Dragon’s Den went down in history when BrewDog founder, James Watt, was turned down by show producers. The entrepreneur went on to make the brewery and pub chain a complete success.
He truly showed the Dragon’s Den production team who is boss when they turned down a percentage of his business, BrewDog. Now, founder James Watt is launching a new company, Social Tip.
Dragons’ Den turned down BrewDog
Dragon’s Den made a huge mistake when its investors turned down BrewDog. Back in 2009, after BrewDog had been running successfully for two years, they applied to go on on the BBC series.
After being rejected, they launched Equity For Punks, which helped them build a global community of over 220,000 investors, but they didn’t even get the opportunity to pitch to the Dragons themselves.
The pitch would have seen them offer the Dragons 20 percent of BrewDog for a £100,000 investment. However, producers didn’t think the company was unique enough… Their loss!
BrewDog became super successful
Had the Dragons invested, that £100,000 would be worth £360 million, as of 2018. The founders, Martin Dickie and James, say it would have been the most lucrative investment in the show’s history.
With production of over 800,000 hectolitres, BrewDog is the seventh largest beer brand in Britain, and the company claims to be the “#1 Craft Brewer in Europe”. It also makes the strongest beer ever brewed.
From breweries stretching to as far as Australia and Ireland, private equity firm TSG Consumer Partners has acquired a 22 percent stake in the company for approximately £213 million.
Founder launches new company
James Watt has launched Social Tip, a company offering cash rewards when they post about brands they love. It’s mainly aimed at influencers as he seeks investors for the new, innovative business.
When he announced the biz, he recalled how his company, BrewDog, was turned down by the den. The marketing app aims to become the fastest-growing platform rewarding user-generated purchases.
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