INTO THE FIRE

WE CHAT TO NEW DRAGONS JENNY CAMPBELL AND TEJ LALVANI…

There are two new faces in those famous chairs as the Dragons’ Den opens for business again this week: Tej Lalvani, CEO of vitamin company Vitabiotics, and Jenny Campbell, founder of cash machine business Yourcash Europe. Inside TV caught up with Jenny and Tej to find out what they’ll bring to the show – apart from masses of cash, obviously…

You were both fans of the show before joining – was your first day a bit surreal?

Jenny Yeah, when we walked on set for training day I wanted to sit in all the Dragons’ chairs, and I wondered which one would be mine – they didn’t decide until the last minute!

Tej To be honest, it was a bit overwhelming for the first couple of days. I’ve never been on camera before, but after a while you figure out what needs to be done.

Was it helpful that you were both joining at the same time, so neither of you was the only newbie?

Tej It was, but the other Dragons are helpful too – they are very accommodating, and eased us into the process, which was very nice!

Jenny You can tell they miss Sarah and Nick, they all got on so well, so there was a little sadness that they weren’t there any more. But I think they’re thoroughly enjoying our company as well now.

Which pitches caught your attention this year?

Jenny Whenever you think you’ve seen everything – you haven’t! There was a pitch that involved sending stuff into space, and you think, ‘Wow!’.

There’s always something that you don’t expect.

Tej There have been some incredible pitches – people coming in singing, dancing, with all sorts of outfits! There’s nothing worse than a dull pitch when the entrepreneur doesn’t sound interested – that’s the key, they’ve got to be excited about their own product.

What tactics did you use to convince entrepreneurs that you were right for them?

Jenny I tend to hang on and try to go last, or almost last – you want to get the other Dragons to show their hand! And I kept upselling my blank sheet of paper – I don’t have a business to run, so you’ll get all of me and all of my time.

Tej I was fortunate enough that some of the entrepreneurs wanted me as an investor, I guess because of the kind of access I have to retail and distribution markets. But you just have to sell yourself – you win some, you lose some!