Napoleon once said that he wanted (or preferred, which would make more sense), his Generals to be 'lucky'. This seems to be a view prevalent across society today, and applies across just about every job function one can imagine. And lucky can be profitable with many, especially the worlds of finance and football management. A guy is sitting in the hot seat when it all goes right, and all of the sudden they seem to be accorded guru-like status... and rewards. Ditto business. But with a few notable exceptions, luck is not a substitute for talent (though it makes good copy, hence the only winners are the media), and the fall can be hard.
A while ago we submitted ourselves to a BBC reality TV show called The Dragon’s Den, where successful (or possibly 'lucky') business folks got to assess your idea with a view to investment. As we're not averse to a boost from any quarter, and there's always a use for exposure, it seemed a worthwhile effort. Now we're quite glad we didn't get accepted. Despite some reassuring noises in the invitation to submit, it became apparent that there was not so much interest or intention on the part of the programme makers to find genuine opportunities and make them work, but to generate more car-crash TV, with sweating victims crumbling in front of ruthless interrogators.
A lot just didn't make sense to me, and I am a complete novice in such matters. These guys had a brief moment to outline their concept and proposal, the 'Dragons' posed a few questions (often very good ones, and the failure to answer them by the guys on the spot further convincing me that Business Plans were being pre-screened for holes rather than potential) and then wads of cash were pushed across the table to buy in, on the spot, 'take it or leave it'.
And despite the amounts being, to me, relatively minor, a lot of folks gave away their blood, sweat and tears to these guys... and for what? Money is always nice (but equally easy to spend unwisely if not well directed), but other than this and a bit of temporary profile, what were these business brains going to bring to the party?
Well, today it was announced that the company of one the 'judges' of the programme, Red Letter Days (I guess the press will have a field day with that colour), went into administration. Which is quite sad. Especially for any of those 'invested' in. I understand that there is already a new series 'in the can', and it will be interesting to see how the BBC presents it in light of what's happened.
It at least serves to convince me that we delve even more deeply into what any investor can do for us, short medium and long term, as they will us.
We've been lucky. But we want to stay good.
2 comments:
I have always wondered how many of the actual dragon 'investments' went through to completion. A rumour I heard is that most if not all failed at the due diligence stage.
A very good point, Geoff. And one any applicant to future such shows (there are a few... and yes, we applied and got toasted for all - maybe that's a GOOD sign!) would do well to consider. It's a bit like the broadcast equivalent of the curse of Hello!
We actually chatted with a 'successful' applicant and the stories we were told were not encouraging.
It is obvious, but the only real interest is making good TV, which beyond the actual theatre also involved a lot of editting... for effect. It will be interesting to see how they handle the Red Letter Day lady in the next screening.
Maybe there is such a thing as bad publicity.
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