Hello, Dragons.
I'm Darren Markwick, managing director of Parcel Boxes Installed.
I'm Liam Stamp,
I'm operations manager.
I'm Brian Wilcox and I'm the inventor of these parcel boxes.
We're here today seeking £40,000 for a 15% equity share
in our start-up company.
Have you ever come home to find a parcel on your doorstep -
if it hasn't already been stolen - letting everyone know
you're not at home?
Or you've had a parcel delivered to one of your neighbours,
and you need to go and retrieve it, wasting your valuable time.
We have a patent-protected anti-theft parcel delivery box
which is courier-agnostic and accepts multiple deliveries.
If I can give you a quick demonstration...
So any courier can turn the handle and open the drawer,
place the parcel inside, close the drawer and it
automatically
gets delivered to the secure compartment and then,
with your key, you can retrieve it when you come home.
With the parcel box, we genuinely believe we've created
the future of mail, ensuring our customers, residential
and commercial, never miss a parcel again.
We'd like you to take a closer look at our products
and we invite any questions.
Many thanks.
I'll have a quick look.
Hoping for investment in their company that produces
secure mailboxes for packages are Darren Markwick,
Liam Stamp and Brian Wilcox.
So, if I open that...
Yeah, turn the handle.
Open the drawer. Put that box in...
That's it. It should drop in automatically.
And it's concealed, so no-one knows the parcel's in there.
They want £40,000 in return for a 15% stake in their business.
This is a freestanding unit, is it?
Yes. So this one's stand-alone, this is built-in and this one's
for apartments.
But Peter Jones thinks it's all looking a little familiar.
I've got something similar at my house,
actually, that takes parcels and it's got a key lock,
and it was built into the brick.
Mm-hm. But my personal view is that this is already
a very limited market in terms of its size and the potential,
because a typical home has just got enough space to have a letterbox.
It's not going to go and have a filing cabinet
near its outdoor area, is it?
It's pretty much for people that are lucky enough to have either
brick walls or nice big houses, isn't it?
I wouldn't have said that.
Would you put that in the front garden? Well, most houses have got a front garden, yeah.
But it would look like somebody's left their filing cabinet outside.
But that's what people are doing, Peter. Really?
We're thinking about getting them vinyl wrapped,
Peter, so it could blend in with the atmosphere.
A vinyl wrap? Mmm.
People would have that in their garden? Yeah.
It would look like a filing cabinet in your garden
though, wouldn't it?
But it's convenience, isn't it?
Maybe now it may look like that, but it won't be long
before they blend in.
At the moment, you have two bins and the recycling
bin in your front garden.
It doesn't look aesthetically pretty, but it does the job.
Yeah, it's just the possibility of having this in most homes,
it's not currently feasible.
Peter Jones is far from convinced of the aesthetic draw
of these particular parcel boxes.
Next up, Tej Lalvani, who wants to unwrap
the company share structure.
So, shall we start by figuring out how much you guys each
own of the business?
So, I'm 79% shareholder.
I have 1%.
And I have 20%.
Right, so, in terms of pricing, how much is the one
which is installed in the bricks at the moment?
199.
So how much does it cost you?
Cost to us is $70.
70 is about £55.
That's right, yeah. You said you were a start-up...
Yeah. But you have some sales, presumably.
Yeah. So what have you done so far?
We've actually been selling for about ten months,
of which our turnover is 21K and, in that time, we've supplied 68
boxes and we've provided 37 installations of the box.
Can I just say something as a slight aside?
Up to now, we've been two separate companies.
Darren's company has sold 68 units, but my company have sold about 500
in the UK and Europe and another 500 in Japan,
and then we're merging the companies together.
Right, so, what sort of business is your company doing at the moment?
My company's been more in the inventor side of it,
and then Darren and Liam have been the salespeople.
Right, so the investment today would be in the combined company? Yes, that's right.
And the IP would be held in that company, as well. Yes. That's correct.
So, when I asked you, how much have you sold,
you only said 68. Why did you do that?
So, in our UK-based operations
under Parcel Boxes Installed, we have sold 68.
However, because obviously we've only been actually
selling them for ten months, Brian was the inventor who obviously
preceded that, and his figures go back a bit further.
With two sets of figures to marry up, Tej Lalvani is having to work
hard to get a clear picture of the sales.
Now it's Touker Suleyman's turn to attempt to get a better
understanding of the combined businesses.
You've come here wanting 40 grand.
It's a total start-up,
which I can understand, but you've made the thing
very complicated.
Based on our projections, so...
OK, projections, let's start. Sure. Year one...
So we project a turnover of 63K. 63K...
Yeah. Turnover. Yeah.
This is purely Parcel Box figures, by the way.
Brian's figures are separate.
I'm talking about going forward as the new collective business.
Yeah. You've just told me 63 grand.
Yeah, yeah. That includes Brian's, that includes yours.
Yeah, that is... That's just our figures. Brian's got his separately.
I've got separate figures as well, yeah.
Guys, you've come in with three of you.
You should have said, "we're going to go in as one,"
and I've just asked for some figures for the next 12 months,
and I'm assuming that the partnership
or the amalgamation's happened.
It hasn't yet, no. Oh, it hasn't.
It hasn't happened. The merger hasn't happened.
OK, so, year two, which is the magic year...
Yeah. So give me the magic figure.
Turnover 383. 383.
383.
This is not taking into account Brian's figures.
Oh!
But you've come in here, with all due respect,
to say it includes two businesses in one.
So, OK, what will the combined figures be?
For last year, it was £150,000 I turned over.
OK. So, if I double it for next year, it will be 300,000.
I'm sorry, I've got to stop this.
This is a shambles.
Are you seriously expecting us to sit here and add
all of your numbers together, so we can work out
for you whether or not you've got a business
that might possibly work joined?
I've never seen a presentation like this in the Den.
Have you actually spoken to each other before you walked
through those doors?
We did, yes. Did you think about making a presentation that actually
presented the business that we were going to invest in,
instead of expecting me to sit here and say,
right, what's your bit of the business, which year?
What's the bit that you're talking...?
Let's add that together and let's see what's going forward...
I respect that.
Well, no, I'm not asking you to respect it,
because I've got to tell you this is shambolic.
I'm sorry about that, but at the moment we're two
separate companies, and...
But you're not asking me to invest in two separate companies.
You can't stand in here and say, "We're combining the business
"but actually we're going to give you the two separate numbers."
You're confused.
I mean, you're completely befuddled!
I haven't got any questions for you whatsoever.
I could not possibly invest and spend my time trying to work out
the confusion that you yourselves haven't bothered working out
the other side of those lift doors.
I won't be investing.
I'm out.
Deborah Meaden is unequivocal in her disdain
of the entrepreneurs' pitch, and, perhaps
not surprisingly, becomes
the first Dragon out.
Will Peter Jones be any more forgiving?
Well, that's put a very interesting atmosphere in the Den,
and I actually couldn't agree more.
It's embarrassing, isn't it?
We've been a bit naive.
This is an embarrassing moment for you, but it's...
We can quickly add the numbers up, surely?
I think it's best that we just leave it there.
Erm, I'm out.
The bit I don't understand in putting two businesses together
is how you then ended up with 79% to you,
Darren, and 20% to you, Brian, but, Brian,
you've got the track record of a business that has sold...
Yeah. ..500 units in Europe, 500 units in Japan or something...
Yes.
..and you guys are just resellers, but you end up with 20%
of the business and you, Darren, end up with 79.
It doesn't make sense.
It would be an equal amount between us,
if you invest.
After the merger? After the merger, if you invest,
it would be an equal amount.
I can't believe this is happening!
But you just said it was 79, 20...
And one. That's what it is at the moment.
To be honest, I think the proposition is a disaster,
let alone the investment that you've tried to present.
I could ask you a trillion questions, but it will all lead
to the same thing, which means I'm out. Thank you.
Confusion reigns in the Den as Jenny Campbell's probing reveals
discrepancies over the company's share structure.
With three Dragons now out of the picture,
has Tej Lalvani got any chance of getting this pitch
out of the doldrums?
How can you not have this organised?
This doesn't make sense.
You guys haven't got a proper business.
You don't know what the shareholdings are.
You don't know what the sales are.
And I can't be part of something like this,
so I'm going to say I'm out.
How do you feel?
Gutted. Could have went better.
Look, guys, I've got to be very straight with you.
There is a problem.
Unfortunately, you're not going to sort it out.
For that reason, I'm not going to invest and I'm out.
Thank you, cheers.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
They started so optimistically, but the fault lines in their pitch
soon started to appear.
Well, that's life.
I'm absolutely speechless.
It is shocking.
We won't be doing a celebratory dance in here.
And it's created a seismic split in their new partnership.
As Deborah said, it's a shambles and,
you know, I can't disagree with her.
Based on what I've just experienced, I won't be merging with these two
guys now, most definitely.
And Brian's walking home.
Yeah, you're fine.