Page 357 - James Caan - The Real Deal

34 · Getting the Most out of the Den

to understand – where your business fits into the market. Your
presentation should always tell us who your competitors are and
why customers would choose you over them.
The Dragons also need to understand the logistics of your
business, things like how you are going to get your product to the
market or who’s going to manufacture it. Sadly, the cost of
manufacturing in Britain means that if your answer is that you’ll
be making your product close to home, then you need to be able
to reassure us that your product is not going to be more expensive
than a replica that could be made in somewhere like China. And
once you’ve got your product to market, we then want to
understand how your potential customers will know about it:
don’t forget to tell us about your customer acquisition and
marketing strategies.
It’s really important that we get a clear sense of where your
business is headed. Ultimately, we’re doing this to make a return
on our investment, so you’ve got to tell us how you’re going to
grow your business and, in turn, your profits. However, you’ve
also got to be sure that your ambitions are realistic. So many
people come into the Den and say something like: ‘The global
market’s worth £17 billion, and we’re just looking to take 1 per
cent of that,’ thinking that makes it seem like they’ve got really
modest and achievable ambitions. But the truth is that it’s actually
a meaningless target and it’s one that is likely to see you leave the
Den with nothing. That’s because you may as well be telling us
that you’re going to get 10 or 20 per cent of the global market –
it’s just as meaningless because predicting the eventual size of your
business isn’t related to abstract percentages.
Projections for growth are notoriously difficult to get accurate,
but the way to do it is to base them on achievable actions. Tell us
something like you can sell ten a week, but with investment you
could sell fifty a week because you can mechanise production or
increase marketing, and we will understand how you will grow the

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