Hello, Dragons.
My name's Richard Brook.
I'm here today looking
for investment of £100,000
for a 30% share
in my company Sockets.
Sockets is a safety shield.
The safety shield is used during the
refurbishment of occupied housing
by the electrician
during the electrical rewire.
This creates a protective shield
around the electrical installation,
then allowing the electrician to
leave the installation fully tested
and in full use,
allowing plasterers, your tilers,
your painters,
to carry out their works
in full safety.
At present, we sell 240,000 units
per year within the UK.
This gives me a turnover of £50,000.
All the products and all the sales
at the moment have been with zero
advertising, marketing campaigns.
It's all been through myself
pushing the products.
I'm not a salesman, as you can tell
from my pitch.
I need a Dragon, like yourselves, on
board to assist me in what I think
is a fantastic patented product
we can take to market
and increase the sales...
..to between two and five million
per year based on the number
of properties refurbished
per year in the UK.
Erm...
Would anybody like some samples
or like a closer look at the product
before we go to questions?
A plastic casing which makes
plug sockets safe
while they're being worked around...
I'm just showing you how
this one's fitted now.
..is the proposition on offer
from Yorkshire-based
entrepreneur Richard Brook.
The plasterer would unscrew
the sockets.
You'd get plaster,
you'd get paint within -
fitting the safety shield
alleviated that problem.
The 47-year-old is looking
for a £100,000 investment...
No pressure. Yes, no pressure.
In return, he's willing to give
away 30% of his business.
PETER: Shall I do it?
THEO: You're putting him off.
SARA: This is probably the most
stressful moment of his life
and you're making it
ten times worse.
THEO: You standing there
is giving him the stress!
So, that's the principle of it.
Super. Well done.
Now the demo's boxed off,
can Richard spark some interest
from the Den's queen of DIY
Deborah Meaden?
Thank you, Richard. So, actually,
it's quite a simple product
to understand.
It means that you can carry
on using your electrical switches
when the... ..property's being
refurbished. Thank you very much.
So, what do they sell for? Right.
The retail price is 44p
for the single,
48p for the double.
Yeah. And the cost price?
Ten and a half pence for the single
and 12 and a half pence
for the double.
When did you start selling them?
I started selling back
in April 2009.
And your sales to date
are 240,000 to date?
Per year, per year.
240,000 a year? Yes.
OK. And has that grown
at all since 2009?
Yes, 10% a year, year on year.
OK, so, I don't know if you're aware
but I've actually got a business
that sells electrical sockets that
are completely flush to the wall
and what we have to do is work out
who saves the time,
who saves the money,
because if it's the tiler
that saves the time
but the electrician
that's got to buy the product
it's never going to sell.
We've found that it actually
benefits the electricians.
The feedback we've got is rather
than doing two visits to site,
they would do a rewiring in a day,
complete, energise, fit the shield -
they never went back.
OK. And you know I'm going
to ask this,
what type of plastic?
It's high impact styrene.
Right, so, is that recyclable?
Yes, recyclable, it's got
the stamp on the back. OK.
A positive start to Richard's pitch
as Deborah Meaden draws out
more detail about his
plastic product.
Now, Sara Davies wants to know
if her investment
will be well spent.
Richard, right,
I'm going to assume that part of
what you want the money for
is to make a bigger impression tool
to get that price down.
With the investment
from yourselves,
I would like to have
four impression tools
so then we can meet the demand
of two and a half million a year
which I would like to anticipate
we could achieve easily.
And to make that four impression
tool, what's the quote you've got
for that? That's £12,000.
And what will that bring
your unit cost down to?
9p for the double
and 8p for the single.
And why would you just do
a two and two,
why wouldn't you move
to a six and six?
The cost of a tool increases...
..dramatically.
But then your unit cost
comes down dramatically.
I think you need to think
a little bit bigger.
Yes.
Richard, the bottom
line is that you're asking
for £100,000 investment. Yes.
And you're going to have to put
more money in,
so you definitely need an investor,
but, in terms of the opportunity,
I think 100,000 is really quite
an ask at the moment.
Out of that 50,000 revenue,
what was your net profit?
It's been zero for the previous
years because every penny I've made
profit has gone back into the
business.
This wasn't my day job.
This is something which was
originally a hobby and now
it's developed into a very good
interest of mine
cos I like, you know, inventing
things.
Do you actually have a full-time
job?
I'm an estimator for one
of the national repairs
and maintenance companies.
If I decide to give you £100,000
of my children's inheritance...
Yes.
..are you going to give up your job
or are you going to carry on
working?
Well, at the end of April I was made
redundant
by the company I worked for,
so how everything's aligned,
now I am full-time with this
and from now onwards, we can take
this product to the next level
and I will give you 100%.
So you'll be doing it full-time?
I'll be doing it full-time, yes.
What else have you been doing?
I'm into my vintage race cars.
Are you racing them?
Yes. Mid-life crisis!
I race a Ford Anglia and a Zodiac.
Do you? Oh, fantastic.
That's two midlife crises.
Exactly. Yeah.
Excellent.
Some mid-pitch respite for the
entrepreneur as Theo Paphitis
discovers a common interest.
But before these kindred car spirits
drive off into the sunset together,
Tej Lalvani wants to know
if Richard has more spark about him
when it comes to selling
his own product.
Can I understand what your margins
are in terms of wholesale?
So I know your retail price is 44p
and your cost price is 10-12p
depending on the size. I sell
to the electrical wholesalers at 24p
for the single
and 28p for the double.
You've got about a 50% gross margin.
Yes.
And you've been growing
at 10% a year, which is growth,
but I would expect this to be a much
higher growth.
Why haven't you approached the
construction industry distributors?
I'll be totally honest with you.
Sales and marketing is not my
expertise.
I haven't pushed the product and I
haven't marketed the product,
and I'll admit that.
That's my failure on my side.
Look, it's a really good product.
It works really well.
You're selling already.
You're ticking all the boxes here.
But...
..it just doesn't excite me
as a business.
Money excites me...
..but I feel that you've got to sell
millions of these units
to get my investment back.
And £100,000 is a big ask, I think.
So if it was a smaller amount,
I may have considered it,
but, on that basis, I'm going to
say I'm out. Good luck.
Tej Lalvani isn't convinced
by Richard's projections
and bows out of the deal.
Does Sara Davies see any
promise in the product?
You know what, Richard?
The product does excite me.
Not that I do a lot of wiring
plugs in my spare time,
but the product, your enthusiasm
for the product. However...
..I worry that you've bumbled
along for ten years...
..and the thing that's forced
you to come here today
isn't that you've just thought,
"Yes, come on, I'm going to go for
this, I've got the drive..."
..it's the fact that you've been
made redundant.
This is forced to become your job,
not that you think the opportunity
is great enough
and took that risk.
And that's what's bothering me.
I would hire you tomorrow...
..but this isn't an investment
for me and I'm out.
Richard, to get 10% of a market,
that's a challenge
for you to do that.
But in terms of the opportunity,
I think it's a great business
for you and I'm sure you're going
to take it further.
And if you'd come in at less
money...
..I think this might be a bit
of a punt.
But £100,000 is a big ask.
Sadly, that's why I'm out.
Peter Jones casts doubts
over Richard's target growth
and switches off his interest
in the deal.
Now Theo Paphitis is preparing
to give his verdict.
Richard...
..I'm all over the place with this.
I think it's an ingenious product.
I think it's amazing that you've put
it together in your spare time.
But...
..you've come in for £100,000
and that is a lot of money.
And at £100,000,
it's such a specialist product,
the return on my investment
might take a while.
I think this is the sort
of product that is worth sharing
with another Dragon that's
got experience in making
these type of products.
Got Khaleesi in the middle there.
I'll take Dragon Queen any day
of the week, Theo.
Now, I don't know if that's
something that she thinks
is worth considering.
Well, if it wasn't £100,000,
I would not have sat here so long
and so quietly.
And I also think that you would
have a fantastic combination
between Theo and I.
So I would certainly be
interested in sharing.
Erm, OK. Now, the percentage.
If I did 50,000,
I would want 25% or otherwise
it's just not worth my investment.
I think we would be a dream team,
so I would make you an offer.
£50,000 for 25% of the business...
..but with a buy-back, so I'll
reduce my shareholding to 20%
once we have our money out.
You'd then go to 60%
and we'd be at 40%. 60%.
It's a big moment
for the entrepreneur -
a double Dragon deal on offer from
Theo Paphitis and Deborah Meaden,
but they're asking initially for
half of his company,
20% more than Richard was willing to
give away.
I'm confident, with two Dragons like
yourself on board...
..we've got great potential
and great team.
Erm...
I think my energy and enthusiasm
will go get the sales if you tell me
which direction to go in,
so I've no doubt that I could pay
back that investment
within, you know, two years.
So, for that reason, I'm in.
You're in! Excellent!
Excellent! Congratulations!
Thank you.
Oh, thank you. There you go.
Thank you very much.
And more to the point, we're back in
business, Mr P!
The dream team! There we go.
Thank you, Dragons. Excellent.
Speak to you soon.
