When I speak to anyone about my company 365 drills the response is either one of two things:

1) Oh you want to get your product into Screwfix because they will sell loads of them.
2) I tell you what. You wanna go on that Dragons Den program. They are always looking for ideas like yours.

Well we keep knocking on Screwfix's door as well as B-n-Q, Topps-tiles, Right-price-tiles, Jewsons, QVC and a muliple of chains, shops, catalogues, retailers and others. Its hard work. I cant tell you how many miles I have been up and down the UK. I have knocked on more doors than I care to mention.

So one day the manufacturer of my packaging rings me up. "Richard I just took a call from BBC. Their producers assistant ***** (name removed) is ringing about to see if there is anyone with good investable ideas. You should go for it"

That was last June 2007 and so I decided to go for it.... I filled in the forms and sent them off to the BBC in London.

Within days researchers called me up for an interview. I went up on the train and then did my pitch in front of the cameras.

Four shots to camera and they told me that the best pitch was about me as a person and how I developed the product. Not me selling the product.

So I spent the days with them and got the interviews "in the can" and went home. They told me 5000 people had applied and not to bother ringing to see if I made it through. and if I had made the finals they would let me know.

well blow me down with a feather because TWO DAYS later they called to say that I had made it to the show....

EEEEKKKK.

Next followed a month of "Due Diligence" The reasearcher (we will call her Hannah) spent a month with me and my wife going through every document, criminal record checks, company records, sales, debts, loans, patents and background checks.

Hannah had to check every single word and fact to make sure that the words said on air were backed in fact.

With due diligence over and all lights going green came the day of filming.

The Beeb put you up at the local hotel to Pinewood Studios. In this case a Travel Lodge. OK no glamour but it had a bar and we wernt moaning.

So day of filming comes along. We are shown to a "green room" which is not exactly green in colour but a place where they put you prior to You get to mix with five others who will all pitch that day.

Everyone is nervous. Pacing up and down. Hannah sticks with me and helps me rehearse my pitch. We go through it a number of times. food is plentiful and the usual stodge of cakes, sweets, coffee.

There are newspapers about. We can watch videos. Chat. Or pace. Most choose to pace about... Phones are banned. Computers are banned.

As the day rattles on more and more go through. I am the last one of the day. At 4pm I am called to go in and do my thing.

I get in, give my 3min "quick pitch" or intro and then open to questions. First hour is a disaster as they lay into me big time and rip me to bits.

Relief comes when a cameraman shouts out that he has run out of film. They stop breifly and I am allowed some water. I have been standing under a 500w light for an hour and am getting dehydrated.

In hour number two the lights are back on. The questions continue but the break seems to have changed my fortunes.

Peter Jones is up. He tries it. He likes it. He applogises for the first hour of shouting and then agrees its not a bad idea.

Deborah Meadon is close behind and offers support and help. At the end of the second hour the common thread is that they like the idea and think it will do well. But (and here comes the crunch) they tick me off for asking for too much money at £100,000k

I'm gutted but think oh-well at least the publicity of broadcast will be some kind of help.

July comes and goes and then we move into winter. The series is set over nine weeks and Hannah tells me she will ring to tell me my week. I wait. I wait. I wait.

Deborah is on the phone and arranging meetings with suppliers.

In week 8 with one more week to go Hannah calls.

So Sorry. They had so many pitches this year that you didnt make broadcast. We only really show the ones that get investment and the idiots.

So I go mental (as you would) and she tells me. To be honest drill bits are just not intersting enough for TV. If you got investment its a go. But sorry thats just how it is.

As soon as the BBC pull the plug - guess what happened to the suppliers that Deborah put me in contact with..... Yes they ran for the hills.

No broadcast = No interest.

Tough break. So the lesson is - dust myself down. Dry my tears and move on with life.

I dont blame anyone. The BBC are making good tv. The dragons can choose to invest their own money.

But It did P*** me off that they didnt show it. And it was mighty embarassing to have to explain to family and my mates..





Richard explains the concept of the diamond drill kits to Peter Jones.



OK: I will give it a go said Peter.


And that... was that !


Richard

Good post mate. I will tell you something though, i have seen all these drills and other gadgets in my 31 years of tiling and i always feel if someone is so sure of their product then why not give a sample as way of try before you buy.
So if you want to send a sample, i wil give it a go. In fact i have some glass tiles that need drilling soon and need to sort something out.

QVC are shouting out for products (and the other shopping channels). Give them a call. I'd do a few Ideal Homes type exhibitions too with your gear, I can see you in the £50 isle now mate.

Well done for getting on Dragons Den. That must have been a task and a half on its own.

Unlucky mate,keep your chin up and keep plugging away.
You've got a quality product there!

never mind richard mate.....you are famous enough on here..lol lol...... will see you down at expo if you are still going to be there....

not yet used the drills Richard but i am looking to purchase some soon so i will be in touch.

hi rich

i wouldnt be too worried about looking an r's mate. tv is about veiwing figures, which is about money!!

that show is designed like so many now on tv to exercise the ego's of the panel (bannatyne, meadon, jones, kahn, paphitis) AND make good entertaining viewing by putting deluded wannabees under scrutiny...you just happen to be a guy who's got a good business proposition and as you say, that doesnt put bums on seats..

dont beat yourself up and feel you need to justyfy yourself on here. this might sound corny but your health, you family, and what you stand for matter much more than any amount of money or business.

if you have a good product then it will sell, regardless of the approval of z-list celebs. pick yourself up, keep banging away but be honest with yourself and dont
surround yourself with celebs, hangers on , yes men etc..get real people around you. stand back and look at your product. its a hard business to crack especially when nearly everything can be produced in china at a fraction of the cost. the whole western economy is up against it so dont feel down.

you have proved one thing mate. you can market a product fantastically well and you can sell , so either way, its only going to be a matter of time before your ship comes in.....and anyway, i prefer it when things get rough, it tests your character and you find out more about yourself than you ever do when things are going well??

we're all behind you on here mate ;0)

all the best
ed

Don't get me wrong here, but isn't programs like this mainly about people bringing "new" concepts \ ideas to the table to get off the ground, where as many people make drill cutting bits.... don't they

Hard luck Richard, I'll get my order in soon as. Bannantyne is renovating a house near by so if you can get me the tiling job!!!!

Cheers for the support. As you can imagine a huge knockback like that takes a bit of getting over. As I said in the initial post above the BBC are not to blame because they want to make interesting TV.

Dragons are not to blame because its their money, and their call so I dont feel too bad.. My only whine was that I wished they would have broadcast it.

But drawing a line under the whole thing I am getting ready to prepare to announce some better news fairly soon.

Late last year prior to the broadcast I was offered a last minute stand at Interbuild. At the time I thought nooo way because in 3 months time I am going to be on TV.

But something inside said not to count my chickens.... So I went ahead and did the Interbuild show. Wow - we had a huge amount of commercial interest and I had 24 rock solid contacts. From 24 contacts we are down to 1.

As a direct result of my own efforts in attending Interbuild I have been negotiating with a well respected UK distributor.

At this point in time (Mid to End Feb 2008) things look very promising for this kit to be adopted by a distributor and put into the retail market.

As you can imagine the distributor is asking a lot from me in terms of rights, logos, names, images, branding etc. To be blunt we may have to hand over almost everything. But in return they offer an attractive deal.

Thanks so much for the upbeat comments. Between now and June 2008 we will keep going and banging away at it but I believe the next (obvious) stage is coming up fast...

Its taken 2 years of development and door knocking to convince the hard harsh world of retail that we are ready. Soon as I have something factual to report I'll post it as a seperate thread.

Hi buddy tough break but just keep plugging away. I have a nephew who was actually filmed on dragons den. he was promoting the yaki box Japanese cooking kit. He turned down an offer from Peter Jones as Peter wanted a stake in all of his ideas and all future ones.My nephew declined and Peter jones approached him after the show and made him another offer which he again declined. He is a clever young lad and is doing very well with some of his other inventions, however I always wonder where he might be now if he had accepted Peters offer. Send me your contact & product range details cos I am course leader for a large training organisation which has a couple of training centres in the northeast. Our tiling tutors at the centres would probably be interested in your drill range for the dreaded porcelain tiles. Good luck again mate.

Originally Posted by rob hutchinson

Hi buddy tough break but just keep plugging away. I have a nephew who was actually filmed on dragons den. he was promoting the yaki box Japanese cooking kit. He turned down an offer from Peter Jones as Peter wanted a stake in all of his ideas and all future ones.My nephew declined and Peter jones approached him after the show and made him another offer which he again declined. He is a clever young lad and is doing very well with some of his other inventions, however I always wonder where he might be now if he had accepted Peters offer. Send me your contact & product range details cos I am course leader for a large training organisation which has a couple of training centres in the northeast. Our tiling tutors at the centres would probably be interested in your drill range for the dreaded porcelain tiles. Good luck again mate.

Hello rob mate....
I would deffo recommend them for porcelain tiles mate...they don't cut a massive amount of holes but for there price they are top notch and go for ages on ceramics.....TRUST ME..!!!!!!!

Cheers Dave, I'm always on the look out for good gear. Steve our tutor at Peterlee centre ( we call him Tim the tool man taylor) is a tool fanatic, he has more tools than anyone I know. He's even enquired to Rubi @ getting one of those GOLD coloured tile cutters that they do for display just so he can admire it when he is at home. How mad is that???????????

not mad at all..lol loo...i bidded for a limited edition ts 30 on ebay...it was green and gold but got out bid before i seen it go....£143.00...shucks ..never mind...