Page 354 - James Caan - The Real Deal

The Real Deal

orders. GET tell him how many units they need, and Peter
forwards their request on to the factory, which then ships the
ChocBoxes directly to GET. Not exactly a tough day at the office.
And not really the best use of his skills. So I’ve made Peter my
personal technology Dragon. When I get an approach about an
electrical invention – and via my website I get an awful lot of
approaches – I pass them on to Peter to assess. Not only is the guy
a technical genius but he’s been working in the field for twenty-five
years, so he’s a far better judge of what would work than me or
my team.
‘Duncan and I gave you the £150k because we wanted to invest
in you. We don’t need it in dividends, so if you like one of these
ideas’, I told Peter, ‘call up the people involved and say you’re
ringing on behalf of James Caan. If you think they’re worth
investing in, then ChocBox Ltd makes the investment.’
Peter has now invested in two new ventures, taking a 50 per cent
stake in each of them. It’s a great way to grow his business and it
means my 20 per cent (which will drop to 18 per cent on the
claw-back deal we agreed in the Den) is increasing in value and
I’m getting a share of businesses I wouldn’t otherwise invest in
because I don’t understand them. I would say that Duncan
Bannatyne’s done very nicely out of his investment, too.
Peter did well in the Den because he’d realised that what the
Dragons ultimately want is profit. We’re not just looking to put
money into new businesses; in a few years’ time we also want to
be taking our money out again – with profits. I get a lot of people
these days asking me what the secret to being successful in the Den
is, and the best thing I tell them to do is to watch the show. I think
it’s clear from looking at old clips on the BBC’s website what
marks a presentation out for success. Generally, the people who
get investment are the people who have done their research.
Dragons’ Den is not a fashion show, but you only have a short
period of time to make an impression, and I am genuinely

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