With episodes of Dragons’ Den often reaching millions of UK viewers, the show is a brilliant platform for entrepreneurs to seek investment while promoting their businesses. 

So in this episode, I wanted to speak to someone with first hand and recent experience of the show.  Rohan Radhakrishnan, is one of the co-founders of Quarter, the acclaimed quarter-strength spirits brand. Having founded their brand in 2021, Rohan and his co-founder Fabian quickly went after an appearance on Dragons’ Den as part of their marketing as well as investment strategy. Listen on to hear what happened to the duo and what goes into the preparation of Dragons’ Den before anyone steps inside the studio. 

Rohan’s advice:

• Entering Dragons’ Den can win you both publicity and investment
• Be aware that not everyone interviewed will be shown on the programme
• It took nine months of preparation and initial interviewing before the studio appearance
• You have to provide a video recording in advance of yourself pitching your product
• You are interviewed in advance by a panel of producers
• The due diligence is extremely rigorous; every claim you make must be verified
• Proving all your claims can be very time-consuming
• The recording will be halted immediately if you make a false claim
• In the studio you are interviewed for an hour and a half; only ten minutes of this gruelling ordeal will be shown
• The reach of the programme is huge and you will probably be very nervous
• But all of this is superb media training and valuable practice in pitching and raising investment - so even if you reject the Dragons’ offer it will not be a waste of time
• When accepting investment, remember that as much as the financial investment, you need investors who will mentor you, encourage you, and help you to assess objectively what it is you’ve achieved (the Dragons will not necessarily be this type of investor)
• When composing an investor deck, be concise; and aim for a personal rapport before you go into too much detail - it’s the personal relationship that matters

If you’d like to contact Rohan you can reach him via [email protected]

FF&M enables you to own your own PR. Recorded, edited & published by Juliet Fallowfield, 2023 MD & Founder of PR & Communications consultancy for startups Fallow, Field & Mason.  Email us at [email protected] or DM us on instagram @fallowfieldmason. 

Let us know how your start up journey is going or if you have any questions you would like us to discuss in future episodes. 

FF&M recommends: 

• LastPass the password-keeping site that syncs between devices.
• Google Workspace is brilliant for small businesses
• Buzzsprout podcast 'how to' & hosting directory
• Canva has proved invaluable for creating all the social media assets and audio bites.

MUSIC CREDIT Funk Game Loop by Kevin MacLeod.  Link &

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