Early Wednesday afternoon, Western University held an event in the Collaborator Space at the Ronald D. Schmeichel Building for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, partnered with the show ‘Dragons Den’ to give entrepreneurs a chance to audition for its upcoming 21st season.
The event started with a panel discussion which was hosted by Executive Producer of Dragons Den Molly Middleton, lasted from 11AM-12PM which had four former pitchers talk about their experience on the show and any advice they had for young entrepreneurs.
The 4 pitchers who were at the panel discussion (Noah Paradis/XFM News)
The four panel experts were Megan Silk of Gingerbug, Jessica Off of Guess Where Trips, Fernando Xavier of Hyper Acai and Helen Smith of Roo & You.
With Off being a former pitcher on the show, she had some great advice for new entrepreneurs who are looking to get their chance on the show.
“Bring the energy! Tell your story. I think your story, your energy and your enthusiasm is what makes a great pitch,” said Off.
Producer of Dragons Den Kevin Hurren, said that student entrepreneurs are very impressive and have a strong grasp on technology that others may not have.
“Some older entrepreneurs aren’t fully ready to embrace things like social media, AI and online trends. We love young entrepreneurs because they can embrace those things and then use those tools and trends to their advantage.”
Not all entrepreneurs who appeared for the auditions arrived with a fully developed product idea. Some, like fourth year Western University student Natalia Brkic, said she was thinking about how to spend her summer when she decided to challenge herself by pitching to Dragon Michele Romanow.
“I said hey, I want to learn from you this summer. Here’s the skills that I have. Here’s what I can do for you behind the scenes. So I think there are different ways of doing pitches. My pitch was to be mentored, to learn.”
After the panel discussion, entrepreneurs were able to pitch their ideas to the producers of Dragons Den with a chance to make it onto the newest season of the show.
The Dragons Den team plans on holding this event again next year. With hopes of more entrepreneurs coming out to showcase their talents.
Image of the pitchers during the panel discussion (Noah Paradis/XFM News)
