Entering the Dragons’ Den can be one of the most terrifying sales pitches an entrepreneur can ever make.
But for some it have proved to be the most fruitful too.
The BBC show, now in its 20th year and on its 22 series, continues the hunt for the next big thing.
In its wake, it leaves scores of people with good ideas who managed to make them profitable with the help and investment from one or more of the Dragons.
Just as many never made it from the drawing board to the shop floor.
And a few enterprising individuals made millions even when the Dragons declined to invest.
We take a look some of the business ideas that made it from conception to consumer via the Den and proved to be a resounding success.
Levi Roots appeared in the first episode of series four of the Dragons’ Den in 2007 with his spicy barbecue condiment Reggae Reggae Sauce.
He wanted £50,000 investment in exchange for 20 per cent equity.
The musician and chef had already thousands of bottles of the jerk sauce at the Notting Hill Carnival the summer before.
It tickled the tastebuds of Dragons Peter Jones and Richard Farleigh, who offered him £50,000 for a 40 per cent stake in his business.
Soon afterwards supermarket chain Sainsbury’s started stocking the sauce.
Since his appearance in the Den, he has opened restaurants, published a series of cookbooks, presented a cookery show and appeared in reality shows such as Celebrity Big Brother.
His sauce is still on sale in major supermarkets and, according to the Sunday Times Rich List, he is now estimated to be worth £30m.
Asi Sharabi and David Cadji-Newby appeared in series 12 in 2014 looking for investment in their personalised children’s books Lost My Name, later renamed Wonderbly.
Started by dads turned entrepreneurs Asi Sharabi, David Cadji-Newby, Tal Oron, and Pedro Serapicos, they wanted £100,000 of investment in exchange for 5 per cent equity.
The Dragons were impressed by the rapid growth of the business, scaling by an estimated 2,000 per cent between the October and November of 2013.
In the end, Dragon, tech entrepreneur and fellow father Piers Linney offered the investment for just four per cent equity.
He later said it was “the most successful business to have ever passed through the Den’s walls”.
The firm has now sold more then 10 million books worldwide.
Peter Moule entered the Dragons’ Den in series five in 2007 with his plastic box to protect cable connections called ElectroExpo and later rebranded Chocbox.
He wanted a £150,000 investment in exchange for 32 per cent equity.
Chocbox is a fire-resistant junction box, which encloses electrical connections safely without using electrical tape.
Dragons Duncan Bannatyne and James Caan snapped up the invention offering a £150,000 investment for a 36 per cent stake.
After just three months, the Chocbox had sold one million units. Mr Moule later landed a £25m deal.
James Caan later wrote: “For me, it was a no-brainer.
“Peter had recognised that it’s not solely capital which drives success in business: knowledge, experience and contacts can all play a vital role.
“And it really paid off.
“I helped Peter secure a multi-million-pound order with a German company who loved the product.”
It is now sold in 152 countries worldwide.
Neil and Laura Westwood went on the show in series six in 2008 with their Magic Whiteboard, portable, reusable whiteboards sheets of A1 sticky vinyl which can be used anywhere.
The couple wanted an investment of £100,000 in exchange for 40 per cent equity.
Dragons Theo Paphitis and Deborah Meaden became joint investors in the business idea for £100,000.
The firm now sells whiteboards, children’s tabletop whiteboards, school tabletop whiteboards, whiteboard markers, magnetic whiteboards, reusable notebooks, travel blackout blinds and pegboards.
The Westwoods have now bought back their shares from the Dragons, now export to 20 countries and is estimated to have a revenue of £4m, according to sales intelligence website Rocket Reach.
Louise Ferguson and Kate Cotton entered the Dragons’ Den in series 11 in 2013 with their self-tan product, Skinny Tan later rebranded to Skin & Tan.
They wanted £60,000 investment in exchange for 10 per cent equity.
The self-tan product used a blend of natural ingredients to deliver a fake tan without the chemicals and reportedly reduce the appearance of cellulite.
After revealing they had made more than £600,000 in one year, the product was quickly picked up by Dragons Kelly Hoppen and Piers Linney who shared the investment and equity.
Now known as Skin and Tan, the firm is reported to have generated £20.1m in revenue in 2023 and has expanded into the UK, US, Australian and Canadian markets.
Jon Hulme and John Burke stepped into the Den in series 14 in 2016 with their pitch for investment in the Craft Gin Club, a subscription service for craft gins.
They wanted £75,000 in investment in exchange for 12.5 per cent equity.
Luckily for them, one of the Dragons was already a customer.
Dragon and London Cocktail Club co-founder Sarah Willingham stepped up to offer her investment and expertise.
Mr Burke said: “The show raised the profile of Craft Gin Club, which was fantastic.”
The business is still booming and was valued at more than £30m in 2023.
Despite all the collective business acumen in the room, sometimes the Dragons fail to spot a good idea when it is right in front of them or they can’t get it over the line in backroom negotiations when the show has ended.
Here are a few of the products which slipped through the net and went on to become highly successful business ideas.
Inventor Rob Law famously pitched his children’s ride-on suitcase Trunki to the Dragons in 2006.
Peter Jones branded the idea “worthless” and Theo Paphitis pulled off one of the straps to the case.
Mr Law wanted £100,000 investment in exchange for 10 per cent equity.
Dragon Richard Farleigh offered £100,000 investment for 50 per cent of the company but Mr Law rejected this.
The Trunki case went on to become a huge success spawning a number of variations including a Gruffalo version, sold in more than 100 worldwide, with the range expanded to include a backpack which doubles as a car booster seat and a children’s swimming backpack.
In February 2023, Mr Law sold his Bristol-based business Magmatic for £12m to ecommerce company Heroes Technology. Mr Law remains a general manager of the business.
Hairdresser Shaun Pulfrey pitched his detangling hairbrush the Tangle Teezer to the Dragons in 2007.
Mr Pulfey wanted £80,000 investment in exchange for 15 per cent equity.
But his idea was rejected by all the Dragons, with Peter Jones labelling the brushes “hair-brained” and Duncan Bannatyne saying he “pull [his] hair out”.
Boots went on to stock Tangle Teezer’s after the pitch and by 2016 sales had hit £28.6m.
Mr Pulfrey sold a majority stake in Tangle Teezer to Mayfair Equity Partners for approximately £70m in 2021 and in December last year it was acquired by BIC for more than £165m.
Entrepreneur Andrew Pearce pitched his online greetings card business to the Dragons in 2017.
Mr Pearce wanted £80,000 investment in exchange for 16 per cent equity.
Peter Jones branded Mr Pearce an “mega entrepreneur” after discovering his previous business successes, including an outsourced call centre and conference calling.
Tej Lalvani and Jenny Campbell offered to invest but the deal never went through.
Sales reached £34.2m in 2021.
Investment bankers Timo Boldt and James Carter pitched their recipe kit boxes Gousto to the Dragons in 2013.
They wanted £100,000 investment for 7 per cent equity.
But the Dragons refused to invest in the meal kit delivery business because it was losing £25,000 a month.
Gousto now offers a choice of up to 60 weekly recipes, with customers able to use their mobile app to browse and select the meals they want on their doorstep.
In 2023, the business was valued at £250mn.
Environmental entrepreneur Guy Jeremiah pitched his collapsible refillable water bottle Aquatina to the Dragons in 2010.
He wanted £100,000 investment in exchange for 10 per cent equity.
But he left the Den without a deal. Duncan Bannatyne said he could “not see the point of it” and branded it a “terrible invention” and Theo Paphitis said he would rather stick pins in his eyes than back him.
Rebranded as Ohyo, the bottle was picked up by retailers such as M&S, Boots, National Trust and museum gift shops.
The bottles are now sold in more than 15 countries worldwide.
Mr Jeremiah has since collaborated with Felix Conran, grandson of Habitat founder Sir Terence, to launch the Ohyo bag, a reusable bag which can be reconfigured into four sizes.
Founder of Wine Innovations James Nash pitched his idea for plastic cups filled with a single serving of wine and a sealed foil lid Cup-A-Wine to the Dragons in 2009.
He wanted £250,000 investment in exchange for 25 per cent equity.
He left the den empty-handed with his idea described as “tacky” by the Dragons.
However, a year later his idea was snapped up by Marks and Spencer who used it for its Le Froglet wine, Waitrose then followed suit with La Copita.
James Watt and Martin Dickie never made it as far as the Dragon’s Den with their pitch for their craft beer brand BrewDog.
They applied to go on the BBC show in 2009 and been selected but at the last-minute producers decided to drop them, believing the brand didn’t have enough growth potential.
The pair had hoped to ask for £100,000 investment in exchange for 20 per cent equity.
Instead, they ended up crowdfunding shares worth £2m, equating to 8 per cent of the capital of the company, to raise money.
BrewDog had a revenue of £355m in the last financial year and Mr Watt, who has stepped away from the firm, is now launching a £2m Dragons’ Den rival show called House of Unicorns.
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