While aspiring entrepreneurs may believe they have the finest idea since sliced bread, convincing the moguls on Dragons’ Den may be nearly impossible.
John Nicholls was one of the 2017 candidates who thought he had a brilliant idea to help dog owners clean up after their muddy dogs.
However, the Dragons disagreed and felt ‘humiliated’ by the ‘rough questioning’ he received, particularly from tech tycoon Peter Jones.
John’s anxiety, along with the intensity of the questioning, caused him to lose control when throwing his HandiScoop in the den.
The 65-year-old gave the BBC show’s actors a 15% stake of his company for £45,000.
‘It felt like I was being humiliated by the Dragons undeservedly,’ he told The Sun in a new interview.
The item is a long-handled dog poo scoop with a toothed head and a bag, allowing owners to pick up after their dogs without using their hands.
HandiScoop promises to collect up to four average-sized droppings each bag, making it more ecologically friendly.
John, from Ledbury, Herefordshire, believed Peter was attempting to intimidate him by squirming continually, and he alleges the business magnate lost his anger at him.
These scenes were reportedly deleted from the final broadcast, which the HandiScoop founder claims was manipulated to make him appear worse.
Peter, 58, reportedly snapped when he was failing to recall portions of his pitch and apologised, claiming to be dyslexic, to which the Dragon replied, ‘So am I.’
John continued: ‘I asked him how he would scoop it up with a normal bag, which can be messy and not pick it all up, and he shouted, “I’d just leave it”. I was surprised by his response, he was very aggressive.
‘You don’t think that’s going to happen when you go to pitch. It made me realise he would be the last person in the world I would want to be in business with.’
The Shark Tank star wasn’t the only investor not impressed as Moonpig founder Nick Jenkins, argued he wouldn’t want to ‘walk around with a big thing that says, “I’m carrying poop”.’
John walked away empty-handed, and even the show’s host, Evan Davies, said the den had been hard on him.
Despite not impressing the Dragons, HandiScoop has generated £1.47 million in sales since 2011 and sells approximately £250,000 worth of product annually.
One of his clients is Pets At Home, which distributes the scoops in around 400 locations, with a few pallets bought every week by the committed client.
