Pitching for investment can be a nervewracking experience. For those who run the gauntlet there’s the prospect of having your business model picked apart and your strategy laid into, all while feeling the nerves that come with making a presentation that could be life changing.

That said, the upside can be incredible. This week I caught up with Jinesh Vohra, CEO of Sprive, fresh from his recent appearance on Dragons’ Den. Despite being grilled over financial losses and tested on his growth strategy, Jinesh walked out of the studio with Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, and Touker Suleyman all having invested in his business. 

While Manchester United legend Gary Neville and Diary of a CEO star Steven Bartlett chose not to invest, both expressed doubt over their decision mere minutes after the pitch.

I’ll shortly be releasing an LFG! podcast with Jinesh, in which he talks through the entire experience. In the meantime, I want to share some of his top tips for anyone tempted to send an application to Dragons’ Den or any equivalent TV show, like Shark Tank.

Jinesh’s 7 Top Tips for featuring on Dragons’ Den

Firstly, think about the TV audience. Dragons’ Den is consumer-facing, so D2C businesses have the edge. “It’s got to relate to the people who are watching the programme,” says Jinesh.

You only get one shot at making the pitch in the studio. There are no do-overs, and understandably so. 

That said, the two-minute pitch is the one part of the show you have full control over. Jinesh advises that you practice it until it rolls off your tongue, and that you find a way to rehearse regardless of what life throws at you. 

“I literally spent a weekend saying it over and over again, kids literally jumping on me and pushing me and screaming in my ear, really just trying to get to a position where I felt super comfortable,” he says.

Your pitch might be good but it should also be tailored. Equally, in a situation where multiple investors are involved, being able to win the buy-in of one of them can make all the difference in swaying the room. In Jinesh’s case, his knowledge of Peter Jones’s involvement with Howdens and mortgage broker SPF helped him identify an ally.

“When he started asking questions, and they were really good questions, it became super obvious that he really liked the business.”

If you’re on Dragons’ Den your financial data is going to be scrutinised. Investors don’t mess around with these things, so founders should be prepared to defend anything vaguely concerning at a surface level. 

Another consideration is that the general public, and even some investors, might be unfamiliar with the burn rates and losses that are often associated with early stage fintechs. 

“Losing half a million in your first year… Most professional investors would be like, ‘that’s nothing, that’s amazing’. But obviously for the normal person watching, a half a million loss is like, ‘wow, this guy must really not know what he’s doing,’ says Jinesh.

It’s easy to think about the fundraising aspect of Dragons’ Den but there’s arguably a bigger prize at stake. “How often can you put yourself out there, talk about your business for 10, 15 minutes, in front of three or four million people?” says Jinesh. 

For Sprive, an immediate benefit was becoming the UK’s most downloaded finance app and the sixth most downloaded app overall for the week following the show’s airing.

Jinesh walked in with the intention of giving away 2% of his equity. He ended up giving away 5%, a decision he feels can easily be justified by the expertise and network provided by the three dragons.

“I wasn’t too bothered about the amount of equity I’d give up, as long as it wasn’t like 20% or 30% of the company, like you sometimes see founders give away. That wouldn’t have been economically viable.”

If you pitch and it goes well, or even just strikes a chord with the public, you should get your house in order for an influx of demand. Thankfully, the gap between the recording and the broadcast is roughly a year, giving founders ample time to prepare.

“We spent a lot of time, because we knew we were going to be on Dragons’ Den, making sure the app was super robust, and making sure the customer team was in a good place,” says Jinesh. “I didn’t have to make any knee-jerk hires.”

Final Thought:

Appearing on a show like Dragons’ Den can dramatically change the trajectory of a business. It takes a great application and a little hustle to be selected for the show, and a lot of prep work to be ready to pitch and respond to whatever fire the dragons send back at you. 

And if it doesn’t lead to an investment… that’s fine.  I’ll leave you with Jinesh’s thoughts on why taking part would be a no-brainer for most aspiring fintechs looking to raise, whatever the outcome of the recording.

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