³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

Business woman Carol concludes a well-balanced pitch by describing four potential income streams from her new online recipe-sharing venture and forecasting a tenfold return for any Dragon who makes an investment.

James Caan wants to know about visitors to the site and asks Carol how she intends to achieve the 100,000 visitors per month outlined in her pitch. Carol describes how she uses the reach of other companies with ready-made communities to bring new people to her site.

Carol goes on to reveal that she has invested a sizeable £50,000 to date. James questions Carol's plans for revenue generation and she confidently outlines her white labelling process which enables other companies to use her software and database.

Under Duncan's interrogation, Carol concedes that £600,000 has already been supplied to date by business angels, friends and family. An astonished Theo Paphitis interrupts and asks Carol to repeat the figure, in case he had misheard.

Duncan questions Carols 40% equity share in her company and then asks what profit would be made if she achieved the projected turnover of £200,000 for this calendar year. Carol admits that she would fail to break even.

Theo wants to know what's to stop him setting up a similar site. Carol concedes that he could, but underlines the development and success of her venture by listing 100,000 visitors and 20% month-on-month growth.

Carol reveals that of the £600,000 raised through investors only £150,000 remains; and that of this she is spending £22,000 per month. Peter becomes irritated when the business woman fails to see how unsatisfactory this is from an investment perspective. Criticising Carol's belief that businesses will advertise on her site, Peter is the first Dragon out.

James wastes no time in following Peter's lead. He concedes that it is a nice idea, but can't see how it will make any money.

Duncan insists that when Carol's business goes belly up he'd like her to work for him, raising money for his company. With this backhanded praise, he likewise declares himself out .

Deborah Meaden, the only Dragon silent up to this point, wants to know about the functionality of the site and Carol's future aspirations. The entrepreneur explains that users can order recipe ingredients through the site’s partnership arrangements with Ocado and that she hopes to expand in this area.

Deborah announces that she wants to make Carol an offer; all of the money for 15% of the business. In a Den first, Theo is also impressed by Carol's potential and offers an additional £100,000 in return for another 15% slice of her business.

Carol reflects on this surprising turn of events, but not for long. In fairness to her other investors she would be unable to part with so much equity so opts to go with Deborah's offer and the deal is done.

The deal done in the Den:

Deborah Meaden: £100,000 for 15% equity in mydish.co.uk.

Last updated: 12 August 2009