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00:00tonight this is like a total family Christmas oh there you go yeah yeah lift
00:11her up yeah they put $500,000 of their money into this business you can't say
00:18they didn't bootstrap it what is bootstrapping what is bootstrapping
00:21your definition you should know exactly not having money that I knew
00:26Toothie was testing to be on Dragon's Den sorry no need to apologize I'm just so happy
00:32these are tears of happiness
00:56first on their merry way here comes Santa two cousins from Montreal here to bring a little
01:04holiday magic to the den treasy treasy well hello Dragon my name is Junior and I'm David
01:14together we're two-thirds of the founders of treasy a natural Christmas tree delivery now expanding as
01:22a franchise opportunity today we're asking for 200,000 for 15% of our company Dragon if you celebrate
01:31Christmas like 2 billion people worldwide how do you get your Christmas tree at treasy we like to
01:38bring home the magic do you say franchise he said franchise I heard it come and decorate the tree
01:47with us please okay I want to do the tinsel I'm not a scrooge I just don't celebrate Christmas I
01:52understand oh I want to do the ornaments treasy lets customers pre-order trees online up to two
01:58months in advance and select their preferred delivery time oh a real Christmas tree smells so good their
02:05prices range from 85 to 120 depending on the size and type of tree they also offer ornaments
02:15wreaths and accessories at an additional cost this is like a total family Christmas oh there you go
02:21all right everybody say treasy all right thank you very much so this makes a
02:35lot of sense for people that don't have time you want the tree delivered as opposed to going to a
02:40farm to buy one is that who your customer is yeah our customers need convenience but the second thing
02:46it needs to be an experience I actually did this business 1994 we became 535 Xmas we got the phone
02:54number we got a big five-ton truck we put Christmas lights in the back of the truck we had kids come out
03:00and pick out and pick out their tree but still in the end people said it's not the same as going to
03:05the school lot with the fire exactly how did you overcome that well when a nutcracker soldier comes
03:11with the tree the kids are waiting in the windows we get you deliver videos everywhere yes oh that's so
03:19fun so so people watch on the app they see that truck coming from the North Pole to their house
03:26oh that's fun cute yeah you're creating the magic and so are all your trees are real yes yes so we have
03:34a farm in the eastern township but that's the point a farm has a limited amount of trees of course takes 10
03:41years to grow right what we want to do is build a franchise operation there's nobody out there that
03:49buys 50,000 trees and tries to sell it at different lots that's a good point I have never thought of
03:55that that there is no brand that comes to mind that is Christmas trees exactly so how long have you
04:01been doing the Christmas tree delivery business for it's been now 10 years we only deliver in Quebec
04:07one out of 10 Christmas trees in the Quebec is now a treasy wow sorry you have 10 percent market share
04:15Christmas trees in Quebec exactly yeah that's amazing what are your sales like from 1.8 million
04:21dollars in Canadian yes thank you 1.8 million in one year yes more like in one month yeah yeah we start
04:30selling in mid-september we have the early birds right they they start calling us in July so on the
04:371.8 million of last year how much did you make at the end of the year 25 in Quebec wow the logistics part
04:44of this is the real tough part and yeah I feel like after all these years that is your secret sauce
04:49and that is where you are made or you're broken when it comes to your profit margin David what is the
04:56cost then for them to buy a franchise the cost is around ten dollars per thousand of population so it
05:02will depend on the population of the territory they're gonna build them and then are you gonna have
05:07any marketing fee royalties like what's on top of that it starts at 12 percent for the first hundred
05:14thousand but goes down afterwards so have you tried this yet do you have one franchisee even our first
05:21franchise will probably Hong Kong Hong Kong Hong Kong is uh is for me is it's a market I didn't know but we
05:29have somebody from Canada that's it is over there and they say they go crazy for Christmas trees and it's
05:35rising up and then how are you gonna ship these trees to Hong Kong you don't have a farm there uh
05:41well the closer the market the better those trees will probably come from the US from Oregon and you'll
05:47ship a tree from Oregon to Hong Kong yeah
05:52one of the things that I've learned today is that you can actually franchise Christmas it's not a business
05:59that I'll uh I'll invest in uh namely because of my belief but um I understand I'm gonna be out I I love
06:06that you're doing what you're doing but um I'm gonna be out franchising this feels fraught with so many
06:13challenges yeah and this is why we need you in North America we know that we can get 350 franchises 35
06:22million Christmas trees just in the US every year I want I want to do my out again I want to say
06:28Feliz Navi no David and Junior I love Christmas like December 1st I got all the bells and whistles and
06:39I'm just like wearing Rudolph nose and I'm going nuts I can see that but it's a perishable inventory
06:45seasonal and I worry that you're going to Hong Kong without building out Canada first
06:50I agree with Arlene I wouldn't franchise I'm out so most would consider your business like a true
06:58Christmas miracle like you have to work with intensity for a quarter a year and you make an
07:02enormous lifestyle business you can only sell to a franchisor once you have a brand so you got to
07:08walk before you run I think right now I I wouldn't mess with your Christmas miracle so I'm gonna be out
07:14I have a different perspective here I like seasonal Christmas businesses it is a short selling season
07:22but people are willing to spend so I'm gonna offer you $200,000 for 20 percent
07:30Manjee it looks great in a nutcracker outfit
07:32I don't know about that I don't know in four inch heels whether I'm delivering any trees but okay
07:38thank you very much and I I think we'll accept your offer
07:43yes it's the most wonderful time of the year
07:45all right thank you oh thank you thank you thank you
07:48thank you
07:50Merry Christmas everyone take care guys all right
07:53it's not a miracle we believed in our company we knew we have something strong and it was seen
08:00and we're really happy of what we struck I bootstrap my company I started 26 years ago my brother and I
08:07we started with $10,000 so you can bootstrap it but but Manjee that's not fair that's not that's
08:12not fair that's fair I'm in the same goddamn industry
08:15500,000 give me a break
08:28next a couple from Montreal looking to share their modern twist on a traditional family recipe
08:34hello dragons my name is Miriam Jean-Baptiste and I'm Stephen Charles we're husband and wife
08:39from Montreal and we are also the owners of Ellis cream liquor so today we are here to ask for
08:46$300,000 for 12 percent equity in our business ooh so dragons we all know that every culture
08:52has that has that one special recipe you know the one that's passed down from generation to generation
08:59well in Haiti that staple is called cremas it's a beloved recipe
09:04rooted in tradition and celebration made from fresh cream per grain alcohol and mixed with some
09:09spices but it was always homemade never shared on the shelves and rarely shared beyond our community
09:16so that's why we created Ellis cream oh oh look at that cheers dragons cheers cheers 20 seasons
09:26cheers congratulations cheers so what you're tasting is actually nutmeg cinnamon coconut and vanilla all
09:32together that's very delicious thank you it reminded me of christmas really good yes but also what we
09:40wanted to do is to make something that is could be consumed year round right this is why we asked our
09:45amazing bartender to do some cocktails that you could see the versatility
09:50stevens and Miriam suggest using LS cream as a flavorful addition to any cocktail such as a pina colada
09:57espresso martini or even an old-fashioned cheers cheers cheers why LS what's the brand so LS is actually
10:08my initials with mixed my grandmother's initials because we took my grandmother's version of it and
10:13commercialized it in the version that you see right there why don't you say cremas here you just
10:18say cream liqueur we really wanted to make it a point that this is for everyone so we want to be right
10:24next to the big brands we we want people to notice us that's why you see the sleek bottle like this
10:30it's a beautiful bottle and it's been working and right now we're actually uh at the seq in quebec
10:37we're in 12 states in the u.s and we are soon to be also at the lcbo here in ontario and how much do
10:43you um retail it for in canada 37.75 and uh in the u.s between 27 and 24 dollars u.s it's a premium product in both
10:52countries what we see though is that people are starting to rise their prices a little bit with
10:59you know with everything going on everything going on but how do terrorists affect you right now because
11:04we borrow in the u.s yeah we got actually taken out out of the shelves in saq yeah right now as we
11:10speak we already have three co-packers lined up in canada why are you making it in the u.s there's so much
11:15great cream in canada yes so basically um as you know it is pretty hard to get into those liquor boards
11:22so at the beginning when we started uh we found it more easier to produce in the u.s but isn't
11:28that crazy there's so much regulation in canada canadian entrepreneurs would have to go to the u.s
11:33and then the saq reached out to us because the the people requested the product wow you must have
11:39like amazing sales because two and a half million dollars valuation what's what are your sales so we
11:44in the past four years we sold uh 1.6 million dollars over total total yeah what was the last
11:51year so last year funny story we didn't do much uh so our biggest year was 2023 we basically uh needed
11:58to change our logistic partner in the u.s so what was the number what was the number 70 000 in 24 and 24
12:05uh uh sorry 568 000 in 23 yeah so you went from 568 000 to 70. just and just to just to piggyback
12:14on what steven was saying this was really an issue that we got with an importer 25 is going to be
12:18tough too the numbers are going to get to 500 000 for uh 25 because we just secured financing for
12:24the production so we're okay to go for this year and for the next three years that that all sounds
12:28expensive how much have you invested into this yes we invested at 1.8 million wow wow wow
12:35that's a lot of money where did you raise the money from we actually got a fund out of atlanta
12:41that uh actually helped us fund it was a venture a funny story is the is about another funny story
12:48another funny story but this is actually a serious issue we've been trying to raise money for a long
12:53time and for people in minority own businesses sometimes having harder issues they actually found
12:59us and invested in us the month after they invested they actually got sued and they were supposed to
13:05leave the next rounds and so forth the fund got yes listen the the challenge that a lot of people don't
13:11appreciate is a challenge that black people have raising money how much have you guys put in personally we
13:17put at least 500 000 yeah wow how much do you have left uh right now we have about 100k you know what guys
13:25is the the the problem is your valuation really is based on 70 000 in sales again uh the the channels
13:34are there so when you think about the money invested i would think about the 12 states i would think about
13:38total wine i would think about the saq i would think about well that means that it's not selling that oh no
13:43no no so there is no way that with 70 000 of sale even to be honest 500 000 of sales that you are selling
13:50off the shelves at a pace that is actually real business so so manji i will i will come to that
13:58bootstrapping this ourselves in a regulated industry and that is limits basically well it doesn't have
14:05its limits i bootstrap my company i started 26 years ago my brother and i we started with ten thousand
14:10dollars so you can bootstrap it but manji that's not fair that's not that's not fair it's fair these
14:15guys these guys put 500 they put 500 000 in the business it's not a fair comment it's absolutely
14:22fair to say they put anybody up here that has a right to say that that's me they put 500 000 of
14:28their money into this business you can't say they didn't bootstrap it what's not bootstrapping what is
14:33bootstrapping your definition you wrote a book about it you should know it exactly not having money
14:40i'll go first the cream liquor product category in north america is declining i'm out okay we're
14:48going to expand our line also don't blow any more money sell what you have on the shelf guys all the
14:54big players she's out are getting out yeah she's out the problem that i have is this so i assess
15:02businesses based on the financials the numbers that's it it's not emotion no problem okay because
15:08you have a decline in revenue and because of the fact that you have a lot of headwinds tariffs not
15:15producing in canada not being an lcbo all those challenges this is all fixed this is all i get it
15:20but for now it's going in the wrong direction and i can't be in because of that i'm going to be out
15:25it's a fantastic tasting product i really enjoyed it but i think you need to restructure your business
15:31and think about you know where you're going to make it how you're going to distribute it and while
15:35that's a difficult thing to do it will help you immensely in terms of setting up your business again
15:41i'm going to be out okay thank you thank you thank you i don't know the liquor business and i trust my
15:46the resident alcohol expert here but from a branding perspective cremas haitian liqueur that's what i
15:54wanted here i think that name's golden but for now i'm out thank you brian you guys had a lot of
16:01grace on your fire and that trait will get you really far but the problem is when you're down you've
16:08got a discount to get out of the hole and so i think arlene's right there's just a little restructuring
16:13that needs to be done in the business right now i really wish you well and um but unfortunately i'm out
16:18thank you
16:22the bar is closed the bar is closed yes a tough market i do i do believe they probably shouldn't
16:28call it cream though you're right i think they should probably stick to their heritage
16:31you should restructure it and start again we're going to continue of course
16:36we came too far to some now so there's lots to give her credit for for sure you started at a
16:42comox how big's your team it's just me wow you're looking at us i'm a one woman village
16:57i started this business after i got laid off and it was an opportunity to look at what i really
17:06wanted in my life and starting my own business was the thing i'd been waiting for now let's see if all
17:13the pieces she's put together lead to a picture perfect deal hello dragons my name is kelly i'm from
17:19comox bc and i'm the founder of villager puzzles i'm here to ask for 250 000 in exchange for 10
17:27of my business it's a lot of puzzles it's a lot of puzzles let me tell you so when my kids were
17:33little like a lot of moms hobbies and interests were kind of a distant memory i was in the bookstore
17:39one day and i saw a puzzle on the shelf and i thought i'm going to give that a try it left me
17:44feeling accomplished and relaxed rather than overwhelmed and anxious but i never found the
17:50art was quite my style i mean antique dolls and frolicking horses we can do better than that so i
17:55started to find local artists whose art i loved this idea was just an idea until the day that i was
18:02laid off from my day job and i used that as the catalyst to growing villager that's a puzzle that's
18:09beautiful very nice oh i like those watercolors villager is a brand of puzzles designed by canadian
18:16women artists so every artist receives a royalty off of every puzzle we sell so when my business grows
18:24so does theirs i even named my business villager to reflect this community of women supporting one
18:30another so i've heard that dragons are very competitive yes so i would like to invite all of
18:37you to a head-to-head puzzle challenge kelly's puzzles can be found online and in over 400 novelty gift
18:45stores across the country i want west here brian don't worry i am really good at this i know so in the
18:52boxes are the missing pieces three two one go they retail for about 32 each here we go here we go
19:06look look we have pieces here that don't i'm sure okay except that one except that one
19:12puzzle champions oh my gosh embarrassing yeah like brian brian claiming a technical error yeah blame the game brian
19:21so dragons beside you i have hand chosen a puzzle just for you this is nice kelly i look at this and
19:30i can only imagine the demand has changed over the years yes i know we as a family used to do one every
19:35christmas we put it out and the whole family was into it until the iphone came out what is the demand
19:40for the space i think that there is a movement towards people who are looking for alternatives to being
19:46glued to your phone yeah a lot of people use it for stress relief but we're also seeing people
19:52seeing this as a really nostalgic thing kelly what were you doing before this though i had a really
19:57cool career in marketing i worked for some of vancouver's fastest growing companies and then i got laid
20:03off from my job after 20 years and i decided it was time wow as a marketing person you've got the artist
20:10profiled and her story on the back yeah it was really important to me to give the artist credit
20:16this was a way for up-and-coming artists to earn a supplemental revenue stream and still see their
20:22art in puzzles and look how beautiful they look with respect um i don't see that when i look at this
20:30why did you choose not to put it on the front of the package so i really felt that the art was what
20:34stood out most so as you flip it over on the top on the sides it talks about designed in canada it
20:40talks about supporting women artists it talks about the artist behind the puzzle on the back
20:46and so what's your return customer rate so keep in mind i just launched about 20 months ago so my
20:52return customer rate so far is 15 percent which has been well so what i'm seeing is is that people are
20:58actually buying full bundles so one of my most popular products that i'm selling is a bundle of four
21:04or eight puzzles so kelly what were your sales so my last 12 months of sales was eight hundred
21:10thousand dollars good for you wow wow for you and you just started how much did you make on that ada
21:16so i'm gonna roll back to the calendar year so i made 125 000 off of 550. really okay good for you
21:25that's good bravo i'm pretty proud of where we are i don't have a problem kelly with uh with what you're
21:32doing it's really devaluation because the company's so young is it worth 2.5 million dollars at this
21:39stage i've put together a revenue projection based off of what i'm seeing in western canada ontario is
21:46largely untouched untouched by you but not by the puzzling community it is much harder in bigger highly
21:53densely populated areas and to get their share of wallet it's not that simple but but she said she
21:59modeled out your revenue have you modeled out your cash flow needs i have tell me about that i put an
22:05initial investment of 30 000 in order to fund my first inventory and i've been growing off of the
22:11proceeds from the business until now you still haven't explained why it's worth two and a half million
22:17dollars i've been able to grow this business in at a really rapid rate by proving out what i see working
22:25and she's making money let's give her some credit she's making money but not enough that type of
22:30valuation though i'm not saying her math is right don't get but i am saying that you are far ahead
22:36of a lot of people who haven't figured out the business model or the revenue model how do you
22:41make money and keep some and call it a business not a hobby she's got to defend her valuation she has to
22:46be able to stand in front of us and say it's worth two and a half million dollars for this reason
22:50she's giving you some answers if you don't like them well that's up to you i've heard them there's
22:54lots to give her credit for for sure you started at a comox how big's your team just me wow you're
23:00looking at us you're looking at i'm a one woman village you know when i when i talk about the the
23:05early valuation right those are things that investors look at it's called key person risk
23:11if something happens to you tomorrow how does this business continue is the question so what do you
23:16what's your answer to that you know what i'll be honest i don't have a contingency kelly gets hit by
23:23a truck plan that's the risk if you told me that you're going to hire people to mitigate that that
23:32that's that would be a good answer but because you haven't solved that problem i'm going to be out
23:38i am really hung up on 2.5 million dollars i think you would probably if you're lucky get somewhere
23:45between half a million dollars to a million dollars in valuation but as an investment
23:49i'm going to be out i think you got something magical here with the artists if you build that
23:55up it will make it very difficult for other people to copy this business um i wish i was the missing
24:01piece of your puzzle but i'm not so i'm out i do think that you're onto something here so i will
24:09absolutely help you with distribution and help you build all those pieces to the puzzle
24:13i would offer you 250 000 for 30 okay thank you manjeet i'd love to hear from brian
24:23i like this business and i like you i think you've got a great cause women artists my mother is one
24:30love her dearly i'll give you 250 000 for 25 percent what and i think that those artists they are a tight
24:42tight community and they will blow this business up if we could tap into them so you have two offers
24:49wow wow look at that kelly oh okay
24:52this is a big day for my business brian i would like to take your offer oh my god amazing
25:07that undercut you got scooped manjeet congratulations i'm the worst puzzle doer but we did a deal
25:13amazing amazing oh you're awesome thank you so excited congratulations well done
25:22i wanted to expand the village and that felt like the right choice
25:26i knew toothy was destined to be on dragon's den and work with arlene sorry for calling out so i love
25:43all of you i do arlene you're on the hot seat
25:57next to face the fire are you shaking yeah this ottawa couple and their smiley mascot hope a polished
26:05pitch makes their dream of a dragon partner come true we like that here we go okay is that a big
26:11tooth is that tooth fairy all right toothy there's a step here just make sure you lift your foot
26:18it's a tooth with a crown you can do it tooth king hello dragons my name is stacy lavula and this is my
26:25husband he flanked oh and this is our friend toothy toothy toothy good job you're getting paid well
26:31we're from ottawa ontario and we're here today to ask for sixty thousand dollars for twenty percent of
26:36our business dragons for a lot of parents it is a struggle to get them to brush and floss without a
26:42fuss and let's not forget about going to the dentist we faced a lot of those challenges with our own
26:47daughter piper so when piper was just three years old we were told she had ten cavities oh not only
26:54that she had to undergo general anesthesia to get eight metal caps oh and two teeth pulled oh so after
27:02that shame and guilt i also had to deal with piper's dental anxiety i tried finding resources to help
27:08ease that anxiety i couldn't find what i was looking for i went home after that surgery and i told my
27:14husband i'm going to create something myself okay my friend toothy is our lovable character that helps
27:21make brushing and flossing fun for families so what you're seeing here is our toothy toolkit we make them
27:28for eight dollars we retail them for forty nine nine nine forty nine nine nine retail wow yeah tool
27:33number one is our fun educational book teaching children how to brush and floss properly but also
27:39preparing them to be brave at the dentist tool number two is our accountability sticker toothy's
27:46there cheering them on just like how he does in the book and tool number three is our comfort plush toothy
27:51we created this so children can bring to the dentist and on the back of toothy is the golden pocket for the
27:57tooth fairy perfect spot to collect those healthy teeth so how dare you just put it under a ziploc under
28:03your pillow and let's all say goodbye to toothy because the tooth fairy wants him back in fairyland
28:10bye mr toothy toothy see you later brother so what is your guys's background so my background is
28:16psychology i like that you have a psychology background because a lot of these things there's
28:20an art and a science kind of mixed together correct it's actually exposure therapy we had dental
28:26hygienists and dentists praise us saying thank you for showing what it's like to bring your child
28:31to sit in a scary dentist chair you made it in a fun calming way exactly and how did the two of you
28:37meet oh do you want to see so we are no no no let me see it wrestling no no no put him down put him down
28:48i let him do that he let me do that oh we met in high school so we were both captain of the wrestling
28:55team i was captain of the boys she was captain of the girls oh and then we fell in love oh so why are
29:00you guys here on dragonstone like what's the great question we've kind of reached a stage where it's
29:05just the both of us but we're trying to keep up with demand now well tell me about the demand so we
29:10launched in 2022 our first year was 45 000 our second year was 46 and then this past year we
29:16closed off at 90 000 so we're very excited about that we've gone to women's shows parent child expos
29:22cottage shows now when you go to those shows do people understand the product because i'm sorry
29:28i just saw that on a shelf i would just think it's a stuffy that's exactly it yes so when we were
29:33explaining it to like doctors doctors we signed up a hundred dental clinics for new patient gifts
29:40okay but you were selling each one of those i mean it sounds like you're trying to do what elf on the
29:44shelf did there was the cartoon there was the book there's the elf on the shelf you can put dresses on
29:49them and so on the sophie the giraffe type of thing yeah yes it is like that except elf on a shelf is for
29:55december yes but this is just just pause for a quick second but pause the the businesses that have
30:03made it in this space have a different kind of gamification of it like elf on the shelf this really
30:08cute game where your kids go to sleep and the elf shows up in different places and sophie the giraffe
30:13had a real utility because when kids tea they really need to put something in their mouth like i'm
30:18struggling to see where that is here okay so the nice thing with the plush when the child loses their
30:26tooth they don't have to put under the pillow anymore so we're solving a pain point for parents
30:30the second one that is not a real problem i think you're inventing a problem to be quite honest
30:35this is how we're making brushing fun it's something they look forward to because lifelong
30:40habits is going to create lifelong happy adults i see it as a big product our goal is to have as a
30:47household name yeah you know a great pitch is a transfer of passion right you your passion is
30:53very evident to all of us for sure yeah no doubt you said something stacy that was powerful you said
30:59i can see it thousand percent when an entrepreneur says they can see it they're talking about the
31:03painted picture in their brain what does five years look like we're working with sorry
31:09maybe you can get me start tearing up stuff i joined a mentorship program for moms in business
31:16entrepreneurs so that we don't feel alone and i told my 10-year vision to my accountability partner
31:23and i told her i said i i'm working with arlene dickinson from dragon's den and she's like really
31:29i was like no no no this is my vision and whether or not we get a deal today it's the fact that we're still
31:35on our mission to make brushing and flossing fun for families and that's all i wanted
31:41for our family sorry so no need to apologize no i mean the best way to create the future is to
31:48envision it in your mind first and you need to see it and believe it and i hope you do it
31:53well stacy i uh good news for you is that arlene is here the bad news is because you're here for arlene
32:03i'm out oh okay you're a new mom i am i have a new mom um i think um
32:15you need to refine the characters so there's a little bit more to the game and if you can do that you can
32:20actually probably build a pretty big business but i'm out for now just think you're so early
32:28i wish you all the best but i'm out um you said earlier you were building an experience i believe
32:34you can do that but something's missing i am out arlene you're on the hot seat now this is really a deal
32:41for you no stacy i i and keith like your energy is it's amazing thank you you have no need to
32:49apologize for crying i cry all the time on this show i think it's a great business for you guys i
32:54don't know that it's an investment but i will tell you one thing i will work with you i will help you
33:00i i mean that i and i don't make that offer lightly but stacy if you see it i see it too thank you so
33:06much so essentially guys you got what you came for yeah you didn't get the money but you get more than
33:12that you get some advice i think that is worth more than what we're asking is it okay if we hug you
33:17or is yeah absolutely you can hug me okay i'm i'm a hugger thank you so much you're so sweet
33:26i'm taking them home with me oh my god you got me in tears early what's it like for people to cry
33:33over you and stuff like that is that well you do you find it burdensome you're so jealous i'm so
33:39happy right now oh my god i hope my mascara is not your mascara looks great for sure
33:47think you have an idea for the next billion dollar big brand hello dragons come on in
33:53ahoy dragon auditions are open and we want to see you in the den there is a baby this is so
34:01beautiful what have you got to lose wow oh yeah this is our moment to shine yes yes stop dreaming
34:09start pitching donya want a bite of the next big thing yes we do let's make a deal good luck cheers
34:15apply now coming up so have you been able to get rid of any of the copycats now with your patents
34:22oh man it's it's been a nightmare i removed around 100 sellers wow that many copycats 100 holy smokes
34:46we are doing this for my mom because she was the one that inspired me
34:51to actually bring this product to life now these two brothers from vancouver are hoping their laundry
34:59solution won't get hung out to dry hello dragon my name is eric mandes and this is my brother hi
35:06i am your mini mandes we are from vancouver bc and we are here today asking for two hundred thousand
35:12dollars for eight percent of our family business laundry turtle all right let me take you guys back in time
35:19i was living in a really tiny apartment in vancouver and i had no space for laundry baskets so i had
35:25that idea but i was broke no english no idea how to start a business a few years later i got my
35:33citizenship and i had a chance to bring my parents from brazil to live with me and then i saw one day
35:39my mom doing laundry that hit me because i knew that i have a product that could help her and a lot
35:44of people i created laundry turtle laundry turtle is the easiest and quickly way to move your laundry
35:54from washer to dryer dryer to your room saving time saving space save your back your knee your sanity
36:02the product as you can see looks like a turtle but the name actually is because of my mom i always
36:09call her tataruguinha that means little turtle in portuguese oh yeah it starts like a family
36:15business but now we are helping thousands of people making laundry easier i want to demonstrate
36:20how this works yes please let's do it so you put inside rotate the drum okay interesting and then you
36:27grab it and then you just scoop it all up and then puts it in okay rotate the dryer okay and it's over
36:34so smart yeah it's kind of clever when you close it you put it back you put it in look at that you
36:40save a lot of space in that easy eric that's a pretty cool idea oh yeah actually we have the simple
36:47for you guys laundry turtle comes in two sizes and is currently sold exclusively online it's very
36:53stretchy and it seems very flexible the large size sells for 24.99 and it could actually also be a cape
37:05you look like i could be like a super person you look like a ninja turtle season 20 we've seen
37:11everything oh man okay did you have a lot of people telling you this is crazy now for this idea
37:18everybody actually said that i'm going to get which but okay the opposite i mean you're right it's really
37:24convenient because a lot of times you just carry the laundry hamper then it needs space yes this doesn't
37:31and how did you and your brother get into this together i moved to canada by myself my brother
37:37moved to canada a few years later and so what did you do when you came here then when i came here i
37:42started working as a graphic designer in a software company so you did the design for this i did everything
37:48the color the graphics the logo yeah i worked there for 13 years and just stopped working there because
37:54of this product you're all in yes you've got a patent i have a patent in us i have patent in china
38:00and i have a patent pendant in canada and how much have you invested in the business so far
38:06uh i started investing ten thousand dollars that's it yes wow that's what i saved for like 10 years
38:14working for 10 years you saved that money and said i'm going to do this now yeah we launched in 2022
38:20i think it was two weeks i was sold out how many units was that it was thousand units thousand units
38:25in two weeks yeah pretty good i was not expecting this success so i had to order more then the copycats
38:32started showing up so have you been able to get rid of any of the copycats now with your patents oh man
38:39it's it's me a nightmare in 2023 i removed around 100 sellers wow that many copycats a hundred before
38:52that i had like 700. and you can't defend that because you don't have the cash yeah i did it i was
38:57like actually reporting one by one by myself like what a waste of time yeah but it's a very good lesson
39:04for entrepreneurs that you can invent something and even if you have a patent you need the money
39:09to defend that patent or else it's not really that valuable try to describe this product without
39:14the word lounge turtle yeah you can it's like calling something cleanups you created the category
39:20exactly so actually my uh volume search on amazon is around 40 000 a month yeah holy smokes that's way
39:29more demand than i thought okay so i'm dying to know like how much did you sell last year
39:342023 was 1.4 1.4 and it left you one million one million yes why did sales decline over that time
39:44cop cats so are you focusing your time on removing the sellers or are you focusing on selling your own
39:52brand stop the cop cats because it's 40 of my market you'll never solve the problem though you'll never
39:58stop 100 of them yeah but guys if they took 40 of his sales right they're gonna take
40:04100 of your sales at some point there was a time where i was out there and my one of my best
40:10friends went into competition and formed the trash busters and i spent the next two years taking down
40:16signs figuring out how to get his customers that he was taken from me and it became an obsession
40:21that it was the first time in my business my sales went flat yes you've got to protect your name
40:27but also how do you get out there as quickly as you can and own the brand you've created
40:31yeah eric uh you guys listen you came to this country brand new as an immigrant you used ten
40:38thousand dollars to create a business that had to speak that 1.4 million dollars in revenue
40:43the challenge for me in the business is this copycat issue i can't invest in it so i'm gonna be out
40:49i think that this is something innovative i think you have still a real uphill climb and it's going at
40:57a turtle pace i wish you all the best but i'm out i think it's literally just a dm strategy yeah
41:09200 for 15 or something so eric michelle and i would make you an offer um because we think what
41:16you'd really need is marketing help and just getting like this is not that complicated to solve
41:22if you're prepared to listen so we would offer you 200 000 but because it's the two of us we would want 20
41:30percent i think you've got an offer here that's better than i could ever do in this space and i'm
41:39going to be out but happy to support all right i appreciate i appreciate everybody here uh why do you
41:47guys think about 200 000 for 10 percent
41:50just hold on sure we do the 200 for 10 percent yeah and when they can pay us back the 200 they can
42:00buy their equity back hold on yeah you can do that you do that okay so we'll do 200 000 for 10
42:11and whenever you want to you can buy out our 10 equity for 400 000 but once we get our
42:20your sales to two million dollars we would want a five percent royalty and at that point we'll just
42:26stay at a royalty but no equity you own it all yeah but you that is very generous yeah that's pretty good
42:36say yes you're the boss of me of course let's do it all right okay good negotiating guys
42:45congratulations yeah nice to meet you congratulations congratulations thank you
42:51i'm glad they didn't turtle
42:52next time on dragon's den what the heck is going on here what the hell i have to really feel like
43:16were perfect in all aspects i wasn't crazy about our initial packaging i had to have it perfect
43:22sabrina you started this company right we we all did when you talk stephanie you you say i a lot
43:29how much time and money did it take you to come up with this yeah so we built this in
43:34under a month one month oh come on wow mic drop
43:49but some money in your mouth and your hands right up on the wheel
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