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Dragon's Den Host

Dragon's Den Host Talks About Entrepreneurship

 

imageBy Scott A. Sumner
Thunder Bay Business
   Sean Wise is the confident host of the successful business show on  CBC television,The Dragon's Den. In the vain of todays audition type shows like American Idle, a team of 5 multimillionaire business types listen to the pitched business ideas  of several chosen potential entrepreneurs and decide if they want to put up their own money to invest in the proposal. It is a fun concept and so well received in  it's first season of 8 shows looks to do 12 this year.
    I was approached by two wonderful people the senior producers, Stewart and Tracy of the show Lions Den. They were interested in someone who knew private equity, angel investing and venture capital to help with their understanding of good television, smiles Sean Wise.
The concept actually comes from the BBC. The producers here in Canada had found the show and licensed it.
   The outgoing Wise studied engineering and economics at Carlton University as well as  obtaining a law degree and MBA degree from the University of Ottawa. My background was 5 years as Director of Investment Capital for Ernst and Young and national columnist for Globe
and Mail for entrepreneurship, notes the 36 year old Wise. I live mostly in hotels but my house is in Toronto. I spend a third of my time lecturing and writing ( he has a book coming out next month), a third raising money for companies across North America and a third of my time
is involved with my own investment portfolio. I work with large venture capital firms in Vancouver, Toronto and the Silicon Valley. They are $100 million funds looking to make investments in the $ 2 to $ 5 million dollar range.
      You march in the entrepreneurs and they tell their story.We have 5 multi millionaires, all from Canada - Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and Montreal that listen to the pitches.  They all have the ability to make the investments  and got involved because they want to give people
a leg up on success. They know how tough it is to become an entrepreneur and if they can make it a little easier for someone that is their joy, smiles Wise. They all have passion, clarity of vision, talents and are very well rounded and really nice people. They just want the entrepreneurs to do well. To error  and forgive is divine- to pick you self up and go do it again is entrepreneurship.
    Last year we did 8 shows and now are talking about 12. Auditions are in April and taping May and June. We had 103 people come through the den in 8 days. Some shows have 6 to 15 pitch their ideas to our panel, states Wise.   7 deals were done last year for $1.7 million dollars. It has been 6 months since the shows and some deals will not close as there is litigation as some entrepreneurs overstated certain facts. In the first show of the new season we will show which deals closed and which didn't and why they fell apart. That is the real world. This is a show about shining the light on entrepreneurship. What about the fact that small and medium enterprises make up 90 % of  economy and many don't talk about it. We are humble in Canada and not
arrogant and I'm proud of those traits. I've enjoyed doing the show.

Wise Words in Thunder Bay

Sean Wise makes a living listening to people's dreams. Wise is the business advisor to the hit TV series, the "Dragons' Den that airs on the CBC. On the show, entrepreneurs of emerging and high growth companies pitch their investment ideas to Dragons (angel
investors).
Wise was in Thunder Bay sharing his Lessons from the Den with local entrepreneurs, investors and their financial advisors at the Italian Cultural Centre. After the seminar, attended by 50 or more interested business hopefuls..
Wise said, that entrepreneurs need to practice their pitches when seeking angel money from possible investors. They should be able to tell an investor about their business and what they're seeking from investors in about 2 minutes time.
Wise said that the goal of the tour was to educate those looking for angel capital and how to obtain it. There are important lessons each entrepreneur needs to know before making a presentation to investors and they can all be found in the various pitches in our show, said
Wise . Each pitch on our show demonstrated a valuable business lesson for entrepreneurs to get in order to secure investment capital.
Wise listened to pitches from local entrepreneurs and provided his feedback. Such is the case of two men from the North Bay area. As part of his tour, Sean Wise is allowing 4 local entrepreneurs from each community to present their business pitch to him for feedback. In North Bay, two local entrepreneurs Kirk Titmuss and Terry Sadler presented their business case for their company The Wheelie.
Sadler's invention is a light up throw device used in water rescues They made their pitch and received critique and comments from Sean Wise. Today, we feel we got $100,000 worth of business advice from Sean, said Titmuss. Sean's questioning and his comments were
invaluable to helping us grow our business, said Sadler.

Wise liked their product and pitch so much, he purchased one right on the spot and has offered the pair an invitation to audition for the "Dragons' Den" this spring.

This is what our organization is about, says Jim Noble, Regional Coordinator for the Northern Ontario Enterprise Gateway. We're here to coach entrepreneurs to become investor ready and link them to northern investors that can help them grow their business into national and
global markets. We're pleased that entrepreneurs are getting so much value from our presentations.

The "Dragons' Den" returns to CBC this fall. The show attracted 1.2 million people by the end of the first season.



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