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Entrepreneur Richard Marles tells Yahoo why he made the difficult decision to walk away from Dragons’ Den, despite offers from Peter Jones and Touker Suleyman.
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The ambitious businessman was accompanied by his dog Penny in the study. He asked for an investment of £150,000 for a 5% stake in his all-natural dog biscuit brand Park life.
I wanted two dragons: Steven Bartlett and Deborah Meaden.
Steven has a lot of digital knowledge and would really help e-commerce sales. Then Deborah has experience with investing in an animal brand. You want ‘smart money’, that is, money from the right people. Those two dragons would really bring “smart money” to the table. That’s what I had my heart set on.
As I entered the study, I received offers from Peter Jones and Touker Suleyman – again two fantastic dragons who would make great business partners. But since I started this business, I’ve put every spare minute I could into it. I’ve worked so hard to build a brand that people love, we’ve received 5-star reviews from everyone who has purchased from our website.
Peter wanted 30% of the sales – and while Touker wanted 20%, he only offered half the money, equivalent to 40% of the sales. What would I be left with in the end? If I had to do another investment round, it would be pointless and I would have nothing left to show after all my hard work.
When they gave me the offers, I had to stop myself from saying no right away because I wanted to make sure I could hear everyone. Then I went to the back of the room to think. Then I knew for sure I would say no. Knowing I would have to negotiate, I asked £150,000 for a 5% share in the company. I thought I might get away with 10, but the most I was willing to give away was 12.5%. I agreed with myself before I went to the den, because otherwise it would be like going to a casino without a budget.
In the study I thought I could give away 15%. I thought there was no point in negotiating because they were asking for 30% and 40% of sales. So even with good negotiating I would get them to 20% and it would still be a lot more than what I was willing to give away. My thoughts at that moment were: say no, because you’re not going to win.
I was trying to say something like Love Island, where you don’t know until the end of the speech whether I’m going to say yes or no. So I shared how much I appreciated the offers and how much I needed the investment to help the company grow and scale. But then I said it’s too much of the company to give away. I had spent too much time away from my family, worked too hard to give so much away, and I thought I would say something like, “For that reason, I would respectfully decline your offer.”
But the words came out and I said, ‘That’s why I’m leaving.’ I didn’t expect to say that. The dragons wet themselves laughing. I don’t remember if everyone thought it was funny, but Deborah definitely thought it was humorous. Steven had his knees against his stomach, curled up in his chair because Touker said, “You can’t be gone because I’m not here yet.”
If I had accepted the deal, who knows what the dragons could have brought to the table? But since then, sales have doubled. I got all the grades I said I would get. Everything I said I would do in the study I completed. We’ve just signed a deal with Sainsbury’s. There were so many things in the study six months ago where I said, “I’m talking to,” and the dragons said, “It’s not set in stone.”
Peter was probably the most intimidating because he’s an original dragon, and I look up to him and respect what he says. He went into town with me. Many people don’t realize that you may only be in the air for eight minutes, but you’ll be grilled for an hour and a half – some people even longer. I’ve seen Dragons’ Den enough times to say that it doesn’t matter how good your business is, if you don’t know your numbers, you lose your credibility. It’s human nature to feel under pressure because it’s question after question after question. Even though I knew the answer to everything, there were certain things, like Peter, that really put pressure on the value of the company and sales. There was a lot of discussion about what you’ve done and what you’re going to do.
I think if I had gone to the den and asked for what I asked for with the grades I have now, I’m sure they would all put an offer on the table. But I’m glad I said no and stuck to my guns, because I managed to do it alone, without a dragon.
Touker was probably the last intimidation of the dragons. There was a point where I felt like I was putting him back in his box because he made a comment along the lines of, “Oh, it’s safe to say you’re operating at the bottom of the market,” because I said we are at Lidl. . I personally shop at Lidl and it’s not cheap. Lidl has good quality products. Peter supported me and drew parallels between Lidl and ASDA, because Touker has had a lot of work with ASDA. I hope that gets aired on the show!
I feel like I’ve been watching Dragons’ Den my whole life. Honestly, I think I probably applied Dragons’ Den about ten years ago with a bullshit idea that wasn’t even a company yet and was fresh out of college. I put two and two together and assumed they had me on a list and seen my company when the BBC contacted me.
Going to the study was a dream come true. To be in front of the dragons it was such a surreal experience – and to meet the people I’ve been watching for years, and some of my heroes, including Steven. Even though Steven and Deborah didn’t invest, they both said I was good at investing and thought I had great business acumen. It was really great to get that feedback from people you really respect and admire.
I was quite nervous when I entered the study. Literally right up until the moment before you went in, they were asking you to make adjustments to your pitch. I had rehearsed this and then they asked me to change something. Penny was a great security blanket. My first thought was that I wouldn’t bring Penny into the den as she is quite an anxious dog and I didn’t think she would travel well. I have a stuffed dog that is in the IKEA kennel and think this will be my surrogate Penny. But at the last minute I thought I couldn’t go there and stand in front of the dragons with a treat brand inspired by Penny and not have her with me. I ended up fitting our VW caddy van with a bed and making it super comfortable. It took eight hours from our home in Ireland and we had time to stop at a beautiful beach along the way.
One of the highlights in the field was when I had all the dragons throw the Fris-Bix. At first, Penny missed them all. But she ran after them and gobbled them all up, so at least it showed how delicious they are because she ate them all. Fortunately, Steven eventually threw a good one and she caught it. There will be a good shot of Penny catching a Fris-Bix.
The only moment that really upset me was when Penny laid down on the floor and decided to take a nap, waiting for a belly rub. Lying on her back with her legs in the air, Peter said: “She’s definitely the most relaxed contestant we’ve ever had.”
And I told her that this would be the Fris-Bix she had backstage before she came on. It was great that she was so relaxed because she is obviously an anxious dog. She was a security blanket, because you know that moment when you walk into the room beforehand and there are all kinds of pictures of the dragons on the wall? Most people go in with someone else and can have a chat before you go in. I would have just stood there solo and looked like a numpty. So it was great to have Penny there for a little moral support!
We fell in love with Penny when we adopted her in 2018. She had returned, an unwanted Christmas present. It felt so nice to be able to give her a home when no one else could care for her. We took her absolutely everywhere – every dog friendly cafe, pub, hotel, restaurant we could take her to. Our lives changed and evolved around her, but one weekend we decided to go somewhere that wasn’t dog friendly and asked my mother-in-law to take care of her. It was a wonderful weekend, but when we got home, Penny looked so bloated and swollen that she looked pregnant. I asked my mother-in-law, what did you feed her? She took out a box of biscuits from a leading brand whose name I will not mention. The packaging contained a list of ingredients, including grains that dogs should not eat.
Because dog biscuits are so popular, I thought there must be a healthy dog biscuit. But all I could find was very expensive or artisanal looking with boring, brown packaging. No one was doing anything that was fun, playful, and affordable in the healthy space. I thought there was definitely a business opportunity here. My wife and I started baking cookies at home for Penny and she absolutely loved them.
We may be a small company, but we have the European license for Disney. We’ve been in discussions with a number of leading European retailers, so the potential for Disney is absolutely huge. Our range of cookies and toothpicks called Mickey Bix and Mickey Stix. The package design looks phenomenal. Disney and Mickey really elevate the brand.
And since joining Dragons’ Den, I’ve been fast-tracking a lot of our product innovation to ensure it’s ready in time for broadcast. That’s why we have some great new products, including our Cake-Bix and Gravy Bix. It really gave me a deadline to get this done.
Next week we will be at Crufts. Last year we were at Crufts for the first time with a stand to test it and we received so much positive feedback. Thousands of dogs came by to try the products, and our sales on our website doubled overnight.
This year we are moving to Hall Two, stand 53, we have a larger stand. We have a full range of products and a special show deal. If you come to the booth, sign up for our newsletter so we can give them a free Cake-Bix product for their dog’s birthday!
Richard Marles told his story Lily Waddell.