• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Dragon's Den business labelled 'pathetic' ended up going on to make £10 million per year

Home> Entertainment> TV

Published 20:32 19 Dec 2024 GMT

Dragon's Den business labelled 'pathetic' ended up going on to make £10 million per year

The Dragons aren't always right with their advice

Brenna Cooper

Brenna Cooper

Featured Image Credit: BBC / Instagram/@rachelwatkyn

Topics: BBC, Dragons Den, Entertainment

Brenna Cooper
Brenna Cooper

Brenna Cooper is a journalist at LADbible. She graduated from the University of Sheffield with a degree in History, followed by an NCTJ accredited masters in Journalism. She began her career as a freelance writer for Digital Spy, where she wrote about all things TV, film and showbiz. Her favourite topics to cover are music, travel and any bizarre pop culture.

X

@_brencoco

Advert

Advert

Advert

Here's the story of a Dragon's Den candidate who was told her business 'pathetic' - only to go on to make £10 million per year.

Going on Dragon's Den is not for the weak. Not only are you pitching your idea to five titans of industry but to every armchair businessman tuning in from their living room.

The Dragons have been known to back multiple success business over the years, including Levi Roots' Reggae Reggae Sauce, Tangle Teezer and Magic Whiteboard, to name a few.

Advert

However, the Dragons aren't always correct with their advice.

One person to be face scathing feedback was Rachel Watkyn, who pitched her sustainable packaging company the Tiny Box Company back in 2008.

In today's eco-conscious world you'd think a company which specialises in selling recycled and eco-friendly packaging would be a no-brainer, however not all Dragons were on-board with Watkyn's vision.

Advert

Scottish entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne was particularly scathing in his feedback, telling Watkyn it was something his daughter could make at school.

"I think it’s ridiculous that you’ve come along with what you call a business," he said.

"That you describe as ethical and recyclable materials and you produce a box which my eight-year-old daughter Emily could make better at school, the ends don’t match up, the lines aren’t straight. It’s pathetic, it really is."

Rachel received scathing comments from one of the judges (BBC)
Rachel received scathing comments from one of the judges (BBC)

Thankfully Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis saw the potential in the company, allowing Watkyn to walk away with £60,000 worth of investments from the pair.

Advert

And things have only gotten better from there.

Making £10 million a year, Watkyn finds it 'hilarious' that not everyone understands her business.

"One of the dragons said that eco-friendly packaging would never be mainstream," she told ITV Meridian 15 years later.

"They were brutal, they were absolutely brutal. On the show, I didn’t have any confidence. Off camera, I just knew that Etsy was becoming more and more popular and Not on the High Street."

She has now received an OBE for her work (Instagram/@tinyboxcompany)
She has now received an OBE for her work (Instagram/@tinyboxcompany)

Advert

She continued: "There was a movement of a lot of start up companies and I knew that they would all need packing like I did."

"But everything people buy comes in a bag or a box or some kind of packaging, and if we can help business switch from plastic or less environmentally friendly solutions to more environmentally friendly, then the job’s done."

Watkyn has since had her work recognised by King Charles himself as she was awarded an OBE for outstanding contributions to Sustainability, Ethical Business Growth, and Exports.

Not bad for a business labelled 'ridiculous'.

Choose your content:

10 hours ago
11 hours ago
  • 10 hours ago

    Netflix's Balloon Boy timeline explained after child 'trapped inside helium UFO' at 7,000 feet

    A Netflix doc on the bizarre incident releases tomorrow

    Entertainment
  • 10 hours ago

    Kanye West fans chant for refund at ‘worst gig ever’ following major issues as 70,000 people attend

    A number of Kanye West fans have called out the rapper for his performance in Shanghai

    Entertainment
  • 11 hours ago

    Horror banned across the world was so shocking police raided a cinema that tried to screen it

    It is one of the most controversial and shocking films ever made and was banned in numerous countries

    Entertainment
  • 11 hours ago

    Amazing way Christopher Nolan created Oppenheimer atomic bomb without CGI as film added to Netflix

    Nolan had never won an Oscar until Oppenheimer

    Entertainment
  • Business Dragons’ Den entrepreneurs labelled ‘pathetic’ went on to make £10 million a year
  • Business labelled ‘pathetic’ on Dragons’ Den went on to make £10 million a year
  • Business told it ‘won’t make any money’ on Dragons’ Den went on to be worth £70 million
  • Dragons shocked after Steven Bartlett get ‘put in his place’ by entrepreneur during Dragon's Den pitch