Page 345 - James Caan - The Real Deal

33 · Into the Den

money. Eventually, though, one of us will ask the question that
unlocks the opportunity.
‘So, how many of them have you sold?’
‘Twenty thousand.’
‘That’s interesting.’ It’s the kind of answer that gets us sitting a
little more upright. Or sometimes people will say ‘zero’, in which
case one of us will be pretty quick to say ‘I’m out’. Each of the
Dragons has their own style. I think Peter’s pretty laid-back and is
quite happy for the rest of us to make the running and then jump
in at the end. Duncan seems either to like things or not and rarely
changes his mind. Deborah’s great at finding flaws and she’s very
aware of where Theo is heading as I think the two of them like to
invest together.
It was a lot to take in, and after five days’filming I still hadn’tmade
an investment. I was finding it so difficult to assess the opportunities
in thetimeavailable – did I like the person? Did I believe their figures?
What equity stake did I want? What was my exit strategy? – that I
could see me going an entire series without getting my chequebook
out. I discussed my concerns with the producers and they were very
understanding. ‘It’s your money, James, you’ve got to be completely
comfortable with it. There’s certainly no pressure from us.’
Maybe I sensed a little pressure from the other Dragons, I’m not
sure, but it was starting to bother me. When Aisha asked me how
it was going I had to confess that I was still a Den virgin. She knew
I was a fairly prolific investor and wanted to know if anything was
wrong.
‘I’m just finding it tougher than I expected, that’s all.’
I spoke to Deborah about what it’s like to be the new Dragon
and she remembered how she had also found it difficult to make
an investment in her first series. ‘Everybody’s come to pitch to
their favourite Dragon,’ she said.
But this is a show where the whole premise is that Dragons
invest, so one morning when I woke up I just told myself that this

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