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The great joy of Dragons Den is that it captures real moments that no contrived programme could ever hope to duplicate. This evening's show highlighted that for me when Duncan Bannatyne took exception to Robert Leeds and Guy Seymour's valuation of their company.

Duncan asserted that because the company would make a total profit over four years of £1.8M and would accept investment of £1.45M it would only make a "profit" of £350,000. What Duncan wasn't taking into account was the fact that the company would also have assets with a market value of £1.2M (the two demonstrator subs). Thus its actual position was a combined contribution of £1.55M which is actually a very healthy result.

What is interesting is not the way that Duncan interpreted the numbers, what is interesting is the human response by everyone involved.

In fairness to Robert and Guy, they did point out that they had the assets, thus they were not completely unaware of the financial model nor did they really accept Duncan's arithmetic.

But they were called to account by Theo. Why? Well, let's contrast it with Angela Newman whose Vintage Patisserie received successful investment despite her inability to remember key elements of her profit and loss statement.

She was never silent in response to a critique and she was never combative either. She was both passionate and humble and it is easy to see why her mistakes were forgiven. Robert and Guy, in contrast seemed blindsided by Duncan, and they were not sufficiently confident in themselves to simply disagree with him. They had the answer just not the confidence to go with it.

And it was this that Theo and Deborah noticed.

The fact is that in any early stage investment, the investor is investing in a person or a team. And when circumstances deliver the investor a live test of the team as Duncan inadvertently did, the entrepreneur must rise to the occasion.

Angela showed that this was not about having a head for figures; it is about demeanour, attitude and confidence usually borne from preparation.

This is all the more true when the stakes are raised. It is one thing to be nervous about £100,000 it is entirely another thing to be uncertain about £1.45 M. Your shoulders must be broad enough to carry the capital you seek.

And there are many Duncans in the world that will look at things from a different point of view and any entrepreneur must be ready to stand their ground in the face of an alternative view strongly held. Because you never know who else may be watching.

Last updated: 21 July 2010, follow Doug on Twitter

These are the views of Doug Richard, not those of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ