Connect with Dragons Den @ The Entrepreneur Show

by Laura Goucher on April 10th, 2010

Things are beginning to warm up for The Entrepreneur Show which will be held in the RDS Dublin on April 23rd and 24th. It is set to be two days of the biggest networking and business knowledge gathering event ever seen in the country. Connector will be present at the event with a stand and with Mr. Networker himself Conor will be taking part in some of the panels and discussions about building new connections.

The Entrepreneur Show is designed to inspire visitors to do new and better business. It will host an array of speakers from all sectors of business, to inspire you in your business development.  It will give the opportunity to  learn and develop new business ideas and the necessary skills to put them into practice.

Not only does it give guests an opportunity to do some serious networking, it will also feature over 80 guest speakers from some of the most knowledgeable business minds like the UK’s Dragons Richard Farleigh and Rachel Elnaugh, the Irish Dragons Sean Gallagher, Bobby Kerr and Gavin Duffy and the Entrepreneur of the Year Terry Clune.

The show is made up of five different areas,the Inspiration Chamber will host an inspiring group of Entrepreneurs speaking about their journeys through their business life.  The “New Ventures” Arena will feature recently developed companies sharing their journey through the early stage of their business, this will educate visitors on how beneficial mentors and investors are to a new business and also tips on what qualities to look for when investing.

The “Think Tank” Auditorium is a new feature to the show which  involves different business sectors participating in the show and a live audience of entrepreneurs, enaging in panel discussion and audience interaction. One of the most exciting areas for visitors to the show is the “Invest test” Sessions which will feature businesses looking for investment and will be judged by a live panel of experts including the UK Dragons. The Exhibitor’s Area will demonstrate the tools and services needed to develop your business development these demonstations will over vast areas including mentoring, life coaching and design services.

Two day tickets to the event are priced €35. Proud sponsors Google are giving the first 10,000 visitors who purchase tickets online €75 worth of free Google ad words to kick start marketing their business online.
Those who purchase tickets online before midnight on Monday the 12th of April, will enter into prize draws for Entrepreneur show hampers sponsored by companies such as henparty.ie, hairybaby.com and many more.  For more details, click here>>

Connector meets The Apprentice Team

by Andrew Sigle on July 6th, 2009

Last week the connector team was in a meeting at The Church in the upstairs part of the balcony. It was brought to our attention that the entire cast of Ireland’s The Apprentice had taken a break from shooting to enjoy lunch on the balcony of the restaurant.

At first I had no idea who this party was until Eugenia from Shinawil approached Conor at our table. She was a producer for the company that also produced the show Dragon’s Den. She actually recognized Conor from his appearance on the show.  It was pretty cool that I ate lunch with the whole cast of The Apprentice right here at The Church.

I am a fan of the American apprentice show with Donald Trump; however I have still yet to see the Irish version. I hope to look into it now that I have witnessed all of the contestants eating lunch in person.

Connector slayed on Dragons Den ?

by connector on April 3rd, 2009

My 1 minute of fame

I’ve just about recovered from being slayed by the Irish investors on Dragons’ Den. It was weird to watch them knock me back and it was an uncomfortable looking Conor & friends in action but great publicity … I was interrogated for about 45 mins but they showed only 1 minute of the footage on TV.  It was filmed 3 months ago and I went on the show to make some new connections & make the most of a great media opportunity.

What I wanted from the Dragons

Connector costs very little to run and I do not really need or seek investment.  Thankfully I have a 4 day a week job @ Eighty Twenty I like the work & & my employers support my personal projects.  I also thought some of the dragons did not have the profile I was looking for as a mentor or investor in such a specialised business.  The discussions & negotiations were two way but the viewer did not see this – the dragons wanted to know if this a good investment while I wanted to know if this a good investor ?

I went into the Dragons’ Den ‘offering’ 10% for €50,000 but I knew they would want 30-40% of Connector to get involved in a risky personal project.  That was never going to be acceptable to me as the status quo is more attractive.

There is no point in a deal for the sake of a TV show as I have a job I am happy with an in no rush to leave.  A bad deal could ruin all the good work and goodwill for Connector.  I was also disappointed none of them got out of their seats to look at my connector overview chart – they were about 10+ metres from it and I doubt could really see it.

The first step for me taking on a partner is for them to show an understanding of the new digital & social media landscape where Connector operates in the real & digital worlds. However, without the use of video (I was told I could only use an A0 or A1 board) and/or attending my Connector events, they did not get it.  I left Bobby ‘dazed and confused’ and Sean saying I had an ‘identity crisis’ !  (Given my background as the creator of CONMAN, that was accidentally insightful !)

My Profile

The last person to bow out was Sarah Newman who did not like it when she discovered at the end that I had a job.  They never really probed my background and focused solely on the idea.  I did not tell them I was Irish Internet Marketer of the Year in 2005.  I did not tell them that I was one of Ireland’s most successful internet marketers with several awards over the last few years to prove it.  Well, they never asked me and I was surprised they did not think my profile & past employers was important, particularly for a ‘connector’.

I went onto the show for national exposure to my events & blog and I achieved my objective with a 60 second ad for Connector on RTE1.  Bobby said he thought it was a publicity stunt, maybe he was right   Niall, Conor M, Brendan, Natalia, Tania & I filmed some Connector videos on the day as that is what Connector is all about … showcasing my work, my friends talents & creating stories for my blog.

Connecting with Sean Gallagher

By concidence, I met Sean Gallagher last night at an Ernst & Young ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ charity dinner.  He was very nice and had some positive comments about Connector which was great.  He said that after I left the Dragons Den set, that he predicted that they had not seen the last of Conor Lynch & Connector.  He was right … I’d bumped into him already while out connecting ! Connector has made great progress since then with new sponsors including Canon, Ben & Jerrys, Hosting 365 & Bulmers Light and the Connector events are going great.

Pity that everything said to me on the piece aired on Thursday was only the negative bits.  Entrpreneurship is vital for Ireland today and people should be encouraged as much as possible.  I am not alone in thinking the show has room for improvement next series with a less dismissive attitude from the dragons coming across on the show.  Maybe they need better ideas or maybe it is simply down to the editing.

Thanks !

Thanks for all the support, comments & emails and those who joined me in Le Cirk to watch the show – we had lots of craic and I got to connect with some great new peeps including Anton Mannering & Marcus MacInnes who took the mobile videos below.  There was also quite a buzz on Twitter & you can follow me on Twitter @connector_ie

If you want to find out more about my Dragons’ Den experience, please get in touch.

Apologies if you were disappointed I did not get the cash.   For what it’s worth, I’m very happy with the outcome.

PS – Thanks to Enda Kelly & Sinead Barry for making myself & Nick so welcome at the ‘Soul of Haiti’ fundraiser.

Dragon's Den Connections ?

by connector on March 22nd, 2009

On the 6th January I went to the filming of the Irish Dragon’s Den in Rathfarnham in Dublin. This is an Irish version of a hugely popular TV show from the UK, of which I am a big fan.  You may have seen the Irish Dragon’s Den on RTE1 on Thursdays recently.

Do you want to know how I get on ?  Does Connector get the cash or do I just make some new connections ? To find out, watch RTE1 on April 2nd (Thursday) @ 10pm (approx)  … and watch this blog for details of a meetup to watch the show in town that evening.

I went to the filming with 5 of my Connector buddies namely, Niall Whittle, Brendan Phelan, Conor Maloney, Natalia Kostrzewa & Tania Zorilla.

I went with these friends from Connector for the following reasons -

1 – It would best explain what Connector is all about – people connecting on personal projects
2 – I could share the experience of a full scale RTE production with them
3 – They were free to take some time off work /study to join me
4 – They could give me some moral support !

I went on the show to pitch them ‘Connector’ as an investment opportunity they could invest €50,000 in return for 10% of my ‘business’.  I hope to explain to them and the audience why it was worth investing their hard earned money in Connector.

While I knew that Connector was in very early stages and it would be hard to win over the hard-nosed Dragons,  I decided to go ahead with the show anyway. I had a business idea with a nice logo, a blog and some events under my belt … I thought it would be a great experience no matter what happened.

The Irish Dragons are successful entrepreneurs and business leaders who have been there, done that.  They are: Gavin Duffy, Bobby Kerr, Sean Gallagher, Niall O’Farrell and Sarah Newman.

Did we connect ??  Watch & find out !