Life After The Den

In September, Dragons’ Den duo Hilary Devey and Duncan Bannatyne saddled up to Kiddimoto entrepreneur Simon Booth, who accepted their joint offer of a £75,000 investment for a 30% stake in the business.

Little more than three months since the on-screen deal was made, all parties have completed the necessary due diligence – the off-camera time when the Dragons take a close-up look at their choices and when entrepreneurs reflect on theirs.

In the follow-up BBC 2 TV programme, "Dragons’ Den: the Hilary Devey Story", the new dragon looks back on her decisions in the den. And in this interview, the 41-year-old Somerset-based father-of-two looks back - and forwards - on his.

It appears that after due diligence the deal couldn’t complete and that you had also decided to go it alone anyway. Can you explain?

The whole follow-up process was very interesting in that it threw up something I hadn’t even considered and it also brought about an almost ‘light bulb’ moment for me.

On the one hand there was the question of a minority shareholder - going back eight years when I had initially started out with a business partner - who holds one share in the company. That was a long time ago, but this came up in due diligence I could see that it could pose an investment risk for Hilary. I could understand that. It also suddenly clicked that if I needed to resolve this by having to buy out that share, then what was I doing giving away 30% of the business to the Dragons further down the line?

Initially in the Den there was the thrill of having won over two Dragons. But this was followed by the feeling that if I gave 30% of my business away, much of the hard work I’ve put in would really be for them. I’d no longer have the real freedom of running Kiddimoto. I’d no longer have complete control. This experience hammered home that running my own business is really important to me.

Yes, I was after investment to support the company’s continued expansion and huge product demand. Yet Kiddimoto already is in a strong position and is bucking recessionary trends.

There was also something that Duncan said in the Den which really struck a cord when he asked "Why not sell your motorbike?" He had a good point!

I was also seeking the expertise and mentoring that the Dragons might bring to the business. But would they really give me that? Would they really have the time or personal involvement I sought? I thought about that a lot and had to ask myself a lot of tough questions.

After the cameras had stopped rolling and the show had been aired, I realised that the company has some phenomenal strengths and that the way we are going is definitely in the right direction. It’s made me look at other investment alternatives and I’ve found a dedicated mentor who brings 45 years experience of the toy industry with him.

And I realised that Kiddimoto didn’t have to go down the Dragons route and that the deal didn’t need to go through. Once I’d reached that conclusion, it felt great.

What would you say to Hilary if you met her now?

Sorry that it didn’t work out - and thanks.

Being in the Den has given me the opportunity to step back and take a very good look at how and where I’ve got from A to B and where the business is heading. It’s not often you get the chance to do that. It’s allowed me clarify with certainty that I am passionate about running my own business and that we have a strong brand with a great future.

And to Duncan?

I appreciated the sentiment of raising capital myself. That was good advice. I’d learnt my lesson the hard way in the early days by funding the business on credit cards and having to sell two precious motorbikes to pay it off. I’m not going back there!

Looking back, how would you sum up your experience in the Den?

I knew what I was letting myself in for and was confident I could face up to their fierce interrogation. But when you’re actually in there, it’s a totally different experience. If I could do it again it would be without stumbling over the close financial questions. I knew my figures inside out, but my mind just went when completely blank, like a frozen computer screen, and I simply could not recall anything.

It was almost like an out-of-body experience, as though I’d been sucked through from my living room TV into the Den and was looking down and watching an episode of someone else stumbling. After that I felt I was on a downwards helter skelter. I knew where Deborah Meaden was taking me. She had given me a spade to dig myself in with and I did. I was starting to look deep down into the hole when Duncan and Hilary helped me fill it in.

And if I did it again I’d flag up the uniqueness of the Heroes range – officially endorsed replica bikes of 30 past and future world motorcycle champions like Valentino Rossi, Barry Sheene, Kevin Schwantz and Mike Hailwood.

Looking forwards, what does the future without the Dragons hold?

Life in the fast lane!

Since the Den we’ve been approached by key players like Tesco and Toys ‘R’ Us. We’ve extended our brand profile with John Lewis. Brand awareness has escalated significantly amongst our customer, stockist and retail bases, with orders beyond our expectation and witnessed a significant growth in our export sales, particularly across France, Italy and the Benelux countries.

We’ve had unprecedented pre-Christmas success – the best in our eight year history – with healthy orders booked for 2012 and a quadrupling of website visits from 5,000 to 20,000 unique visits a month.

Kiddimoto’s workforce has also doubled with new export sales and marketing jobs created at our Somerset base and three full time UK wide sales reps.

Watch videos of Simon in action on the Dragons' Den.

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