Comments on: Startups beware: Here be dragons

By: yfgkird

yfgkird — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 16:22:58 +0000

I love this site.533295495

By: Mathew Ingram

Mathew Ingram — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 03:39:11 +0000

Thanks for the comment, Ben.

By: Ben Yoskovitz

Ben Yoskovitz — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 02:02:55 +0000

No matter what, I’d be happy to see a 2nd season. At minimum it was entertaining if not entirely realistic…

I think MOST reasonable entrepreneurs (with or without experience) will recognize that Dragons’ Den isn’t a really legitimate place to raise money / get successful … although perhaps there’s 1 diamond in the rough.

By: Mathew Ingram

Mathew Ingram — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 01:05:30 +0000

Thanks for the comment, Kempton. And I would agree that Dragons Den is a way of getting some profile and possibly some money — but not a very efficient way, and one that can be very messy, which is where the sideshow aspect comes into it. I used that term because that’s what most “reality” shows are.

They rely on cheap titillation and prurient interests and manufactured tension, and they thrive on emotion, whether positive or negative. I would argue that’s not a great environment for raising money or promoting your business, unless you like to bite the heads off chickens or show off your tattoos.

By: Rob Hyndman

Rob Hyndman — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 22:37:25 +0000

I’m going to dispute the idea that one needs “an extensive network of VCs ready to tap for some investment” any more. Every VC I know worth his or her salt is easily accessible, generally has a very visible face on the web, and has often posted in quite a lot of detail on a blog on how to approach the VC for investment. And every entrepreneur I’ve met in the last 2 years had that figured out.