How to pitch to Dragons' Den with Rohan Radhakrishnan, Co-Founder of Quarter

With episodes of Dragons’ Den often reaching millions of UK viewers, the show is a brilliant platform for entrepreneurs to seek investment while promoting their businesses. 

So in this episode, I wanted to speak to someone with first hand and recent experience of the show.  Rohan Radhakrishnan, is one of the co-founders of Quarter, the acclaimed quarter-strength spirits brand. Having founded their brand in 2021, Rohan and his co-founder Fabian quickly went after an appearance on Dragons’ Den as part of their marketing as well as investment strategy. Listen on to hear what happened to the duo and what goes into the preparation of Dragons’ Den before anyone steps inside the studio. 

Rohan’s advice:

• Entering Dragons’ Den can win you both publicity and investment
• Be aware that not everyone interviewed will be shown on the programme
• It took nine months of preparation and initial interviewing before the studio appearance
• You have to provide a video recording in advance of yourself pitching your product
• You are interviewed in advance by a panel of producers
• The due diligence is extremely rigorous; every claim you make must be verified
• Proving all your claims can be very time-consuming
• The recording will be halted immediately if you make a false claim
• In the studio you are interviewed for an hour and a half; only ten minutes of this gruelling ordeal will be shown
• The reach of the programme is huge and you will probably be very nervous
• But all of this is superb media training and valuable practice in pitching and raising investment - so even if you reject the Dragons’ offer it will not be a waste of time
• When accepting investment, remember that as much as the financial investment, you need investors who will mentor you, encourage you, and help you to assess objectively what it is you’ve achieved (the Dragons will not necessarily be this type of investor)
• When composing an investor deck, be concise; and aim for a personal rapport before you go into too much detail - it’s the personal relationship that matters

If you’d like to contact Rohan you can reach him via rohan@quarterproof.com

FF&M enables you to own your own PR. Recorded, edited & published by Juliet Fallowfield, 2023 MD & Founder of PR & Communications consultancy for startups Fallow, Field & Mason.  Email us at hello@fallowfieldmason.com or DM us on instagram @fallowfieldmason. 

Let us know how your start up journey is going or if you have any questions you would like us to discuss in future episodes. 

FF&M recommends: 

• LastPass the password-keeping site that syncs between devices.
• Google Workspace is brilliant for small businesses
• Buzzsprout podcast 'how to' & hosting directory
• Canva has proved invaluable for creating all the social media assets and audio bites.

MUSIC CREDIT Funk Game Loop by Kevin MacLeod.  Link &

Transcript

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: [00:00:00] So we were in there for about an hour and a half And they only show 10 minutes or so maybe less But um, you have to stand on a little cross like this big and it's marked out for you You can't move. You can't drink any water. You can't stop. You're just talking that whole time [00:01:00] Rohan so much for joining how to start up today. Um, before we get into the nitty gritty around Dragons Den, I'd love it if you could introduce who you are and a bit about the brand that you started.

Yes, perfect. Well, thanks for having me and quarter. So, um, yeah, I'm the co founder of quarter. We are a low alcohol spirits brand. We we launched in 2021 with our London dry gin. And we've subsequently launched a quarter tequila. And we've got a couple of premix cocktail products as well. The whole brand is built around, uh, sessionable spirits that are targeting moderators with, with more choice around. We say things like all buzz, no blur, 

For us, we, we, we set about on a journey to. Deliver flavor and experience a lower ABV. And we've cracked it through a lot of hard work

Juliet: So why did you start in 2021, given that we knew what happened in 2020?

And

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: So my co founder and I [00:02:00] were 11 when we first met and we're now almost 35. Um, and he came to me with the idea in lockdown, you know, his background was in hospitality owning and running restaurants in, in central London. And, um, you know, he'd saw the rise of this non alcoholic space.

With regards to spirits in particular, and he was stocking them in his restaurants and he felt that, you know, although some of them delivered flavor, what was missing was, was experience. And, and we believe getting tipsy is the best part of drinking alcohol, and we do drink alcohol for a reason, as a culture, and that is not only for the flavor, of course, and the ritual, and to feel a part of it, but we also do it to, to feel so naturally we thought that there were limitations with non alcoholic products even though they could replicate flavor, they couldn't replicate that experience.

So he came to me with the idea Um, and I think we'd always discussed starting a business together. My background was always in Branding design. I worked with a lot of the big booze companies like Diageo, Perna, Rickard, LVMH, and had a good knowledge of how to launch a brand [00:03:00] in that space.

And, um, when he gave me the phone call, you know, it hit me in the stomach because I'm a total lightweight and I don't like the impact that Fuller Strength alcohol gave me in terms of not only on the evening, but definitely the day after, I really struggled with things like anxiety and the physical side effects that overconsumption of alcohol gave me.

And at the time I was running my own business, I was then going on to start another business, which is quarter. And it just as I got older, you know, as they said, hangovers get worse, and I just couldn't do it anymore. And so I went sober for a year and that didn't deliver what I was looking for. And now recalibrating

to this space. And that, that is moderation. And that can be across, you know, when I choose beers, I'm very conscious that I want it to be 3 percent or below, or if I'm drinking wine, I'm very aware of how strong it is and how much I should have, or if I'm drinking spirits, having something like court that allows me to be involved in every round, still get that [00:04:00] flavor, that experience, that buzz.

But not not ever risk the blur as we say so that was the light bulb moment.

Juliet: from the conversation when he picked up the phone and suggested this to launch, what's the timeframe around that? And

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: So he that was probably early 2021 it was one of those really surreal moments. I said, that's really interesting for all the things I just rambled about, uh, and I said, how strong would you want to make it? And he said, I don't know. What about like quarter strength? And I was like, let's call it quarter.

And then that was it. We never, we never looked at the name again. That was just, it was going to be a quarter gin, a quarter tequila, a quarter Margarita, a quarter Negroni.  Um, and then we jumped in from there.

Juliet: from that conversation to the first bottle, to the first final product,

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: We launched in September 2021, we raised the money off, off a deck and no liquid. Um, we raised an initial amount of money to get it off the ground and it was, people bought into this new territory. A lot of work had been done in the non [00:05:00] alcoholic space and continues to develop, but I think we were doing something totally unique and different and there was a lot of appetite to get involved and see how that would, uh, you know, grow over time.

Looking at the data, you know, less than UK adults are teetotal, and many of them didn't drink alcohol in the first place. And, you know, if you don't drink alcohol for ethical or religious reasons, you're often not looking for a non alcoholic gin. You're probably having a soft drink. So we thought there was a really big opportunity to target the majority who, as we know, are wanting to cut down and drink less.

Um, but we were offering them a seamless way to do that.

Juliet: So you had the idea, you had the conversation and then you knew you needed investment to even start, you said you put a deck together. What then? 

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: We actually invested very small amount of our own money on building the brand. So we, we went to an agency and built. The brand identity, the packaging mockups, the brand world we wanted to create. We even looked at like our marketing strategy. We did a lot of research [00:06:00] and that initial deck really, you know, uh, painted the picture for what we wanted to build 

Juliet: was in six months.

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: yeah. And I think, you know, often, often people will in this world, anyway, this space of alcohol, you know, they'll, they'll develop a liquid and take that. To get people to taste it. But because it was a new category, we needed to really showcase what this would be and how it would look, walk and talk so that people could buy into what we were going to do and why it was different. Then we went to raise money and, um, you know, like any fundraising process, uh, we've been through it three times now. Um. It's daunting at first you, have to really scrap to get the first 50 percent over the line and then things pick up momentum. People see that there's, there's belief in it.

And, um, then the last quarter is normally a bit easier or quicker. What I had always done as a career was, was pitching and telling a story and I think that's what investment and raising money is about. We didn't even have a liquid. It was people buying into you and your belief in what you're building. ,

Juliet: [00:07:00] yeah, articulate your business and your passion. And there's a lot of stages where we teach founders how to do their own PR. It's like, It's like, can you say it in one breath? Somebody else understands it. it's,

 right. Um, but it's,  when you're going to people for money, you need to be.

Confident, articulate, succinct, build trust and that transparency. But   given this episode is around Dragon's Den, talk me through that journey of like, you and your business partner talking about how to go after investment, what led you towards Dragon's Den?

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: So we had at that point, launched the brand and we were like everything, you know, trying to find marketing strategies to build awareness.

Juliet: September, 2021.

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: Yes. So we had launched the brand. We, we didn't film dragon's den until, uh, early 2022. I'll talk in more detail about the process because it's a long one.

Um, so idea to approach Dragon's Den was about building brand awareness, obviously. You have to go into it with a mindset of securing investment because the process is very rigorous and if they think you're only trying to do it for the TV [00:08:00] time, they will suss you out. But, um, we had a very particular, um, you know, scenario where we would have accepted investment and from a particular individual and under a particular set of terms.

So I guess without wanting to downplay the power of the show, I think there is a lot that we learned throughout it in terms of like how viable it really is in terms of receiving investment and how many investments actually go through. And so I don't, I really feel bad when I talk to people about it because people love the show, but when I went through the process, we learned that, uh, a lot of it isn't what it seems.

So for us, I think, you know, deep down, we went in there thinking, right, these are the terms we would be open to getting investment if this happens. However, we really wanted to gain a long slot feature on the show and, you know, 5 million people to see our brand.

So I that was [00:09:00] probably the number one motivation, but I don't think you're able to achieve that unless you go in with a really honest approach. 

Juliet: There's a lot of dragons then that will end up on the cutting room floor and I think we'll probably get quite disheartened about how many people go on and will never see the light

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: that's the thing. People just assume everyone who goes on gets shown, but obviously there's kind of three, um, formats. You either, you either get that little snippet that it's like, Rowan came on and had this interesting gin and left with nothing. And then there's the ones that just don't feature at all.

Uh, and then there's the long, the long features that, um, obviously are where they're getting a lot of drama out of it.

Juliet: you were quite tactical in what you wanted to get out of this and you mentioned it's quite a long process. Could you give us a top line overview as to how that

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: So I think from the moment in which we made contact with them. To explore, yeah, going on that, probably took nine months before we were even in the studio. So the, um, we had to make a recording on our computer or on a camera of us doing a pitch.[00:10:00] Um, so we had to do that,

Juliet: which you've done before to other investors. So felt quite confident with

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: yeah, yeah. But it's always weirder when you're recording it, but 

yeah, no live feedback. So yeah, we did that, then we had to go and do a, uh. It video interview like this to a panel of producers. So again, they're just trying to get a sense of you. 

Juliet: It's an absolute casting.

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: . Exactly. That's what it is. And so once they get through that, um, then it's into the due diligence process. So this was. Rigorous, like if, if I stole an apple when I was eight, they knew about it and they needed to vet every claim we made. So if we said we were stocked in Soho House Members Club, they needed an email from the buyer to confirm that they had made an order.

And we were, we were like three months into our business at the time. You know, it was so early days. We were desperate to get sales and then I'm having to chase buyers to, to prove that they had bought it. And they were like, What do you want from me? But anyway, the producers needed to see everything because I guess if you think about it, you could go on dragon's den and say I've [00:11:00] started a bicycle company and i've sold two million bicycles Can you give me a million pounds for 10 of my company and they they need to check that that was real 

Juliet: Interesting. Also, cause I'd say the buyer, so hang on a minute, these guys are in the shortlist for Dragon's Den. I'm going to buy more of them. It works for them too, because their brand awareness will go up. So kind of, the brand positioning in your stakeholder market is quite interesting from this process as well.

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: so 

Juliet: You're having every rock picked up and we've just gone through B Corp and it took us nine months to get it and it was a similar 

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: that's quite quick It took us over a year. Yeah, that was really that's

Juliet: well, we're a service based business. I think it's a bit less hard.

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: less in the supply chain. And yeah 

Juliet: we don't have stuff, but yeah, it's a case of when we got it, that validation of, hang on, this third party has picked up all of these rocks and prodded and poked and we're good.

So for you, is it a case of like, we've got the answers. It's just quite a lot of legwork and time to put into

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: it's a lot of time, a lot of back and forth. And this, this runs up until the actual [00:12:00] studio, um, shoot as well. You know, the producers are there. they know all the information that we've given them around, like business that we've generated customers that we have. During the recording, if they felt we were lying or saying inaccurate information, they could stop the shoot.

Juliet: At any point,

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: yeah, so if I said on paper, this is what we've done and these are our customers. And then once I get into the studio, I start saying, you know, we are stopped by Young's pubs and whatever else that wasn't true. They would put their hands up and say, sorry guys, we had to stop the recording because this isn't accurate.

 Really respect that though, that editorial integrity. 

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: Be, people could make up anything. 

Juliet: And especially, well, in any part of business, transparency is key, but the fact they vetted it to the, to the very end and it did it, I mean, it wouldn't have kept you on your toes because you would have only be answering honestly.

Was it quite good validation? It's like, yep, I know that. Yep. I know that. Or did it fill you fear? Were you media trained?

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: We weren't media trained. We went in there under the, the terms of a investment round. [00:13:00] So the producers weren't too happy with our valuation. At the time we were offering 2 percent of the company at a 2. 5 million valuation. And we had kind of only been trading for around four months.

Juliet: Go hard or go home.

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: yeah, they knew that this was going to ruffle the dragons.

So up until five minutes before we went into the studio, they were in our little dressing room saying, are you guys sure you want to go ahead with the valuation? And we were like, yes, we've built all of our models off this, any financial conversations or questions around. Projections results is all built off of this.

So that was the only part where I was like, this is really now messing with our preparation. Um, but otherwise you can kind of, you can kind of prepare accordingly. Um, but you know, the day itself, uh, was one of the longest slogs ever. They said to get to the studio at 12 midday, and, uh, that meant I got up at 5 to start rehearsing, so I was just freaking out.

And then when we got there, they said, right, there's all [00:14:00] these other founders in this green room area, they're all getting ready for their pitches, and they said, look, because you're alcohol, albeit low alcohol, you need to be the last session. And we were like, okay, so when is the last session? And they said, well, that depends on how all the other pitches go.

Because if you think someone walks in and just freezes, and doesn't have anything to say, then they leave. That pitch lasted 30 seconds. If they go in and nail it, and they're in there for an hour and a half, then they're in there for an hour and a half. 

Turns out everyone on that day nailed it. And we didn't get into the studio until 8 o'clock at night.

And I was exhausted. Um, and it turns out it was the last day of the filming series and the last slot of the filming series. And the dragons were absolutely toast. It turns out they'd had a big night the night before at their rat party. And uh, which kind of played in our advantage as well 

Juliet: you have a solution for them.

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: And we have a solution for it which they they joked about as we walked in.

Yeah

Juliet: So when you burnt through all of your adrenaline by 8 PM, when you walked in, how long were you [00:15:00] in there

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: So we were in there for about an hour and a half And they only show 10 minutes or so maybe less But um, you have to stand on a little cross like this big and it's marked out for you You can't move. You can't drink any water. You can't stop. You're just talking that whole time 

Juliet: and your next co founder rather than looking at them? So you have to kind of read their body language. I imagine it's like, who's going to go next and who's saying what 

is it? Any advice that you give people who are thinking about going for Dragonstone?

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: Just to sort of summarize what happened, we got offers for all of the money that we were asking for, but they, they were asking for too much equity. So we went to the wall twice to like, talk about it with my co founder Fabian, which again, added a lot of drama.

Um, and then we ended up turning them down, which was also, you know, quite rare, I think, and they all kind of made comments that you've made a mistake, and, you know, it's good TV, but, you know, when it got to airing it, which was probably over nine months after that. You know, 5 million people saw it and as [00:16:00] you said earlier, the, the conversations that open up off the back of it, even people knowing that you're going on, like we won listings, other people are posting about us saying we've got a brand that's featured on dragon's den.

And the reach of the program is massive and people do love it. I mean, I was even on a sales day in Bristol last week and someone came up to me and was like, Oh my God, you were the quarter guy from dragon's den. And I was like. That was probably the first and only time someone recognized me from it, but The reach is is big.

Um,

Juliet: you've done your own PR. I mean, it's fantastic public relations you've got out there. You've reached a huge audience, a captive audience of people that would enjoy your product at home. So what we do with clients is work out their audience segmentation of who is your perfect client? Where are they getting information and get to them that way?

You've done exactly that. So even walking away with no investment, it was a successful venture for you.

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: it was only only until The day it airs. Do you know if you have a full feature or a short feature? And so but yeah, I mean results wise off the back of it apart from awareness, you know You have a huge spike in [00:17:00] sales from our d2c customers amazon, you know record days of sales and that That also continues for quite a period because people watch it on iPlayer on catch up.

So sales trickled in we had 65 Uh customer acquisition outside of london and we retained customers which was which was brilliant. I

Juliet: And GTC as well. It's fantastic. They're watching it at home where

they want to be enjoying your 

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: Yeah, and people buy from the show. They look at it and go, I like those guys. They're giving it their all and I like the sound of their product.

I'll give it a go and that definitely happens. So I think when you ask what's the advice apart from the awareness, the results, you know, you have to do it if you have the opportunity to, um, and yeah, so, I mean, I would, would always encourage people to do it, but no, it's a long and difficult process.

Juliet: Well, Well, it sounds like a long and difficult process, but all of the due diligence that will set you up for success for other pitches, other investors, presumably. So you are now incredibly trained and ready for any other investor conversations. It's not a waste of time. Had you not been on the TV [00:18:00] final edit, would you have said you would have done it anyway for that experience?

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: I think it would have taken time to get to that conclusion, but I think you, you initially, I'd have been like, that was a complete waste of time and energy, but, um, I think in on reflection, as you say, you'd probably say we learned a lot from even just going in as two mates and feeling the pressure of all the cameras and them asking very probing questions.

I think that's only going to benefit you as you go and pitch for investment elsewhere. So,.

Juliet: Presumably now you've been trained to an inch of your life or practiced to an inch of your life. So you, you won't dread any other raise conversation. I presume

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: 100 percent it was the most nervous I've ever been. And everything after that pales into it. Insignificance. Yeah.

Juliet: you do that with a hundred cameras in your face. You can 

do anything. So where did you end up getting investment from if it wasn't Dragon's Den?

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: So when we went into the den, it was a weird situation where we were already halfway through an investment round. So they, the producers saying, are you happy with the valuation? We were like, we've already raised half the money at this valuation. So it was a weird situation [00:19:00] where the timeline of when we went into the studio actually aligned with us being in an investment round.

They obviously didn't particularly like that because they they want to be the only people investing. So Um, yeah, we we then just cracked on with the rest of the round and found the money and were overfunded um, but I think You know weirdly some of our existing investors said if you had taken money from the dragons, we wouldn't have come back in So that's interesting.

Um, I don't know. 

Juliet: Was that Angel or Friends and Family, where, where

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: Yeah, angel angel investors family offices. Um, I think When people understand, you know, what's really involved with the investments, even if they go through, I think there's an appreciation and understanding that it might not be as much of a value add as, as founders think.

So founders can give away more equity or explore discounts or. Think that um, this is going to be the sort of golden ticket But when you really think about it Do you think a dragon as busy as they are is going to be on the end of the phone to us when we have? Supply issues or we want to break into a new market.

Are they going to sit down and strategize with us? They're not I don't believe going to [00:20:00] be like a real value add at the end of the phone And I think other investors would probably look at it and say it's unfair for them to get any preferential treatment or for them to come in under a different set of terms because they are who they are.

Um, and unless they're willing to to get at the table, and I think you can see that with some of the other investments that have gone through, um, that, you know, Stephen Bartlett can get quite involved and actually his profile and audience and awareness can help really help build brands, but that's my take from it.

Juliet: A lot of people have said this with investors, it's not just the money. They need to be opening their little black book or giving you support in other areas. They're invested, but they need to be invested in more than one way. So you're right. If the dragons are busy producing the next show or appearing on a press junket, they're not going to be picking up the end of.

The phone with you've had a sales crisis or something like that. Um, and for you now with the investors you have, do you feel like you've got that close cohort who are supporting you in other ways?

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: We've got some really great, um, investors on our cap table who, you know, span a [00:21:00] range of sort of industries and have amazing experience in business. I think one advice, uh, I would give on reflection is that we haven't leveraged them enough. You, you assume they're really busy people. They're very high up in industry.

And, in the first two rounds of funding, at least haven't gone to them and said, like, we need your help. You almost want to always try and paint this rosy picture that everything's great. Um, but really the benefit of having them on there apart from capital is to, to, to guide you through certain things.

And in this latest round of funding that we've done, we've had some incredible entrepreneurs come on board and they, they want to mentor Fabian and I, and really, you know, they, they've been through it themselves. So they know what it feels like and, uh, the challenges and how to get through that. And even we, we meet up and go for a drink just to 

air things it's like this is what you need to be focusing on and it that's that's massively helpful because otherwise They're just a list of names on a spreadsheet

Juliet: Well, those senior supports that can pull you out of the weeds, because there's so much going on all the time. I think those people that can just pull you out and be like, [00:22:00] okay, big picture, what's going on? How can I help? I've definitely had a few people in my universe do that for me.

And it's game changing. It really is. And again, just having the sounding board as well, that you can be like, Oh, I'm stuck on this. And they've just go, well, why are you thinking about it that way? It's fantastic. The first episode of the first season of this podcast was how to find a mentor because a very good friend picked up the phone.

He's like, before anything else, get a mentor, get an accountant. I was like, huh, well, really haven't done anything yet. And he's like, trust me. I was like, okay, cool. Um, so 

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: and I think 

I think also on the on the other end of it, you know, it's it's great to have support when you need it but also The opportunity to take a step back as you say, and for them to encourage you as to what you're doing and you forget about all the good stuff and they go, guys, you know, let's be realistic.

Look where you are. Look what you've done. And that's a really great ability and opportunity to reflect. And it gives you encouragement and fresh energy to go at it again. 

Juliet: , I definitely felt that leaving these big brands behind. You don't have a goal document. [00:23:00] You don't have a boss telling you, Oh, I was really impressed by that. And actually a client the other day took me to one side and said, I just want to thank you for all the work that you're doing for us.

And I was like, I nearly cried. I was like. I don't get that anywhere from anywhere else and it meant the world and even the team saying, Oh, I really appreciate that you took the time to, and I was like, thank you. That small things. And I think having people you respect around you that say, well done, because a lot of people when they're debating starting a company and they think, I'm going to be an entrepreneur and I'm going to have endless holiday.

I'm like, good luck with that. Um. You forget the things you're giving up and actually finding that elsewhere is so important, that's sort of community almost, um, and just generally on investment, are there any big pitfalls that you have either done or seen people do that you'd recommend new founders avoid?

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: I think yeah. Answer, answer all the questions for them and, that might sound really basic, but I think sometimes people overthink what they're trying to put down on paper and investors are by and large, by and large time poor, they're busy [00:24:00] people, they see a lot of decks. I think you almost want them to be able to flick through and sort of 10 slides, what's this about and am I interested and then have a conversation around it.

I think you can see. 40 page investor decks and you've got to think when you're sending these things out Are people really going to flick through them? And if so, what are they taking away? You almost want the in person conversations or the video pitches just to be about Rapport them looking you in the eyes and saying do I trust you with my money?

Are you going to be hard working? Do you believe in this and when they say people buy people I think really that's what investment is all about You know I'm pretty sure they know we're not doing this all for nothing and we're going to run away with their money and We're doing everything we can to build it and be successful But all of the the sort of top line questions should be answered.

What is it? What's it about? Why are you different? Okay now now they just want to get into do I like you and do we get on

Juliet: Yeah, well that preemptive strike and I think asking [00:25:00] again, this is very similar to PR and communications is saying the elephant in the room and we've started writing blog copy about why do I hate PR? Why do I have to pay for PR? Why do I never see results? Is it asking the things that people actually ask? Calling the thing that you know, is going to be an issue out from the get go. And they're like, Oh, well, you know, well, you know, the answer, you know, you know, my brain, I can bond with you further because you know what I'm thinking. And that preemptive strike is so effective. So something we do with our guests is we have a question from our guest before, um, who wanted to ask you a question and I would then like to ask you a question for our next guest, but their question, which is quite.

Interesting, given our conversations just now is like, if you had your time all over again, would you do it?

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: I'd say absolutely yes Dragon's Den, for all the things we talked about, you know, it's really difficult, time consuming, scary, but, you know, anything that's worth working for is. And so that was worth it, for sure. Um, and then Korta, you know, it, it's Absolutely the best decision I've ever made and it's [00:26:00] really hard, you know, when, when people doubt you and they don't believe in it, that's difficult, but you've got to have thick skin, but you know, it's conversations like this that also allow you to appreciate what you've done.

And I'm. Sitting in our own office and we, we manage a great team and it's, and it's all ours. Well, not all of ours, especially with the investors, but that's a great thing. A lot of people can't, can't take that. And I think that's, um, so absolutely it's worth it. Um, but there's obviously a lot in that, that, uh, is very stressful, hard, distressing, um, but also brilliant and wonderful.

And I think that. What's going to be my question to the next person was what gets you up in the morning and what stops you sleeping at night. And I think it's quite interesting because it's just like every day you get up and you go, what, what are we, what are we wanting to do today? What's going to make today great.

And, you know, like we were mentioning earlier about getting sort of validation, you know, we will miss out on a, on a tender for a retailer. And you're like, an email comes in saying you haven't got it. And you'd be like, that's pretty tough. And then in the [00:27:00] afternoon you'll win a national listing somewhere else and you'd be like, you almost become numb to it because you're like, that's brilliant.

We've just secured our biggest ever customer, but we're not, we're not ringing bells and celebrating because you're kind of just waiting for the next hit to come at you. Um, and I think that is what gets me up, but then, you know, it's interesting to find out what, what people are really doing it for.

Juliet: Yeah. That's really interesting. Cause I think a lot of people will say that like, Oh, I didn't sleep well. And it's everything is worse in the middle of the night for some reason. Um, but getting up in the morning, it's so true. It's, what's your motivation? Um, and it's a really important question to ask because you are going to work harder than you've ever worked before.

So what are you doing it for? And I think as a. Team, we were chatting saying in first of January or even the second, we're going to just go for a big, long walk together and just talk about it. And just as a team go, what do we want to get out of the year? What, what success look like to us as a collaborative effort, not just me.

Um, and I can't wait. I can't wait to hear what they're going to say, but yeah, it's, it's so important because then it keeps you going. It's just, yeah, that motivation. Thank you. It's really good question. 

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: Yeah, hopefully 

it comes out with a good answer. I'll be listening out.[00:28:00] 

Juliet: Yeah, I'll let you know for sure. No, thank you Rohan for your time. It's been really interesting talking to you and very, big congratulations on all things quarter.

2023-11-28--t10-32-57am--guest749301--rohan: Yeah, thank you. .