide last week I brought Rory on board two years ago and he's our seaweed hunter Rory I've got the best job in the world my role is to get series for Fiona so I cast a wide net I've got harvesters scouring the beaches the cold lonely clean beaches of West Annie Scotland no seaweed no sales no profit thank you very much so Fiona Rory I get quite excited when I see a pitch come in and immediately come up with a valuation of around 3 million pounds so this business must be making a lot of money already so I'm now really really intrigued so I'd love to get straight into that valuation because I can just see pound notes so how much money are you making we are making we made 200,000 pounds in the last six months right so you made 200 thousand pounds net profit in the last six months though turnover No we turned over 200,000 pounds worth of sales revenue so give me the last 12 months revenue with 200,000 pounds gross profit we haven't made a profit yet we've done it we've break-even at the end of this year sorry I think need to ask that again you've turned over 200,000 yeah what was your gross profit we we expect to break even by q4 maybe to answer the question haven't maybe we have with any gross profit not yet no do you know what gross profit is [Music] yes or no what gross profit is what is it why are you what's this what's the question the question is what's the gross profit of your operation and you just said you know what it is what is gross profit the gross profit is your sale your total sales yeah - your overheads no I mean not - or even including your overheads no it's not gross profit is what you sell a product for and what you buy you're asking what my margin is I'm obviously very specific question I'm saying what is your gross profit so I'll ask a different question to get the sales of 200,000 how much did you pay for the seaweed in the product seaweed it was 350,000 you do you do realize in business that the idea is that you try and keep your cost of sale below the price that you sell a product for don't you yes but we're starting up our business so why do you come in and value itself at 3 million because we've already sold it at there I've raised harmonium nearly half a million parents have raised three hundred and sixty-five thousand pounds already in the last three months for the next round of this business there's lots of serious investor get all of this but do you not find this bizarre how did you raise 350,000 pounds do you mean how to raise it you're really saying that to me it's just anyway I've got a question for you did you come in here looking for a fight no no it's all cuz I've got to tell you your your approach is just for me completely alienating I don't really do matter I think Peter I think you've been extremely patient and helpful because I've got to tell you if you've done that to me I'm sorry about that night you can ask the people I work with well I can't can I well it was Rory yeah but I've only got one chance you've got no I am got one chance I got loads of chances I got loads of people trying to pitch to me you have this chance I knew you well I'm sorry I can't I can't rewind can't rewind I won't be best ink owner I'm at [Music] despite Fiona's apology Deborah Medan makes an early exit [Music] Knik Jenkins we doubt a better understanding of Mara's financial forecast can I just ask dee doo are you standing here they were thinking kind of wish I got the numbers guy standing there as well a little bit but it's also I I think differently I can demonstrate to you it in in different ways so you're not demonstrating it very well at the moment but what I want to know is you said that you want to turn this into a 7 million pound export brand yeah when it's turning over 7 million was it going to be making in terms of profitability next year it's 400 the year after it's 900 and the year after that it's 1.3 and the year after that is 2.4 in the year when is making 2.4 million net profit how much turnover is it making its making around 8 million that is around about a 30% net profit yeah do you know many businesses supplying in scale to supermarkets that make we're not buying look I've spoken to quite a few food and drink investors and on exit companies like Dorset cereals for example there be bit is around 30 to 40 percent who was that you spoke to at Dorset cereals I don't want to get involved with names look I think there's something in seaweed and actually I eat a lot of seaweed so I completely get where you're coming from with it but it's totally irrelevant because you've made it so hard for us to invest because you've come in and no matter what we ask you you're so defensive but it's impossible to invest I'm so sorry I'm out rejected again and by the dragon with food credentials but there are still two more fish in the sea and tuka suleiman has been unusually quiet oh no Rory sukkah how are you hello there let's start again you've heard everything let's revalue the business today right Taylor I'm gonna do gonna make you an offer [Music] I'll give you all the money I want 50% that's my offer it's a very generous offer is he a serious offer serious offer okay I'll still consider heartily where I am then you can negotiate with him if you know it's been really hard it's been probably one of my worst experiences in the den of ten years I don't know what to say I'm lost for words I'm sorry I didn't manage to persuade you oh I'm sorry but so you know I'm not going to invest in say that I just think I've figured that out no surprises there as Peter Jones exits the deal pulling no punches with his opinions but they do have that unexpected lifeline of an offer from touka Suleiman but for 47 percent more than the three percent they wanted to give away so I've given you a very generous offer based on what I've heard are you sure it's a very generous offer you want to go the backup think about it okay [Music] thank you very much for your offer but we're going to say no hi thank you thank you so as a humble series harvester this has been an invaluable educational lesson for me so thank you very much thanks Rory well Fiona and Rory had a shaky start and it was stormy waters from then on in they leave empty-handed unable to fathom where it all went wrong be advised took up have you just replaced your brain with the very thing they came in to sell can I just see it can I just say something if they said yes I would have got him then sort of them out well that was tough going for Fiona but a braver woman I've yet to meet that felt like being back at school in front of the headmistress no headmaster being told off you

Channel: Dragons' Den

Views: 1,573,820

Rating: 4.6455431 out of 5

Keywords: dragon's den, dragon's den uk, evan davis, deborah meaden, touker suleyman, tej lalvani, business pitching, entrepreneur, game show, reality tv, shark tank, seaweed, mara seaweed, bbc iplayer, peter jones, jenny campbell, the den, dragons den, invenstment, business, opportunity, biggest, best, worst, top 10, money, millionaire, billionaire, new, series, funny, funniest, toughest, biscuits, beer, alcohol, food, negotiation, 2019

Id: DkJgVPJGjMI

Length: 10min 45sec (645 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 28 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/Fredosmom]

What does the guy say to the lady in the elevator at the end?

[u/projectreap]

The worst part isn't even that she doesn't know. It's that she seems super unwilling to just directly answer a question or admit when she's incorrect. Imagine being her business partner. It felt like some weird power thing for her at the end when she turned down the best chance she had at making that business successful

[u/breakup7532]

that dude is a dick. gross profit does equal margin. gross profit and gross margin are used interchangeably.

[u/l8rt8rz]

I’ve never watched this show but I felt like the investors were the real cringe. Sure that lady didn’t really know what she was talking about but the investors were like weirdly personally offended by whatever attitude they perceived coming from her.

That being said, I realize the whole thing was over dramatized for tv. I guess that’s the REAL real cringe here

[u/Hapablap2013]

What even is gross profit if gross revenue - cost = net profit?

[u/gasperkosmac]

what is gianni infantino doing there?