Posts Tagged ‘Ryan Tubridy’
Young Entrepreneurs – Brilliant!
Late call for Late Late
I was supposed to be away but got “volcanoed” with no flights. I had been asked to do The Late Late Show a couple of weeks back but we, the Dragons, had planned an end of series party, and I wasn’t going to miss it.
Then they started chasing me yesterday afternoon. It was only then I got talking to John, a researcher, from the show. Orlaith, my wife, and I had all the baby sitting arrangements in place so we were planning on just heading to a hotel and chilling out for the weekend. But Sean Gallagher then phoned and asked me to come on with him – “it will be better crack if we do it as a two hander” he coaxed. So I agreed. It was the best way to do it. I hadn’t been thinking about it all week. I just got time to go home get changed and head to the studio.
Behind the scenes of the longest running chat show in the world.
Got there at about 9pm and was brought to the green room. Had a quick drink and a sambo, I was starving and soon after Sean and Trish arrived. She really is a beautiful woman with the most gorgeous eyes and a warm smile, then I look at Sean and wonder????
Down to make up. Where I see on the list Sean and I are on first thing and following us is the Green Party leader John Gormley. We are sworn enemies. I love meat and he is campaigning for a meatless society. I don’t want to be vegan but that’s the way the Greens want to world to end up in the next generation or two. But we are polite to one another.
The make-up artists ask when will TanOrganic be in the shops?
I explain late May it will be in all the pharmacies. Interestingly they all call it by name – “TanOrganic” – it is already a regognisable brand name. Another asks me about Herbie and Minister Gormley’s driver wants to buy a HidBin.
Meet the Four Young Entrepreneurs.
I am slagging Sean that there seems to be a demand for my products. At 9:20 we meet the four young entrepreneurs who will be on the show with us. I’d like to get their names and a brief but their Mams and Teachers want photos of their big night so we pose for a few shots. I note it is the poor Dads who take the pics – always the same the Dads are there to record the moment but be not in it. So I make a mock big fuss and say I am not doing the show until I get photos with the Dads.
Wow we’ll be on any minute!
I can see in the background there’s a TV and the news is over. I am clearly not going to be told anything about what we are going to talk about.
Stephen, who shepherds the guests, takes us to studio 4 and we are taken to the back of the set. I can hear Ryan the far side of the curtain saying to the audience right guys we’ve one minute.
He then appears through the curtain – “Guys great of you to come enjoy the show. Gavin you go here….” I say ”No put Sean beside you first and come to him before me because I have no idea what we are doing.”
Then the theme music explodes – Ryan runs up the back of the stairs and the show is on. Sean is beside himself laughing that absolutely no one has told me what I am doing and keeps saying “you’ll be grand” and next thing we hear, …Sean Gallagher and Gavin Duffy and we are on.
“Go guys – good luck”
But genuinely Ryan is fantastic to be on with. He is such good fun and Sean and I hang around together so much it it like being in his living room in Blackrock, County Louth, except his room has a higher ceiling. It has, what the Yanks call, “a cathedral ceiling”. The room has magnificent views of the beach and sea.
The item is a brilliant one. I haven’t seen it back yet. I don’t look at shows I am on, including Dragons’ Den. It is the four finalists is the Young Entrepreneur show. Rather than go through it here check it out for yourself on the RTE Player.
But it really was uplifting and inspirational to see these young people make their pitches. The ideas were really, really very good.
TanOrganic
Ryan asked me about TanOrganic and was it going to be the really big breakthrough international product from Dragons’ Den. So I explained how it is 100% natural and organic and revealed about the interest we have had from the international market. But he was wanting to move along so I only got to mention Herbie’s Toilet Pipe Cover and the HidBin and that all three are at the Ideal Homes Show this weekend in the RDS.
After about 25 minutes it was all over and during the commercial break we slipped out of studio. More photos with the young entrepreneurs and then back to the Green Room. To my horror two boobs. I forgot to wish luck to Boyne against Tullamore in the Towns Cups Final this Sunday. I have two nephews, Prop, Cillian Duffy and centre, Bevan Duffy on the Boyne team. And for one of the items I said that Vodafone and O2 should be involved. Of course I should have mentioned Meteor where my brother in law works. He gave me an awful slagging later on the phone.
We just chilled out. The other guests were just sitting around. Riad and Siobhán two young gays were lovely as were their families. John Gormley came back in and spoke to Sean. We exchanged pleasantries. Michael Colgan appeared a cold fish. Michael Gambon just carries that bemused look about him always so why force a conversation with them so we just had our own crack. Orlaith and Trish had great fun with all the texts Trish was getting asking her was she pregnant? Apparently as Sean was mentioning the Pregnancy Show he is promoting I said “Yes Ryan Sean has even got pregnant for the event.” So I have started another false rumour.
“It all started on The Late late Show.”
After a while we split and headed home. Final comment about The Late Late Show. People forget long before Dragons’ Den there was an enterprise slot on the Late Late with Gaybo. Stira, the attic stairs, and John Concannon’s amazing multinational JFC Plastics all started on the Late Late.
I came away thinking last night the show is still brilliant, top of the ratings, so professional and with Ryan and Executive Producer, Jim Jennings, in good hands.
Next Blog - Monday.
What Actually Happened in the Den
Model Fainted in the middle of my Dragons’ Den Pitch
By Noelle O’Connor Creator, TanOrganic
From today’s Sunday Independent.
This is what actually happened when I was in the Den making my successful pitch for TanOrganic, a 100% natural, organic and anti-aging fake sun tan. I hold the record for having been before the Dragons for almost two and half hours. The truth is the beautiful model demonstrating how wonderful this tan looks on your body fainted.
It was January and there were heavy snows in Rathfarnham where the show is recorded. Poor Jessica was in her bikini freezing as we hung around waiting to go into the Den. Then she went into its searing heat under the TV lights. She stood as the bronzed goddess that she is. Whereas I could move around as I answered questions from the Dragons, poor Jessica had to be still and statuesque.
There was all the banter and Sean Gallagher joking he wanted to try applying the tan to her himself. But about an hour into the questions Jessica keeled over. I kid you not. Obviously the recording had to stop and time had to be allowed for her to recover. The Producers then decided that Sarah Newman would say thank you to Jessica and excuse her from the remainder of the pitch.
Over two hours of grilling from the Dragons is tough but TanOrganic is a world beater. I hope that doesn’t come across as arrogant but I have created a fake tan that will appeal to women because it has zero chemicals and it will certainly appeal to their men because there is no awful smell.
Fake tan is probably the greatest contraceptive on the market. That burnt biscuit smell is horrible. But women never stop to think why do fake tans have that smell for about three hours after it has been applied? Here’s the shocking news. The smell is the chemicals reacting with your skin. Putting chemicals on your skin to change its colour is not good for you. Admittedly it is better than damaging your skin on an UV sun bed. Irish women are the biggest users of fake tan per capita in the world. So putting all those chemicals on your body is aging and damaging your skin.
It has taken me years to come up with the solution, a natural fake tan. Yes I know that’s a classic oxymoron but that is what I have created, a natural fake tan. Here’s the secret. The breakthrough was an organic extract of sugar beet that naturally tans your skin over a period of seven hours.
But that breakthrough alone wasn’t enough. It took another couple of years and a fortune of money to get the world’s leading cosmetic research lab’ based in the US to develop my formula. My two businesses, a chain of salons called Ealu and my cosmetic distribution business Skinlogic were flying in the boom so I just kept spending money looking for the breakthrough.
But as soon as we got the 100% natural, organic tan working we realised we had to add a natural colouring agent so women could see it going on as they applied it. Eventually Caramel was the breakthrough.
The next big hurdle was the packaging. Women keep the same container of fake tan in their bathrooms often for over a year. All fake tans up to now come in plastic containers but a 100% natural, organic tan lotion would be contaminated if it was in plastic for more than fourteen weeks. It now had to be in an in-earth container such as a glass bottle. It also had to have a 100% natural cork stopper with a natural wooden top.
When I eventually showed the prototype to industry experts they loved the glass bottle and cork stopper because it stood out spectacularly from the competitors. But as soon as I did that “Paris” was calling. One of the Cosmetic majors was interested in buying my formula outright. The Celtic Tiger was roaring and foolishly I thought I didn’t need their money. But I also wanted to do it for myself. Women will understand what I mean. I am not saying I am a Coco Chanel or an Yves St. Laurent but they must have had to make the same decision as I did early in their careers.
Then the economy crashed. All my salons are still open and trading surprisingly well but nothing like they were during the boom. But worse I couldn’t raise finance anywhere to launch the product. I am not the showbiz type but I had no choice but to try Dragons’ Den. Watching the programme last year I was intrigued by one of the Dragons, Gavin Duffy. He seemed to be always on the lookout for mass market products. I planned to get him on board. But I never, ever planned to give away 45% of TanOrganic. However on Thursday night, Gavin Duffy clearly wanted TanOrganic as well. So when he made the offer I said yes.
All I can say is, since that day in the Den I have since been convinced it has been one of my best business decisions ever. I thought I was thinking big but I have met my match in Gavin. Also he has great contacts in the Cosmetics Industry so doors at the highest level have been opened for me. After that the product sells itself.
The product is going to have a major launch in May when it will go on sale in all pharmacies nationwide. But straight away it is available in all salons as a spray on. You can get all the information about it on TanOrganic.com. We will also be sampling it at the Spring Ideal Homes Expo in the RDS in mid April. So ladies, it is here at last, a world first, a 100% natural, organic sunless tan lotion and it was developed in Ireland. So I know we all think our little country is going down the toilet but I still believe Ireland can take on the world.
My Next Blog
I am not going to talk too much about TanOrganic tonight. If you tune into the Tubridy Show Friday morning, you will hear all about it. There will be a big feature on TanOrganic and Noelle in the Sunday Independent this weekend.
On Monday, in my next blog update, I willreveal what has happened between the recording of TanOrganic in the Den and the broadcast tonight and how I have worked with Noelle over the last two months. There are already massive pre-orders for this 100% natural sunless tanning product. I hope it will give a you a flavour of what happens when the cameras stop rolling and the real work starts.
Before I sign off, check out www.allaboutbusiness.ie for behind the scenes footage of the Dragons’ Den.
Thank You – Keep Your Comments & Emails Coming We are getting loads of emails to info@mediatraining.ie and I do try to answer as many as possible but please be patient.
Herbie in Yesterday’s Sunday Independent
Gavin Duffy and Herbie Porche
What a week! My life has been transformed. I am Herbie Porsche. Yes, that is the name on my birth certificate and passport! I am a former German Air Force Luftwaffe pilot who, believe it or not, got scared of flying and so took voluntary retirement. After living in Cavan and Dublin I moved to my lovely Donegal in 1998 where I am a retired tiler – this time forced retirement. In the construction boom I tiled morning, noon and night all over the Northwest, helped in the business by Maire my wife. I tiled and she grouted. But, as we all know, the whole building boom just died and our phone stopped ringing.
I began thinking about business ideas and I had an idea to solve a problem that every bathroom has. We all have toilets and they all have soil pipes, mostly going into the floor. No matter how good of a tiler you are there is always an uneven, ugly edge and a gap where the pipe goes into the floor. Whether your floor is covered with tiles, floorboards, laminate or lino that ugly gap around the pipe is behind every loo. So I invented the toilet pipe cover, a simple, white plastic collar that covers the lot and reduces the odours that sometimes emerge from the seal between the S-bend and the sewer pipe. I could not believe there wasn’t a product like it anywhere on the market here or abroad, and that it could be manufactured and sold for a fiver or three for €9.99. So I applied to Dragons’ Den and I appeared on it last Thursday. Now I just can’t believe the reaction! My phone which had hardly rung in over 12 months was jumping. On Friday morning the phone rang and it was the Ryan Tubridy show.
Imagine what that is like! I am exhausted and a little hung over with all the Guinness. Neighbours had been calling around to the house after the show to congratulate me on getting the backing of Dragon Gavin Duffy. So I have three coffees and get ready to talk to Ryan. He loves the product. All the people texting the show love the product and want to buy it. Ryan asks is it in the shops. I can’t explain to him that Woodies and B&Q are fighting to stock it! I mention my website www.toiletpipecover.com and immediately orders started rolling in. I mention what it has been like to work with Gavin and what an inspiring but shrewd business man he is. We are becoming friends already, the way people always do in Ireland.
I then head down to the shops. People are stopping me and clapping me on the back. It is surreal. I am thinking to myself, I am going to wake up now. But it is real. I love Ireland and have loved it since that first moment I saw all its green beauty from the window of a plane as I landed in Ireland in 1983. It is such a special country with the best people in the world.
The above article was published in the Sunday Independent, 28 February 2010.
Episode 1, “Money for Herbie”
Hi hope you enjoyed the first programme in series 2 of Dragons’ Den. On my blog here each Monday Morning and Thursday night I am going to give you my story on what you are seeing on the show.
Herbie Porshe
The best moment in the show tonight was when Herbie Porsche came out with that phrase “Money for Herbie”. Earlier today, Thursday the 25th, I had a celebratory lunch with Herbie Porsche (what a name) in his favourite restaurant, the Unicorn, off Merrion Row, in Dublin. Herbie used to be in the restaurant business years ago and is good friends with George one of the proprietors. Herbie had just seen the show at a press preview earlier in the Shelbourne. He later headed back to Donegal to watch the show live with family and friends.
Bad Boy Sauces
Ok onto the show. Jenny Lind Lee of Bad Boy Sauces was a superb presenter but I can’t believe she didn’t take my offer at the lower percentage equity. But her reason seemed a good one. She felt she was getting the expertise of two Dragons rather than one. Sounds like a good reason but my experience is that when two Dragons are involved the mentoring falls between the stools. However Niall and I have worked very well together with www.henparty.ie and Sean and I have also had good joint success with www.pedigreecattle.ie. But if you are in the Den and you have an offer from one Dragon versus two or more my advice is always go with one who will be focussed on you.
What to present
Next up was the Marilyn Air Drier. On the edited programme this one appeared to get a rough ride but in the Den it was given serious consideration by myself. I thought it was interesting. The mistake made was bringing in the clothes horse. Had Daniel Bradfield just come in with the device that blows ambient temperature air through the clothes I believe he would have got a better reception. It is always difficult to decide to use a concept prototype or a production prototype. The former is usually a lot rougher but I believe gives you more wriggle room when you are being questioned. You can always say,”Yes we are going to address that issue in the next prototype or in the production model.”
Don’t have information dragged out of you
If a pitch is featured on the programme it gets between eight to ten minutes. However the pitcher may have been in the den answering questions for an hour and a half. The lads who came to pitch www.greenflame.ie seemed to be holding something back. The Dragons had to drag it out of them after a guts of an hour that they had 35 shareholders. Had they come in and said, “we are a famers’ co-operative but we’d love to have a Dragon on board to assist our marketing and invest capital of €200k”, then I believe they may have done better.
Others that featured
Poor Gerard with his website for B.E.R. Cert’s got short shrift and actually that was no reflection on his presentation. He pitched it very well. It is simply down to the fact that none of the Dragons like this whole B.E.R. thing where we all have to go out and get cert’s for buildings. Business people hate this type of compliance for compliance sake.
Eezitfit Blinds the idea presented by Cathal McKinney at first very much grabbed Niall and Sean’s interest. I went back and checked my notes during the programme tonight and I see I was not sure there was robust enough patent protection on this product and I feared it could be easily copied so I passed on it as the rest of the Dragons did.
Urfavrit wasn’t Sarah’s favourite. When she doesn’t like something she tells you straight.
Finally we had Herbie.
Herbie Porche – www.toiletpipecover.com
All I can say is I was so right to invest in Herbie. I just thought it would be fun and he would be great gas. Well I have been working very closely with Herbie and his wife Maire, who is the real brains of the operation, and they are a delightful couple.
Listen out for Herbie on Ryan Tubridy tomorrow morning on RTE radio 1 at 9:05am. Check out the www.allaboutbusiness.ie website to get to see unseen footage from the Den.
On Monday, in my next update, I will tell you a few amazing stories about Herbie Porsche and how we are going to make MONEY FOR HERBIE.