Watching Dragon's Den the other night, I became quite frustrated at the turning down of the young lady that had invented the handle grips in her GCSE project. She had absolutely everything going for her - she had invented and patented the product, done plenty of research, and answered all their questions. The product was excellent, had interest from purchasers, and I thought they would invest in her. They didn't because she didn't have solid sales forecasts. I've seen several things like this come and go on Dragon's Den. I can understand them when they turn things like this down - it's too uncertain for investing such a large sum of money, and that made me think. Ok so one person does not want to give over £75k of their money - too much of a risk. But what if there were 75 people who would be happy to invest £1000 each in her? Interest rates are so low it's hardly worth keeping your savings in the bank - there must be hundreds of thousands of people at least, with a couple of grand in the bank, getting virtually no return on it, and wondering what they can do with their money. Why not have regular forum/conference where people with small money to invest could meet with inventors and other small businesses that need money - put the two together. The business person could demonstrate their idea/business/product in a lecture theatre/conference hall, and investors could ask questions and get all the details. I just think that if we could match up small investors with small businesses, then it could open up more opportunities as well as stick two fingers up at the banks.
- posted
14 years ago