Lessons From The Dragon’s Den’s Robert Herjavec Part 1

November 26, 2010

Dragons’ Den is a reality TV show featuring entrepreneurs pitching their business plans with the goal of securing financing from a panel of venture capitalists.  Few people know the show originated in Japan and there are now 20 different Dragons Den shows based in different countries all over the world, each with different panelists.

The entrepreneurs pitching their business plans on the show have what they think is a viable and potentially very lucrative business idea.  They want an outside investor for primarily for their money but also for their business acumen and experience. They pitch their idea to five self-made, highly successful entrepreneurial businesspeople (IE the dragons). Throughout each pitch the dragons interject and probe various aspects of the business plan.  Some entrepreneurs reveal an embarrassing lack of preparation due to sky-high estimates on their company’s present value, overlooked obstacles, and just plain arrogance.  Some entrepreneurs get rejected by all five dragons while some get one or more dragons to invest in their company, usually for a large stake in it (40% or more).  

Dragon’s Den has the same sort of appeal as American Idol.  People parade their talents in front of a panel of judges, hoping to impress, and one of the judges is known for making harsh comments about the contestants (Kevin O’Leary is DD’s Simon Cowell).  All of them get shot at and must defend themselves tactfully.  Most go down (some go down in flames) while a few get catapulted to fame and fortune.

Dragon’s Den has become one of the most popular, engaging programs on TV in North America, even surpassing Hockey Night In Canada’s viewership in 2009 with 2 million Canadian viewers for each episode.

One of the dragons on the Canadian edition of the show is Robert Herjavec.  Herjavec made his fortune in the computer business.  In 1990 he founded BRAK systems which became Canada’s top provider of Internet security software.  Herjavec sold the company at the height of the dot-com boom in 2000 to AT&T for a reported $100 million (Herjavec remains mum on the exact figure but doesn’t dispute the $100 million figure).  In 2003 Herjavec founded another computer security company which is considered the top in its class in Canada, proving he wasn’t just lucky the first time around.  Herjavec is also a judge on the US edition of Dragons Den known there as The Shark Tank.

Filed under: Inspiration

Tags: Angel Investing, Angel Investment, Angel Investor, Arlene Dickinson, BRAK Systems, branding, Brett Wilson, business plan, business planning, Croatia, Croatian-Canadian, Dragon, Dragon's Den, Dragons, Driven, Jennifer Wood, Jim Treliving, Kevin O'Leary, Laurence Lewin, networking, Nokia, RAMP Networks, real estate business plan, Robert Herjavec, Shark Tank, start-up, The Herjavec Group, Venture Capital, Venture Capitalist