Peter Works out "Commercially Sensitive" Figures in SECONDS | Dragons' Den

[Music] next to enter the den is a somewhat anxious former Merchant Navy officer John bull from Somerset and quite a quiet chat having to do any form of sort of performance in terms of presentation I find difficult John left the Merchant Navy to go it alone as a product designer but the prospect of facing the Dragons has left him feeling all at sea I have met challenges like this before but walking into the den is something that has been approaching me with an increasing sense of terror [Music] [Music] hello dragons my name is John Bell and today I'd like to invite you to invest fifty thousand pounds in exchange for a 20% share in my product the plinth tablets down over the last five years I have tried all sorts of cases and covers and stands and I've never found one that met all of my requirements in terms of pocket ability stability versatility and speed so I set out to design one which does here it is I call it plinth as you can see it's extremely small it's only ten millimeters thick and it weighs less than 50 grams it deploys instantly into a very stable stand that you can use with any model of tablet or smartphone it offers five positions for example ideal for in the kitchen following a recipe or I'll have you all the way up to a vertical position ideal for watching movies or looking at photos I'm having considerable success now selling plinth through e-commerce both on Amazon and through the my plinth website although my business is now moving into profit with your help and expertise we could go there a lot further and faster than I can on my own so I've got some samples which you might like to have a play with [Music] taking a stand in the den is product designer and business one-man-band john bull would you like to choose a color he's overcome his stage fright to get through his pitch and offer up 20% of his tablet stand company for a 50,000 pound investment will the former Merchant Navy officers business idea sink or swim suited and booted Peter Jones has a sartorial query to kick things off jump what's the tattoo I was a officer in the Merchant Navy for eight years before embarking on my design career when I didn't want to be in the suit oh what's that ah nothing is wrong with a suit Peter but is but it's not me I wanted you to see me as me I believe I've got a thumping good product here my customers told me I've got a thumping good product here and I have had a really difficult last two years moving from a place where I was designing something which in many ways looking back now was the easy bit actually trying to find a market I have found very challenging I can see that but if you come here for investment or counseling how many be sold about eight thousand so far and what did you sell last months about thousand I think what is it sell for it retails at 1495 for the standard 114 95 mm-hmm cost what the manufacturing cost what does it cost you it that's not something I'm happy to go on television really but I thought you here for an investment yes be very happy to discuss that but it's that so commercially I think that's a commercially sensitive but I might I might well I'm out before we discuss it yes how am I supposed to know it if it's profitable than the margin I can I can tell you the margins that are making if that's helpful okay gross gross margin for pounds what sales price do you need to sell it at yeah to get a four pound gross margin 1495 is the is the reality is that is the retail price including dat right so take 20% off that yeah so that bring us down to 1250 1250 yeah what priced yourself to the distributor uh about six pounds fifty and you make four pounds yeah so your cost price for the products two pound fifty it's in that area yeah wasn't that difficult John was er no it's not that no no granted guarded answers from the entrepreneur lead to a tense early exchange with the Dragons over his reluctance to divulge his margins now Sarah Willingham wants to get to the bottom of John's moderate online sales as a consumer if I'm going in and I'm googling or I want to find best tablet stand I assume you don't even feature I'm either on page one or at the top of page two of Google I'm flabbergasted by that you see it's not like a thousand units per month yeah how many of those would come through those searches I have very very few but when somebody goes into Google you call up on the first page yeah it doesn't it doesn't stack up the problem is there are a lot of stands yes and trying to make your product yes stand out against the rest of those yes it's gonna be really really really tough which is why I'm here because this is what you guys are good at and and I am clearly not no I completely agree with you but I'm a business person yes not a magician doubts over whether the plinth can hold its own in a crowded marketplace are proving difficult to shake off the Dragons may have conjured up some lucrative business deals in their time but will Nick Jenkins offer up the money and the marketing magic that John needs the product looks fine but my problem is that I like investing in in people I like asking people and helping them go on their journey to become great entrepreneurs and I think you're a great designer I think the packaging everything is absolutely fine but I just don't feel that that you're going to be able to take my advice and then run with it in six months or a year's time and then I can leave you to get on with it I didn't be at feel I'd be creating a business that I could walk away from fairly soon and so I'm afraid for that reason I'm out [Music] Nick Jenkins calls time on the tablet stand and becomes the first dragon to leave the negotiations and it appears that Sarah Willingham has made up her mind honestly I think it's going to be really difficult because there are so many tablet stands and it's very very difficult to stand out yeah if I'm being completely honest thinking that you would need a lot of time I really do mm-hmm so for those reasons it's not an investment opportunity for me I'm afraid so I'm out but good luck all right Sarah thank you another dragon overboard as the ex Merchant Navy man's business proposition also failed to win over Sarah Willingham which way will touka Suleiman go [Music] you are a talented designer thank you the good thing that you said was that you're now into profit yeah we have had several problems with production and we've had machinery breakdowns and that type of thing then I had stock but I was finding it very difficult to sell them oh really John there's a grave you're now two foot in the grave I mean you're digging Your Grave why what you're looking for an investment yeah clue you've given me is just the things have gone wrong I'm not gonna invest today I'm out okay Thank You Tucker John I think this is a really nicely made product yeah I love your packaging yeah I look the whole piece yeah I still don't think you're gonna sell a lot of them it's not gonna be as big as you think it's going to be and for an investor the opportunity I don't think is gonna be big enough so I'm really sorry John but I won't be a vesting all right that's okay thank you John's last hope in the den is tech giant Peter Jones is he ready to throw the entrepreneur a lifeline can I just say I see a lot of these products and I think the product is exceptional I think not seeing something as well designed with the intricacies that you've got on the level of design that's gone into that I don't think I've seen many things as good thank you but most people with iPads or with tablets they buy covers or a cover accessory and typically those covers are made well enough to give you a stand mm-hmm as you know yes so I don't think you're gonna sell a lot of them and it's not gonna be a volume enough for an investor to make any money on it okay and up for me John I'm gonna say that I'm out okay thank you praise for the product but in the end the tablet stand business just didn't stack up for the Dragons John leaves the den with nothing great product small potential to me it's a highly investable product I think it's a pity that they didn't run with her but an entrepreneur gets right back up so I'm having a good go at it you

Channel: Dragons' Den

Views: 1,106,522

Rating: 4.7875504 out of 5

Keywords: dragons den, dragons den uk, evan davis, deborah meaden, peter jones, touker suleyman, tej lalvani, business pitching, entrepreneur, game show, shark tank, dragons, den, best, bits, new, worst, pitches, funniest, moments, most, shocking, ideas, products, businesses, dragons den funny, dragons den 2018, dragons den season 16, dragons den best pitch, peter jones dragons den, peter jones angry, 2019 dragons den, full episode bbc, bbc iplayer

Id: HXC4iHv2RUI

Length: 11min 25sec (685 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 30 2019