Dragons Den Ideas Review - Series 1 Episode 8 - Summary and Analysis of Entrepreneur 3

Last night saw the first episode of the new 2010 series. There were quite a few strange entrepreneurs and only one or two who were serious. Here is my Dragons Den ideas review - summary and analysis: a catch up on the main points and my thoughts on what happened for the third entrepreneur, Naz Choudhury.

Entrepreneur 3 - Naz Choudhury

Naz Choudhury was the third entrepreneur, a dance teacher and coreographer from London. My first impression was that seen this type of enthusiastic young guy in a suit before - because I used to be one of them!

He explained that he had a company called the Flex Effect Enterprise (say again! I thought this was hilarious). He was looking for a £200,000 investment in return for 30%. He then showed off various products such as (1) a huge annual Bollywood show that would generate almost half a million pounds, and apparently he has done this successfully already and sold out the Royal Albert Hall (2) a Bollywood musical and (3) a dance team - basically a corporate event product.

Choudhury then started to talk again poetically about his "legacy" before giving a dance troupe demonstration for the Dragons which, I have to say, was pretty good.

Duncan was the first to grill him and asked about what he would get from Choudhury in return for his £200,000. Choudhury then said he could put in, among other things, £50,000 of his own funds. He tried to justify this by saying he would bring his expertise etc. Basically, it sounded pretty fluffy to me.

Theo discovered he was 26 and left school at 16 and wanted to know what happened over the last 10 years. Choudhury explained a huge list of amazing achievements so Theo made the statement that "you must be an incredibly wealthy young man". Choudhury tried to avoid the question and Theo grew impatient with this. Once again, we heard talk of his "legacy" and his enthusiasm for the product.

At this point, I knew this guy was on a slippery slope. I know people just like this who always talk of success and getting involved and being busy and yet don't have any money to show for it!

Caan asked him how much he had earned over the last 10 years. Choudhury made an estimate of around £500,000 earnings for himself. James asked where it was and Choudhury gave some feeble excuse that he was young but was now serious. This incensed Theo who accused him again of avoiding direct questions. Theo asked him again why he was not wealthy if he had encountered so much success already.

All of a sudden, Choudhury claimed to have spent it on property and other ventures. Theo then came straight out and said that he reckoned he was "swerving" questions because he hadn't made any money! Choudhury had no answer for this! Theo then declared himself out shortly thereafter. Bizarrely, Choudhury broke into a smile - I can only guess that he was nervous.

Deborah then wanted to know more about the business, specifically the big ticket annual event product. She wanted to know about the arrangements with hiring the O2 venue. Choudhury explained that it would cost £75,000 to hire the venue plus some range of commission on tickets. Deborah wanted more exact figures and Choudhury was forced to reveal that he had no confirmation on this and only had an exact quote from the Royal Albert Hall, based on doing the last even there.

This was where it started to get a little crazy. First Choudhury talked of return on tickets going from £80,000 to £56,000, even though Deborah had asked about the commission! She got really frustrated with having to keep repeating questions and told him so.

I was wondering what this guy was on, literally, at this point. A friend of mine watching could not believe his performance and literally thought that he was intoxicated.

Finally, he gave a figure of 14% commission. Deborah was quite exasperated and barracked Choudhury for his total lack of ability with figures. She gave a classic quote "I think I know more about this business than you do".

I felt for the guy but, like so many entrepreneurs who come in this show, he had come so badly prepared. What was he honestly thinking?

At this point, Choudhury's grin came back again. I couldn't quite believe it - why was he grinning so wildly in front of people he needed money from. It almost looked like he was laughing at them, as if he were ridiculing them. I think we can probably put it down to nervousness though.

James Caan was a bit lighter on him and told him he wasn't interested and wished him every success. Peter told him it was a dream for him rather than a business. He just needed people's money to make his dream come true. I think he hit it right on the head there.

Deborah told him that he didn't need an investor but, instead, a business partner. She told him that he was creative but would never have the business skills necessary and hence should take a different direction. Duncan agreed with this too.

That was it, he left the den thereafter but they wished him well.

My Verdict

I agree with the Dragons. Choudhury clearly has creative and organisational talent. However, if he carries on like this then he will just lose more and more money. He does not have a business head at all.

The Dragons seemed to think that he would never get a business head. I'm not sure about this, I think there is still hope for him. He needs to start with numbers because, like many people, he had no clue whatsoever. I believe that he could learn to understand the numbers side and use it to his advantage one day.

His products were sound and I am sure that they could easily turn a profit. They just need a business head behind them because an investor (like a Dragon) cannot be expected to hand hold.

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