Dragons Den

[skier-hughes]

I thought a product on yesterday's Dragons Den was quite a good idea.
So did the dragons, with 4 out of the 5 making an offer and also the four split into 2 pairs and in total there were 6 offers on the table.
The inventors wanted £166,000 the dragons wanted a fair proportion of the equity, 35 or going down to 30% The inventors said they only go as far as 25%.
Debrah Meadon said she'd stick to her full offer of the money for 30%, but if they hit their targets figures for sales, she'd give them 5% of the equity back.
They discussed it and came back and said they would only go for 25%.
A further discussion between Debrah and the inventors ensued about what 25% meant and if they were happy with their projections they would have 75% of the company. Their intention was to sell it in 5 years.
They said NO.
Each and every dragon pulled out, not happy that the invetors weren't confident about their projections.

6 offers of all money to no money in two minutes :roll:

For all of us with a bit of land it'll be a very useful product, a shrink wrap sleeve for wooden fence posts.
http://www.postsaver.co.uk/

Same show had a guy who had invented some sort of wireless technolgy for event lighting, the dragons again thought it a brilliant idea, but didn't see it making much money as a stand alone business, so turned him down and told him to approach lighting companies. I phoned my friend who runs one, he watched it, he's now talking to him

 

[BlueC]

One thing that struck me, haven't galvanised sleeves for the bottom of posts been available forever? Don't these achieve the same thing?

Umm, like these: http://fence-material.com/fepogrslst.html

 

[skier-hughes]

$9.99 or sale price of $6.99 each compared to 55p.

 

[MatthewC]

The metal sleeves look as though they were invented as a way of erecting a fence more easily, rather than protecting the posts. I think the heat shrink would be far more effective at reducing rot, as a metal sleeve would have a much larger gap and may even increase the rot rate.

 

[BlueC]

$9.99 or sale price of $6.99 each compared to 55p.

True. As a business proposition though they'll need to sell A LOT of them at 55p each to make a decent amount of money! But if their figures about number of fence posts used each year are right then they could be onto a winner.

 

[skier-hughes]

I put in around 250, goodness knows how many joce, Robin, Mike put in....................... just from our little forum.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

This is why I've stopped watching Dragons' Den.

That's the second idea I'd come up with in a couple of years, that someone else is going to make a mint from! :shock:

The first was a mortaring tool I saw recently.

 

[robgil]

So what happens when the shrink wrap gets perforated by nailing stock fencing to the post and moisture seeps in behind it?
A post that cannot dry out will rot a lot quicker than a post that can.
Silly dragons.

 

[worms]

It may or may not be a useful product, but how can they have 15-20 years of evidence for its effectiveness and a current patent? If it has been around for that length of time the patent will surely have run out, if it is a new product how can they have the evidence of longevity?

WRT Dragon's Den, too many people forget that a venture capital provider is not interested in the company or its products per se only achieving a fast turn around at significantly above prevailing market rates. A perfectly good product and a solid company is not enough!

 

[Schoolmarm]

Wish I had seen that before the eight hundred posts used 13 years ago were put in :-(


And before I bought another 800 a couple of years ago. There is no way I would fit them myself, but would certainly buy already fitted. It takes forever putting them on the end of our rigging steels, they are much smaller.

 

[Schoolmarm]

So what happens when the shrink wrap gets perforated by nailing stock fencing to the post and moisture seeps in behind it?
A post that cannot dry out will rot a lot quicker than a post that can.
Silly dragons.

It is only a ring, water will go down and out. What it does is keep soil/air/moisture combination away from that vulnerable junction.

 

[Flyfisher]

Interesting idea. I can't compete with 'marm's 800 posts but I wished I'd seen these for our bits of fencing, especially for the straining and gate posts. I probably shouldn't mention that I usually stand gate posts in a bucket of old engine oil for a few days when possible.

The other thing I've done is to cap the top of gateposts to prevent water getting in and running down the inevitable cracks that open up. A bit extravagant, perhaps, but I had plenty of lead scraps lying around so it seemed like a good idea at the time.



I'm sure there's a good reason for it, but I've often wondered why fence posts tend to decay around ground level well before the fully buried and top sections. I appreciate that part of the post has to endure regular wet/dry cycles but so do the exposed timbers on our house and many of those are over 400 years old. Admittedly they are a bit gnarly. And oak.

 

[Schoolmarm]

It is the bacteria that have access to shade and dampness plus air from the top layer of soil I suppose. I used to just think it was physics causing them to break at that exact point but obviously not.


Lovely lead job!!

 

[Moo]

While we're on the subject of lead - I have a hefty little pile of folded lead sheets taking up much-needed space in our tiny shed.
Does anyone want them? (they're the remains of old lead piping belonging to a long-defunct drainage system).

Only caveat is that you have to come and heave them out of the shed yourself - they weigh a ton.

 

[MdB]

If you have a tonne then that is approx £1000 sitting in your shed (probably more). Lead is worth a lot so don't go giving it away.

 

[Moo]

Oh, I didn't mean that it actually weighs a ton - just that it seems like it!

But I'm interested in the idea that it might be worth some real money. How should I go about selling it?

 

[MatthewC]

Oh, I didn't mean that it actually weighs a ton - just that it seems like it!

But I'm interested in the idea that it might be worth some real money. How should I go about selling it?

You must have some local scrap yards? They will give you cash - no questions asked - if you turn up there with it. Lead was 80p - £1 per kg when I last looked but do check beforehand what their price is as some will rip you off.

I saw a proposal recently (LPOC? EH?) to require them only do cheques or bank transfers for this, in an effort to make it less easy for scallywags to sell the lead/copper from your roof. I was amazed at the complete lack of any requirement for proof of identity for the seller of scrap metal. No wonder it's such an problem these days.