Amid the hustle and bustle of students looking to earn degrees at SFU’s Surrey campus, more than a dozen business owners are making their pitch to graduate to another intimidating setting: CBC-TV’s Dragons’ Den.
One group has an app that teaches kids how to cook. Another has an idea for charging electronic devices on the go. Still another wants to build a mobile garburetor and composter that turns organic waste into liquid.
Ann-Marie Fleming is among the applicants. She is hoping, with her sister Jennifer along with Jennifer’s pet, Ozzy, the fox terrier mixed-breed, to obtain money for Dog Quality.
The company carries a line of washable dog diapers and pads, which they have created themselves, along with the Dogger dog walker designed by them and produced in China. They sell out of their home, located within a 15-minute walk of the auditions; they also have their products available on the company’s website, DogQuality.com.
“We improve the quality of life for older dogs,” Ann-Marie said. “As they age, they have mobility issues and incontinence issues, and our products make life easier for them.”
The Fleming sisters started Dog Quality three years ago. For the first 18 months, they sold only other companies’ products, identified holes in the market and designed products such as the Dogger to help fill gaps. The biggest challenge they have right now, Ann-Marie says, is exposure.
Dog Quality is run on a shoestring budget, and the money squeeze means there is more demand than supply. The Fleming sisters are asking for $50,000 for 20% of the company. Ann-Marie, who has been involved in investment research and finance for the past 15 years and currently works as a marketer for a financial software company, believes Dog Quality is worth $250,000.
She bases that valuation on sales last year of $160,000, “but it could have been $200,000 easily. If I can get the volume, I can easily make $500,000 this year.”
As for the audition experience, there’s a lot of waiting. The applicants are led into the holding area, a classroom down the hall from the theatre, where they prepare to be called for the first test: facing the show’s producers.
When everything is ready, Dragons’ Den producer Michelle MacMillan addresses the group. “Think about props, think about how you’re going to present this to the Dragons. Start thinking: how can this be awesome on TV?”
Successful auditioners will receive callbacks in three weeks to a month. Those who are called will travel to Toronto to be recorded for the show.
During the Flemings’ auditions, the producers asked, “Isn’t it just a fancy baby stroller?”
Ann- Marie didn’t flinch: “That’s what we based it on, and basing it on existing designs is one way we can keep our production costs down,” she said, while pointing out the various attributes of the stroller: room for two small dogs inside, an adjustable mesh canopy with wide visibility, an orthopedic pad, safety lights and a rear-suspension feature they say is “not available on any other dog stroller.”
MacMillan and co-producer Richard Maerov have been involved since the first season of the Den, and Maerov always finds himself impressed by the variety of ideas, the presentations and the energy he sees.
“I find it inspiring to see them coming out year after year. We’re always tapping into an unending reservoir of entrepreneurialism.” •
