Beezer

[EIE 2016 London, EIE 2017 & 2019 Alumni]

Brian Smillie and his director of product innovation, Euan McCreath, were invited to appear on the BBC’s popular Dragons’ Den television programme. The show, in which entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to a panel of celebrity venture capitalists, is known for its tension and drama but Brian and Euan ratcheted it to a whole new level and broke some records for the series including longest episode, most viewed episode and most money raised.

Star investor Peter Jones – whom Brian targeted for his smart money combination of experience and networks – told them they were one of the toughest negotiations he had ever had before offering them £125,000 for a 15% stake.

“Immediately after Dragons’ Den we had over 140,000 hits on the website and we added in excess of 10,000 subscribers. So that put the business ahead by a couple of years.” says Brian Smillie
“We went on Dragons’ Den for four things really. Money was one of them but it wasn’t the main motivator. Instead we wanted the exposure, the validation and access to networks, including those of the television viewers.”

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Published 5 December 2018