Dragons’ Den hopefuls surprised by surreal experience | UK News

Dragons’ Den entrepreneur Jaydon Manders, who alongside along with his brother Brendon secrured a £90,000 investment from visitor dragon Emma Grede, 42, for 20% of their company Lumberjaxe, has opened up concerning the “surreal’ experience of standing in entrance of the captains of industry on the BBC show.

Speaking solely to Express.co.uk he stated: “I believe we had been simply surprised about how heat the dragons had been to us, as a result of… everybody is aware of the dragons and how brutal they are often.

“And then we set our pitch, and all the dragons just kept saying good things and good things and good things. And every time there was a slight criticism, it was like, ‘well, actually, well done for this, but you could do this better’.

“So it was simply surreal. Everything was simply surreal the truth that they had been saying all these constructive issues about us,” he said.

The duo appeared on the show seeking investment for their Lumberjaxe all-natural barbeque sauces and seasonings business, which they began with just £100 each and have turned into and successful enterprise with upwards of 70 stockists, including Selfridges, and a £150,000 turnover.

Although they have already made a huge success of their business Jaydon admits he didn’t expect the dragons to invest saying: “We simply went on the show not anticipating to get something, after which by some means walked away with investment.

“We put the application form in, and to be completely honest I just put one sentence answer to the questions, because I never thought that we were going to get on. But you’ve got to fill it in.

“And then a few months after that, I used to be getting the cellphone calls with the producer of the show,” he said.

Peter Jones appears an obvious choice for the brand given he famously helped make Reggae, Reggae sauce such a huge success but Jaydon says Emma was actually the perfect investor for them.

“Although we by no means thought this on the time, out of these six dragons that sat there genuinely, she was the best dragon that we might have ever had.

“We finished filming [the episode] in June, and by October, all the paperwork was signed…Since that point, we’ve met her in London God knows that many times.

“I’ve obtained a WhatsApp group, so we’re immediate messaging to her, and…she’s at all times posting concepts in there. She’s actually, actually, actually arms on… simply planning issues.”

Still unable to believe their luck, he continued: “To be fully sincere with you, that is most likely one thing that we do not deserve. So we’re fully over the moon that she’s capable of spend all this time with us and provides us hundreds of advice, contemplating the companies that she’s labored with [before].

“Although people might not see it, and we’ve most certainly didn’t see it when were there on the show, she is quite experienced when it comes to food [products].”