Fans of Dragons’ Den have slammed a pitcher after they walked away from three lucrative deals. Thursday’s episode of the BBC mainstay saw Tim and Dani Billington claim they had “totally revolutionised” the hair and scalp market with their product – the Manta healthy hair brush.
The duo headed to the Den and explained that they were asking for an investment of £240,000 for four percent of the company. Despite some initial misgivings, Peter Jones, Sara Davies and Touker Suleyman were all interested.
However, the trio were demanding significantly more equity than the partners were originally pitching for. After some deliberation, the pair decided that the three offers – which included a royalty settlement – were too high.
Thus, they decided to step away from the Den and rejected all three Dragons’ offers. Explaining their reasoning, Tim stepped up to the plate and said: “Thank you so much everyone you’ve been so insightful and honest but we’re – we’re gonna respectively decline the offers.”
When asked by Peter, 57, if they wanted to come back with a counter, Tim replied in the negative. He said: “No, because our counter-offer…
“The only thing I could think of was 5 per cent for £250K but it would have insulted you so I didn’t want to do that.”
After nodding in agreement, the five then wished Tim and Dani all the best. After exiting the den, Dani turned to her partner and said: “I don’t think you could have done it for what it was.”
In reply, Tim said: “We’re on a trajectory already to do well.”
In a piece to the camera, he said that turning down the offers made him realise that his product was “bigger” than he imagined.
He also added that “giving that much of the business away would have been detrimental” to the company’s growth and that the brush’s possibilities are “infinite”.
Following the duo’s refusal, fans have come out in their droves to debate the pair’s decision.
One user of X, formerly Twitter, wrote: “Surely if they invest they can tweak the sale price? Thats (sic) why people go on there ..for investment and advice.”
A second said: “All those fabulous offers for the de-tangling product and they walked away. Can’t get over that! A missed opportunity #DragonsDen.”
“And now he goes off & says ‘I got 3 offers on…’ #DragonsDen when trying to raise investment,” typed another.
A fourth commented: “I wouldn’t have turned the offers down…doomed themselves there.”
“Why did they even pitch they decided to not take the offers,” queried a fifth.
However, one viewer said that they “actually like” when contestants decline the others while another joked that they had “gone through the offers with a fine-toothed comb”.
Tune into Dragons Den every Thursday evening at 8pm on BBC One.