Two entrepreneurs have no regrets about walking away from a £90,000 investment on Dragons’ Den, having since raked in £18.5million in sales.
Rutger Bruining and Theo Brainin appeared on Dragons’ Den in 2019, seekining £90,000 for a five percent share in their company, StoryTerrace.
StoryTerrace offers people the chance to craft a special 60-page memoir about their lives.
The hardback book is written by a ghost-writer and is based on four hours of interviews with loved ones and costs around £1,500.
Tej Lalvani was so impressed with their pitch that he offered them all of the investment for five percent of the business.
However, after going back and forth off camera, Mr Bruining, the CEO, decided to turn down the investment.
In an interview with Metro, he said: “They all really loved the product.
“They loved what we were trying to do. Some wish they had certain family members they wish they had a book about.
“We even created book covers for them with an example of some parts of their lives, so they all got their own books.”
However, on why they rejected the deal, he said: “We didn’t come to an agreement. It took quite a while, and it just didn’t work.
“I had other options to raise money, bigger amounts to help the company grow faster.
“I don’t regret [rejecting the offer], but it would have been nice to work with them.”
The successful entrepreneur said while discussing the deal with Tej after filming, it “lost momentum” and it was “better to move on”.
And since leaving the offer on the table, StoryTerrace has doubled its sales across the past year.
They have gone from a team of 20 to 720 professional writers to provide services for a growing client base.
The company has made a whopping £18.5million in sales since its launch in 2015.
Episodes of Dragons’ Den are available on BBC iPlayer.
