I am actually, you know...physical tremors in my hands and my legs,
so pretty nervous!
But Wayne thinks his wife Anna is just as stressed dealing
with a tricky situation back home in Norfolk.
I've got two young sons and both of my sons have just got chickenpox.
So yeah, she's under pressure at home at the moment as well.
What are they, do you think?
Er, they're dangly bits.
Dangly bits. Definitely dangly bits.
Really helpful. Thanks, Theo.
Wayne is hoping that bagging a Dragon investor can make his
part-time business start going through the gears.
At the moment, I do still work five days a week at software companies.
So it's a little bit of a juggling act to work this in my spare time.
Hi. I'm Wayne and I'm the founder of Rehook, and I'm looking
for £50,000 for a 15% share in the company.
Rehook is the original tool that gets your chain back on your bike
without the mess. It's really lightweight, and it attaches
onto your bike frame, so it's always ready whenever you need it.
It's very simple to use.
If your chain comes off, simply grab the chain with the tool.
Put it over the top, spin,
and you're back on your bike.
I had the idea for the tool after dropping a chain on the way
to a meeting and arriving late, with oil-stained hands
and a soiled shirt.
There was no effective solution on the market, so I developed
the product. Over the last two and a half years,
we've done £150,000 in revenue,
on roughly 40% year-on-year growth.
All of this has been achieved in my spare time,
outside of working full-time at the start of the company, renovating
a house, as well as having two young sons.
Thank you for listening.
Why don't we go up and have a look?
A tool for getting a slip chain back on a bicycle is the product
that software developer Wayne Taylor is hoping will hook a Dragon.
Can you do it without the tool now?
Yeah, sure!
I'll do it, I'll do it.
Will you get greasy hands? Is there grease all over that?
Of course I'm going to get greasy hands. Oh!
You can't make an omelette that break a egg!
Wayne's offering to hand over 15% of his company
in return for £50,000.
Right.
Can you show us your hands? SHE LAUGHS
I mean, that wouldn't stop me going into a meeting, would it?
Tej Lalvani is first to get to grips with the cycling gizmo.
Wayne, so basically, you invented a hook that can rehook and that's
why it's called Rehook. It's...yeah. It's a very simple product.
It's a finger spanner for a bike.
HE LAUGHS
Yeah. It's...you know, it's a specific tool for a specific job.
See, I thought I've seen something like this before,
where you can...use to get the chain back on in a simple way.
Um, I mean, there isn't a specific tool designed for this purpose,
so it's unique. Wayne, has it ever concerned you
that the reason there is no tool designed for this purpose
is because there isn't a demand for one?
People are quite happy to use their finger. Yeah.
But...
The minute I made that statement,
I remembered you said you'd had £150,000 of sales in
two and a half years... Yeah.
..which actually doesn't fit well with the statement I just made.
I actually was in the same point of view when I first started -
I was, like, "Is this a real thing?"
but it's reached the point now where it needs to be taken more seriously, I think.
Theo Paphitis backpedals as he realises the entrepreneur's
impressive sales figures mean it might be prudent to reserve
judgment about his product.
Peter Jones now wants to know about Wayne's work commitments
that are keeping the bike business a side business.
Wayne, what do you do? What's your job?
Um, so I work at software companies as a chief technology officer.
What do you earn normally?
I earn £62,500 at the moment.
Do you think that you're going to earn enough money
from this to actually have a career or a business,
or have you got other ideas that you're going to grow?
I've got other ideas to bring into Rehook to broaden the product range.
What's your other ideas? Anything more exciting than this?
So, we've got, um, we've got a performance cycling product as well,
which I'd like to sort of introduce for time trialist cyclists.
That sounds like a very small niche opportunity.
Well, I mean, the number of time trialists is, um, yeah,
it's vastly increasing.
So, what's your last year's sales?
So we did £80,000 in revenue. £80,000. Yeah.
OK, and your net profit?
Net profit for this last year was £20,000.
OK, so what do you expect to do this year?
This year, I hope to do 160,000.
And based on sort of growth rates we've seen,
looking at £1 million revenue over the next three years,
which is half a million pounds in year three.
The entrepreneur's bold projections about the growth of his business
have piqued the interest of all five Dragons.
Sara Davies is next to grill the gadgeteer.
Wayne, what impresses me is when you're saying,
with very minimal effort,
because you're doing this around a busy family life and a job,
you've made £80,000 worth of sales last year and £20,000 worth of profit.
That, to me, is you proving that there's a concept.
I want to make you an offer.
But it's nothing like what you came in asking for, because I'm sat here
thinking, "I don't know if this guy should be even giving up his job."
So, I think I've come up with a compromise. OK.
What I'd like to propose you do is,
you drop down to just three days a week,
so you keep your income coming along,
and I'll put the 50,000 into the business,
but not to pay your salary, because you're going to keep working, OK?
I'm taking all the risk here.
So, for that, I'd want half of the business with you.
However, however -
if you can repay me my money in 12 months, which should be really easy,
I would drop my shareholding down to 30%.
Sara Davies becomes the frontrunner in the race by tabling an offer,
but, unusually, she wants the entrepreneur to continue working,
to give an element of stability within the deal.
Earlier, Theo Paphitis manually replaced a chain with a minimum of mess.
Has that made him put the brakes on the opportunity to invest?
Wayne, I don't agree with Sara.
I think the way she's made an offer to you...
..it's like you're playing at this. Ooh!
You carry on part-time.
I think anybody who goes and creates
something that replaces
a mucky finger and then sells 150,000 quid's worth...
..has convinced me.
I can put it into 300 outlets overnight,
but my view is, I DO want you to pack up what you're doing,
because the value for me is not just this alone.
The value is YOU.
So I will give you the £50,000.
In return, though, I want 40% of the business.
OK.
Wayne, you've just had two awful offers!
And I would - if I was standing there - feel quite disrespected.
HE LAUGHS
I think you're incredibly investable,
and I'm going to offer you all of the money.
And no buy-back options, no stealing nearly all of your company -
I'm going to offer you all of the money for 30%.
OK.
Is that a deal?
Don't feel under pressure!
Peter Jones undercuts his fellow Dragons,
and offers Wayne better terms for his cycle-product business.
Tej Lalvani is now ready to have his say
on the tightening tool.
Wayne.
You've made quite an impression,
and I think there's a lot you can do with this in terms
of growing this product.
I think internationally, you're scratching the surface.
We can sell in so many countries - China, India, the whole world.
What's beautiful about it it's so simple.
So I'm going to make an offer, too. OK.
My offer is £50,000.
For 25% of the business.
So, Wayne, this is a really nice product.
It looks good. I love the branding.
It clearly has got a lot about it.
People are buying it without really enough exposure,
so, it won't surprise you that I'm going to make you an offer.
I'm going to offer you all of the money.
I want 25% of the business.
The entrepreneur's product has caused a chain reaction of offers
from all five Dragons, who are now competing to get their claws
into a deal.
Wayne, before you go and talk to the wall... OK.
..I'd like to work with you, but I realise my offer is no longer
the best offer on the table.
I stand by that I want a controlling stake in your business
until I'm paid back.
But I'd be willing to drop to 25%, longer-term.
I have done exactly what you've done.
My journey is exactly the journey you're about to go on.
The difference is, I did it in the craft market, you're about to do in the cycling market,
which is a bigger market and a bigger opportunity.
This is now a bit boring.
Wayne, would you like to just think before you get bombarded
with a load of words? Wayne, go to the back.
Have a chat with yourself and have a reflection.
Before you do that, Wayne -
the only person who's got proper distribution is me.
That's not true.
Course it is! What are you going to put it into? A camera shop.
Wayne. Go and think about it. There's so much noise.
Why don't you go to the back? It's a little bit quieter.
Thank you. Thank you, all!
After a bit of Dragon argy-bargy, Wayne has five offers to mull over.
Sara Davies will halve her demand for 50% of the company
once her money is paid back.
Theo Paphitis is offering to place the product in his 300 retail outlets,
but wants 40% in return.
Peter Jones wants a smaller 30% stake, whilst Deborah Meaden
and Tej Lalvani are both seeking 25% of the business.
But all five of the offers are asking for more than the 15%
that Wayne is prepared to give away.
So, absolutely overwhelmed by everybody's response in the end,
and your offers.
But I think, Deborah, I'd like to accept...
I am so pleased!
I am so...I really, I really wanted you.
I really...
Oh, I'm very excited. Well done you!
Well done. Yeah, well done. Good call. Well done.
Thank you so much, Peter.
I'm not even going to say well done.
I mean, I thought you were brilliant, but obviously, with that decision-making,
I question it! On your bike!
After a full-house of five offers,
Deborah Meaden has the trump card, and hooks the deal.
The cycle-gadget entrepreneur rides off into the sunset with a £50,000
investment in his business a delighted Dragon behind him,
and an exciting future ahead.
I can't believe five...five offers! It's just great to get
that justification that serious investors believe in it.
And that's...yeah, it's an amazing feeling.
I think you ought to smile.
I am actually really, really chuffed. SHE LAUGHS
Well done. But it is only a plastic finger for £50,000!
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah!
And now the real business begins for Wayne, returning home to two
children with chicken pox.
I just can't wait to get in touch my wife.
She's actually in quarantine with my sons,
so, she's going to be so, so pleased!