I was on Dragons Den with my roadrower – they laughed at me but now I’m expanding my business all over the world
IT looked like the dreams of success for one budding entrepreneur were over last night on Dragons’ Den but he has been left having the last laugh.
Zimbabwean born Rupert Catell entered the den seeking an investment from the Dragons but after a few fiery exchanges, he walked away with nothing.
Rupert, an established businessman, took his new exercise equipment business RoadRower and was seeking £50,000 for a 10% investment into his company.
However things did not exactly go swimmingly for Rupert who faced tough questions from the dragons including a tense war of words from Deborah Meaden who questioned just exactly what he was looking for from the dragons.
She questioned him by asking: “You’ve got the money, why don’t you just do it?”
After a round of questions from the dragons, Deborah was left laughing at Rupert as she bluntly told him: “I don’t like it.”
But now Rupert has managed to turn his fortunes around without the help of the BBC investors.
Sharing a post to Instagram, the RoadRower business is now headed Stateside where it is hoped it will make a killing.
The post said: “Road Rower is coming to the USA!”
It further revealed they had struck a deal with Rowers Choice, a dedicated US media outlet to promote and distribute rowing equipment across the nation.
Speaking of his new overseas deal, Rupert said: “Alex and CJ at Rowers Choice totally get what we are trying to do.
“All kudos to them for having the vision and belief in the RoadRower. This deal will be transformative for our business.”
In a thinly-veiled dig at the Dragons, Rupert added: “It just goes to show that if you stick to your guns and ignore the naysayers, you can achieve your dreams.”