Dragons Fall On Den’s Sword

I’ve always got off on ‘pop idol for start-ups’ show Dragons’ Den.  And Wednesday, with the new series about to kick-off, my heroes are exposed as muppets.  My disenchantment, which means I’m now ambivalent to the whole show, stems from knowledge of ‘one that got away’.  In a previous episode, Rachel Lowe pitched a board game and got caned for not knowing her crucial figures.

She was blown out.  The game went on to outsell Monopoly.  The Dragons’ made a mistake.

That would all be cool normally, after all, we all make mistakes.  Yet according to Rachel, one critical element was skewed.  Knowing she had difficulty remembering numbers, she had print-outs of her spreadsheets as she went to walk up the stairs to the Den.

But the TV Producer stopped her, and said there was no way she could take the notes with her as “it looks rubbish on telly”.  And so she got ‘exposed’.  Hold on a minute…….  What genuine business presentation would not allow someone to refer to notes?  A complete disgrace, they should be ashamed of themselves.  My fandom has waned.  And I’m also disappointed in my favourite economist, Evan Davis (who’s just started his own economics in real-life blog, albeit with the risk-averse, post-Hutton forever blunted, and internet-age increasingly irrelevant BBC).  Evan, mate, you should know better.

And as for sales people in general, it is a given that if you’re not the most confident of presenters and need notes, use them.  Each audience member should want you to do your best, shouldn’t they?  Even though the best presenters are always without notes, don’t let anyone say you can’t use notes if you need/want.