There have been plenty of rejected pitches by the notorious dragons of BBC’s Dragons’ Den – but not so many have gone on to become household names.
But there are a few choice products that made millions even after a brutal grilling by the five business moguls, and one such product – slammed for looking “like a horse brush” by Deborah Meaden – went on to sell one unit every 20 seconds.
That product is the Tangle Teezer, a hairbrush constructed in a way that isn’t supposed to pull on knots, making it less painful to run through matted tresses.
Entrepreneur Shaun Pulfrey entered the den way back in 2007 to pitch the Tangle Teezer to the dragons, but found himself falling at the first hurdle.
He was seeking £80,000 investment for 15 percent of the Tangle Teezer brand.
(Image: BBC)
Theo Paphitis ripped a chunk out of Paul, as he didn’t yet know if wholesalers would take it – as he “had no product to sell”.
Theo fired back: “That’s absolute rubbish. Having no product to sell is irrelevant, actually knowing whether they’re going to take it, you can go and make the product.
“No point going to make the product, having 20,000 sitting in your back bedroom and them going, ‘Shaun, it’s rubbish, mate’. That’s not clever, is it?”
Deborah Meaden was there to twist the knife, as she compared the Tangle Teezer to a horse brush.
(Image: BBC)
She said: “What’s the difference between this and the horse grooming tools that look exactly like that, actually?”
They also raised concerns about him not being protected by a patent, though things went wrong from the start when Shaun attempted to brush the hair of his mannequin and ended up pulling its head off instead.
Duncan Bannatyne added: “It’s not a business, Shaun. It’s not a business that would make any money.”
But that’s where they were wrong – as the Tangle Teezer went on to make millions. Shaun sold his own stake in the company last year, and scored a whopping £70million for his troubles.
(Image: BBC)
That’s more than Deborah Meaden is estimated to be worth.
Tangle Teezer sells four products every 20 seconds, and although knock-off brands have tried to take the crown, none have succeeded so far.
However, the experience didn’t deter Shaun, who told the Daily Record: “Dragon’s Den came about from a close friend of mine who was constantly trying to persuade me to apply for the show.
“Two weeks later after an audition at White City and numerous phone calls, I was standing in the Den in Pinewood Studios being ripped apart by five Dragons.”
He added: “Although I wasn’t successful I got a 15 minute commercial from it, what more could you want?”
Shaun said the Tangle Teezer website crashed the night of the episode airing, with so many people wanting to register their interest in his game-changing product.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
