You are of course spot on with your analysis of our pitch although I will say that we didn’t go into the den expecting to turn down an offer. We were aware that there were ‘major’ and ‘minor’ pitches in the show and from the get-go we knew that we had to give ourselves the best chance of getting into a major 8 minute slot.

Our first objective was certainly the publicity, both for us and our voiceover talent, but as we prepared over the weeks we also started to realise what one of the Dragons could bring. We were actually a little disappointed we didn’t manage to coax an offer from your good self. I’ll get working on a mass market offer for you next time.

I am however happy we didn’t accept the offers on the table. Although it doesn’t make great TV – we know we can raise better offers off the box.

Anyway – it was great to meet you on the day and thanks for all the feedback on our pitch.

James

With regards to “The Cake Shop” I am pretty sure what Niall meant was that in his business he is a potential customer of Piehole’s and thats the way he wants to remain. He doesn’t want to go to the other side of the fence and help them sell their product – he just wants to be like a customer in a cake shop – go in buy a cake and have nothing more to do with the business. In Niall’s situation he obviously needs voice overs from time to time (although he said he has used the same guy for Black Tie for years) so Piehole might just be the “cake shop” he decides to go to… I have my doubts that you didn’t understand what he meant but I said I might as well give my 2 cents.

I find what you say about golf to be interesting. The golf industry is huge so a good golf product could go a long way. Of course the game might not be for everyone though. Certainly the product the lads had last night does not seem like something that would sell. I think I’ll stick with the idea that I learned while caddying in the States when I was a student, that you just imagine the ball to be sitting on a dollar bill.

Closer to home though I think you might like my recession-busting golf idea. My website, or blog rather, http://www.golf4less.ie is a resource for sharing golf deals around the country. I setup it up last year but am really only getting going with it now. It is only a blog for now but I have some great ideas for it down the line so watch this space..

I will be looking forward to seeing the golf idea you mentioned later in the series.

One thing that I remarked on last night while watching was the genuinely good advice that the dragons give to the entrepreneurs. Sure, there are some puns and funny quips, but for the most part the advice that was given was spot on and sometimes people need to get that “outside” voice as when you are working on your own business you are too close to it to see the wood from the trees.

I do think some of the ideas pitched last night were good, but as the dragons said, not “investor ready”. Delighted for a guy like Kevin to get the investment as working with the dragons will really help him propel his truly innovative invention into a much broader market and they will probably help him polish up on his presentation skills too. Everyone starting out needs a leg up and whether that is from the Enterprise Board Mentoring program, one of the Enterprise Ireland incubation programs or an angel investor, it is often the support and mentoring that makes a huge difference. It is as important as the money in my opinion.