Dragon's Den (Canada) - General Discussion

[sadiegirl]

10 hours ago, Kel Varnsen said:

Catching up on some old episodes and the rock lady passing  was pretty bad.

I also didn't get what was special about the snow clearing guys. Their machine with the snow blower behind the truck looks exactly like the same ones every company in Ottawa uses and had used for years. Is that not how plow companies in the rest of Canada work, or is it the Mr. Plow type truck?

The way I understood it, the way his truck operated, it cut down the time to clear a driveway, for example, by more than half.  So whatever his truck does, it does it faster.  I didn't understand the mechanics of it, but I did get the less time point. 

[rcc]

Interesting stories tonight. The African man said he didn't want to be greedy, but he was. I can't believe he didn't take Manjit's deal. I felt bad for the couple from Brazil and their cheese snacks. She worked so hard and I don't understand why it being frozen was such a deal breaker.

[Amarsir]

On 2/8/2017 at 7:54 PM, rcc said:

Interesting stories tonight. The African man said he didn't want to be greedy, but he was. I can't believe he didn't take Manjit's deal.

He also had some extreme claims about sorghum. About 10% of the carbs are fiber, which isn't bad. But it's far far from "you can't get fat from this".  Tough life story and I wish him well, but that's a lifeline he should have taken.  The guy after him with the flaxseed had an even more healthy product and didn't oversell it. And it tasted good. Glad he accepted.

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I felt bad for the couple from Brazil and their cheese snacks. She worked so hard and I don't understand why it being frozen was such a deal breaker.

I think you get hit on two sides. 1) It's harder to get into, since stores have less room and it costs money to have unsold inventory around. 2) Frozen is getting a bit of a rap much the way we don't use canned products as much now as prior generations did. Frozen replaced canned and fresh is replacing frozen as culturally we're embracing the "farm to table" attitude more. I think a niche cultural product like Pao de Queijo (Brazilian cheese bread) is something I would be more willing to have frozen, but if they were easy to make from a dry kit that'd be more appealing to me.

[rcc]

I felt bad for Joe when the couple were negotiating with Jim while he had already made an offer. I would prefer to work with Jim myself but I thought that was rude.

It's better to ask if another dragon would get in on the deal rather than leaving one hanging like that. It's happened before and will probably happen again.

[rcc]

Kevin was selling his wine on shopping channel QVC today. People over at the shopping forum wanted to know who Kevin "Mr. Wonderful" was and they didn't like him too much.

Someone said that his "Mr. Wonderful" moniker was given to him by someone on Shark Tank. Wasn't he called "Mr. Wonderful" on this show? 

[Amarsir]

Yes. To all evidence he made it up himself.

Kevin has jokingly stated that both Arlene and Barbara had given him the name because they're so fond of him. (To each of their immediate objections.) It's possible if someone heard that without getting the context and believed it to be true.

[sadiegirl]

I thought Green Mustache was a stupid name but the dragons liked it, so what do I know?  They were an adorable family, though.

The mobile dog grooming was a single person operation but I feel she brought her brother, just so she would fit in with the theme.  And I love how 'yes, we've only made $22k, but our company is totally worth $600k'. 

I did not get the gaming outfit at all.  Lucky for them, I'm not their target audience.

[Amarsir]

On 2/16/2017 at 7:03 AM, sadiegirl said:

I thought Green Mustache was a stupid name but the dragons liked it, so what do I know?  They were an adorable family, though.

I balked at the claim that degenerative disease can be cut by 50% by eating organic. A veggie-centered franchise is a good idea so I'm still happy to root for them, but I do think it will be hard to find big success. Especially if their deal with franchisees is "arrange your own suppliers".

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The mobile dog grooming was a single person operation but I feel she brought her brother, just so she would fit in with the theme.  And I love how 'yes, we've only made $22k, but our company is totally worth $600k'. 

 

Do you think they knew it was a family week they were going to be on? I thought she brought her brother because he was better with the numbers and the editors just figured that's good enough to qualify for the the theme.

Also you're completely right on the valuation and I don't know why Wek even saw a prospect in it unless he has some way of cutting costs or raising the price.

[rcc]

Yes, "arrange your own suppliers" wasn't smart on their part. Jim didn't think so either.

[rcc]

28 minutes ago, rcc said:

"What the puck was that!" That Trinity Sports guy was quite the character. No businessman was he but he was amusing.

Edited February 23, 2017 by rcc

[Amarsir]

Yeah I love a bit of craziness. It keeps things fun. The last pitch was a good competent one to end on and the wireless lock was an interesting product. But the unpredictableness in the middle is what lets the Dragons cut loose a bit.

[UglyCasanova]

The DNA thing was so stupid and the large lady reminded me of one of the Vogons from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy lol.

[Amarsir]

9 hours ago, UglyCasanova said:

The DNA thing was so stupid and the large lady reminded me of one of the Vogons from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy lol.

It had nothing on bottled air!

The AbeeGo wraps are possibly the most interesting thing I've seen on any of these shows.  I haven't ordered yet, but I'm tempted. ($18 with shipping for 3 in various sizes or 2 larges.)

I'm surprised the archery guys at the end got 2 offers (from 2 each). The Dragons really focused on the "rage room" which I grant is the most original part of their pitch. But overall it sounds like a clunkier version of paintball / lazer tag.

[sadiegirl]

I also want to buy the beeswax thing.  That sounds fantastic.  Will have to see if it sells in the US. 

I've seen the rage room before - I almost think it was on Shark Tank a few years ago (but I could be wrong), but I do know I've seen it before.  I understand it might be fun, but it bothers me all those things being destroyed for no good thing.  I also wanted to know more about what else that company does.  I don't remember getting much info on the rest of their business.

And the less said about the canned air, the better.  I cannot believe people are actually paying for that.

[buffynut]

I just quickly Googled AbeeGo reviews and all I found were positive. The only negative thing I saw was that the small and medium ones weren't very useful, and that the large one was the best.

If either of you end up buying them, please post your reviews here.

[rcc]

The woman with the head scarves made me cringe. First she screwed up her initial pitch then wouldn't stop selling herself at the end.

Edited March 9, 2017 by rcc

[sadiegirl]

 I am buying one of those tattoos.  And I don't get the $15 bath bomb, but, man, has she found herself a good space. Over a million dollars in sales in less than 6 months.

The shower cap lady was just sad.  She's a professional speaker?  I don't see her getting a lot of speaking gigs after that performance.  But I did learn that Kim K won't' wear something unless you pay her.  Crazy world we live in. 

[Amarsir]

16 hours ago, rcc said:

The woman with the head scarves made me cringe. First she screwed up her initial pitch then wouldn't stop selling herself at the end.

And what a bad sell. Just namedrop namedrop namedrop. I know that's an aspect of marketing but there were no sales or actual value to back it up.

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 I am buying one of those tattoos. 

I'm tempted myself! This makes 2 weeks in a row with a product I'm at least thinking about if not ready to order just yet.

BTW, how many rings does one woman need? I'm legitimately curious why someone would become a repeat customer of those bath bombs, no matter how nice the ring is, since there has to be an upper limit for non-sentimental jewelery. No?

Edited March 9, 2017 by Amarsir

[Kel Varnsen]

On 1/11/2017 at 9:05 PM, Taeolas said:

The LARPers seem to be going on the show for the 'free' promotion as much as anything. They're Live Action MMO'ing now, complete with the microtransactions, and it does seem to be working for them.

A decent show, nice to see them be recognized coming back in. :)

Finally saw this episode. It made me wonder, when Manjit tried the hard rootbeer did she sincerely not like it or did she only say that because she had a competing product. I mean her partners might be pissed if she was doing anything that might be endorsing, or at least helping the sales of, a product that directly competes with hers. Which is why I could easily see her saying she didn't like it.

[sadiegirl]

I wonder if that vacuum thing is real.  He also kept saying 'my customers' but never said (that I remember) what he actually does.  If it works, Jim will be even richer.  If not, he lost some pocket change.

I plan on checking out the bug zapper on Amazon.  If it really works, wow.  I will buy one immediately.  But weird that the inventor apparently didn't care to come on the show.

[rcc]

I thought those chairs were a great idea. Manjit didn't have to be so negative. I could see boys wanting one in their bedroom with their favorite hockey team, baseball, etc. and use it as a table for their stuff.

That vacuum salesman is young and ambitious and if he was bullshitting Jim he won't get a deal that's for sure. $25,000 is nothing for Jim but I doubt he'll just give it to him without due diligence.

[sadiegirl]

I checked the mosquito thing on Amazon.  Three reviews, all 5 stars, all saying 'can't wait to buy this', meaning they are giving 5 stars to something they have not used or even seen.  When I see stuff like that, I always think those reviews are from people connected to the company and then makes me think less of the company. 

[Amarsir]

I loved the vacuum guy. He did everything right and it was so right that it made the Dragon's skeptical. Good that it seems earnest. And according to Jim's Twitter the deal is still on, so maybe the vacuum is legit.

[aemom]

On 3/15/2017 at 10:40 PM, sadiegirl said:

I wonder if that vacuum thing is real.  He also kept saying 'my customers' but never said (that I remember) what he actually does.  If it works, Jim will be even richer.  If not, he lost some pocket change.

I got the impression that he worked at a specialty vacuum cleaner store.  We have one in my neighbourhood and I still remember going there with a part that we needed to replace and he just glanced at it and knew what brand it was immediately.  I could see the pitcher getting feedback from customers in that way.

Edited March 19, 2017 by AEMom
Clarity

[sadiegirl]

What a dud of an idea.  I did not like it at all.

And Michelle lost points with me using the woman crying as her reason not to invest.  Yes, lets knock predominantly female ways of reacting to something as unbecoming in the office. I expected better from her.

[rcc]

Too bad they picked those food guys. They were arrogant and I liked the other guy. Joe even said he tasted the guy's food and it was good. I hope he gets some kind of traction for his business for appearing on the Den even though he wasn't chosen.

Joe getting that royalty for only $15,000 was a big win in his favor.

Michelle was obnoxious in this episode.

I hope this competition between two business is just for this one episode. I think it is unfair for someone like the food guy.

[UsernameFatigue]

I hated this format - I hope they never do it again. The pitches are way too short and have too little info to make an informed decision. I think they picked the wrong business in at least two of the pitches. And how odd that the candy pitchers had samples for the dragons, but the food pitchers didn't. But Joe said he tasted the food of the pitcher they did not pick, and he liked it? 

I did like that when Diane B. asked the stupid question to the fence pitchers - did they think they should have included some numbers - the female pitcher said that yes, since the dragons actually told them that, they should have. Diane B. was a dud in this episode along with the format. 

[aemom]

9 hours ago, UsernameFatigue said:

I hated this format - I hope they never do it again. The pitches are way too short and have too little info to make an informed decision. I think they picked the wrong business in at least two of the pitches. And how odd that the candy pitchers had samples for the dragons, but the food pitchers didn't. But Joe said he tasted the food of the pitcher they did not pick, and he liked it? 

I did like that when Diane B. asked the stupid question to the fence pitchers - did they think they should have included some numbers - the female pitcher said that yes, since the dragons actually told them that, they should have. Diane B. was a dud in this episode along with the format. 

As for Joe tasting the food: They say that the pitches are often quite long and are heavily edited for TV.  If they paused filming at some point to give someone a bathroom break or adjust makeup or something, he probably walked over at some point to taste it.  

I really, really hated it.  I also thought that they picked the wrong business in at least 2 cases.

I thought that the woman's fence product looked much better and seemed easier to assemble.  I thought that the man's product looked cheap and crappy.  I was also more interested in hearing about the other food pitch.

IMHO, all of the pitchers seemed to have a far better product/company to pitch than MANY people we've seen in the "gong show" portion in the past.  Why not just let everybody pitch like on a regular show?  Honestly, this format was dreadful and I never want to see it again.

Edited March 24, 2017 by AEMom
Added comment about Joe

[Amarsir]

I thought I'd like the format because A) something different could be interesting, and B) some of these idea are unoriginal I really wouldn't want to see full pitches from both. Shark tank has that problem with an app where every 3 episodes contains at least one app, subscription, and common food product with a slightly customized recipe. Presenting it as head-to-head seemed like it would make sense.

But in practice it was too short of a pitch to make that determination and we're left wondering "what if". Maybe if they'd done full pitches and then the editing put them up head-to-head it might have been more interesting. Also the dark and dramatic lighting was far more serious than is called for.

15 hours ago, UsernameFatigue said:

I did like that when Diane B. asked the stupid question to the fence pitchers - did they think they should have included some numbers - the female pitcher said that yes, since the dragons actually told them that, they should have. Diane B. was a dud in this episode along with the format. 

This is the most work she's ever had to do on this show. Flipping coins and everything. No wonder she seemed unpracticed at it.

Actually to be fair, she's probably used to asking leading questions to get talking heads and then having her questions cut out. If all we'd heard was "I think I should have mentioned the numbers as they said" then we wouldn't be blaming her for asking.

[rcc]

I just saw a promo for the show and it showed Arlene saying "I'm back" coming this Fall. Yay! I wonder who's leaving.

[Amarsir]

Nobody's leaving! They're adding a 6th chair. :)

http://www.torontosun.com/2017/04/11/arlene-dickinson-returning-as-panellist-on-dragons-den

[Taeolas]

Yeah, Arlene coming back is a great addition; especially since they're running six dragons now. IMO she can handle Jim better than the other dragons, both due to experience and just having worked with him. And it's nice to have a balanced Den too. 

 

Looking forward to next season. 

[buffynut]

Great news.  I've gotten used to the "newbies", so I'm ok that none of them are leaving, but it'll be good to have Arlene back. 

[Kel Varnsen]

On 02/02/2017 at 4:14 PM, rcc said:

Joe is becoming the Kevin O'Leary of the Dragons.

Catching up on more episodes since there is nothing else good on. Not sure what Joe's problem was at least kevin would just tell those kids all he cared about was profit and moved on

On 28/01/2017 at 6:54 PM, sadiegirl said:

And yes, the $800 shoe thing was obnoxious.  We get it.  You have money and see no problem spending a crazy amount on a pair of shoes.  Nothing to brag about, if you ask me.

The shoes thing was stupid. I would have to think that there would be some middle ground between $800 shoes and $10 disposable walmart shoes where that product might have a market and tbe dragons wouldn't have to be annoying.

On 14/02/2017 at 6:32 PM, Amarsir said:

I think you get hit on two sides. 1) It's harder to get into, since stores have less room and it costs money to have unsold inventory around. 2) Frozen is getting a bit of a rap much the way we don't use canned products as much now as prior generations did. Frozen replaced canned and fresh is replacing frozen as culturally we're embracing the "farm to table" attitude more. I think a niche cultural product like Pao de Queijo (Brazilian cheese bread) is something I would be more willing to have frozen, but if they were easy to make from a dry kit that'd be more appealing to me.

I thought the whole not on trend thing was stupid. I mean sure there is a segment of the population that wouldn't buy something not healthy. At the same time with what you hear  about obesity stats and that kind of thing i think "junk food" products are probably doing ok.

[buffynut]

Season 12:   2-hour premiere on Thursday September 28.  Plus, Arlene's back, so there are 6 Dragons this year.

S12, E01

Ten Canadian businesses, including a candy business and cold brew coffee business, vie for a deal with the Dragons; a molecular geneticist hopes to find the right chemistry in a Dragon partner.

[rcc]

Finally! I'm looking forward to seeing Arlene again. I've missed her.

[rcc]

Anybody else who speaks French notice the three pocket t-shirt guys swear just before going through the door out of the den? lol

[buffynut]

I don't speak French, so it didn't register with me. But didn't someone get bleeped during their exit. Was that them?

I liked having Arlene back, but it's going to take some time to get used to having 6 Dragons.  

[rcc]

No I definitely heard it without any bleep. 

Arlene isn't going to take any crap this season is she? Not that she ever did but I think this year she might be just a bit more forceful. I love it!

[buffynut]

Must have been someone else that got bleeped. Wasn't sure if it was a Dragon, or someone exiting the den.

It's probably strange for Arlene coming back and being one of three women, as opposed to the only one.

Just out of interest Googled her.  Per Wiki, in 2012 she was worth $89 million!!!!  Also, she was born in South Africa. Didn't know that.

[UsernameFatigue]

I'm not sure how I am going to like having 6 dragons on the panel. And though they went on and on about gender parity, as a viewer (and a woman) I could not care less about that. I just don't want the show diluted by too many opinions/offers/counter offers. So we shall see. I did like several of the pitches - many seemed to be a bit above the quality that we often see. However since the show was two hours and therefore more pitchers than a normal show, I am reserving my judgement until I see a regular one hour episode. 

[Taeolas]

All the talk of having gender parity and 6 dragons was just filler so they could stretch a 1 hour episode into a 2 hour window. 

 

Still, glad to see Arlene back; having the Elder Dragon and Elder Dragoness on the panel is sure to light things up as we saw last night. The younger dragons certainly realized where their places are now. :) 

 

One thing I'm really glad, is that the Gong pitches are back. We only had 3 but three's enough and they were fun whoppers. :) 

[The Crazed Spruce]

Not gonna lie, the Montage of Crap was always my favourite part of the show. Glad to see it made a comeback, along with my favourite past Dragon.

[aemom]

What actually happened with the pocket guys, was one of them said Tabar *bleep* - so he got half of the swear word out, lol.

It was nice to see Dianne again - last year we only got her voice and never saw her.

Happy to see the gong show back - I missed it!

[Amarsir]

I thought the 6-dragon panel worked really well - better than I would have thought. Lots of room for different combinations in deals too.

Nice to see Arlene back in form. I know viewing order doesn't equal taping order, but I didn't sense any hesitation in getting back up to speed. It was like she never left.

[UsernameFatigue]

1 hour ago, Amarsir said:

I thought the 6-dragon panel worked really well - better than I would have thought. Lots of room for different combinations in deals too.

Nice to see Arlene back in form. I know viewing order doesn't equal taping order, but I didn't sense any hesitation in getting back up to speed. It was like she never left.

I think six dragons will work well for the pitchers. Especially if one dragon offers ask right off the bat, as Jim did in at least one pitch, and others then undercut to try to get a deal. As long as the dragons are quick with their assessments and do not drone on and on, it should be OK. Doesn't seem to be a lot of love lost between Arlene and Manjit which could be interesting to watch over the next episodes. 

[Amarsir]

19 minutes ago, UsernameFatigue said:

Doesn't seem to be a lot of love lost between Arlene and Manjit which could be interesting to watch over the next episodes. 

Yeah that was interesting. I was amused on the last pitch where Manjit made her offer for 50% and then was undercut down to 10%. (And then excluded from the 4-dragon deal.) I will definitely have a closer eye on discussions between the two of them now.

[rcc]

Manjit rolling her eyes when Arlene called the two back and made a deal. She has never been my favorite but this season I just can't stand her.

What's up with Jim's bright purple suit. lol

[aemom]

Dare I say that Arlene and Manjit don't like each other at all. When Manjit suggested going in a deal together,  I knew Arlene was going to say no. Manjit was also quite mean to the shirt lady. "I don't like your designs, I don't like X, I don't like Y, I'm out." There were nicer ways to say that she was out.  Manjit is definitely the new Kevin.

[Amarsir]

I love that Michelle follows that dog on Instagram. Because of course she does. :)

On 10/6/2017 at 9:26 PM, AEMom said:

Dare I say that Arlene and Manjit don't like each other at all. When Manjit suggested going in a deal together,  I knew Arlene was going to say no. Manjit was also quite mean to the shirt lady. "I don't like your designs, I don't like X, I don't like Y, I'm out." There were nicer ways to say that she was out.  Manjit is definitely the new Kevin.

I see that, although Kevin was definitely into playing out a character as well. Manjit strikes me as more of an authentic "suffer no fools" person.