Episode 5 Be Your Own Boss

-That's a rubbish thing for me to invest in.

-He is my hero!

Richard Reed picked three more ideas he was willing to back...

-Well done, mate, we're in business.

-Thank you.

CHEERING

-..but when they failed to think big...

-Hello? Hung up.

It's absolutely tiny and completely insignificant.

..Richard could only back one of them.

-I'm going to invest £65,000.

-Oh, God!

Which three ideas will he take a risk on this time?

Meet Richard Reed, the smoothie behind Innocent Drinks.

He's Britain's hottest entrepreneur

and he's on the hunt for the business stars of the future.

We're trying to find the next business superstars.

I just hope people are going to hear about it and think,

"You know what? I want a go at that."

He's set aside up to a million to invest

and went nationwide to get you to apply for a slice of it.

If you can't find a job, you can consider making your own job.

Everyone's got a great idea within them.

Now, 500 hopefuls will get the chance

to pitch their ideas to Richard.

Really nice. I'm going to actually buy some.

Each week, he'll pick the best three...

It's about the idea, but mostly it's about the team.

-..to put through their paces.

-Look at the juice! Oh!

-You've got to do better than that.

-That feels like crap.

I want you to get some proper cash into the business.

If we don't, we don't pay the mortgage.

..before deciding who is good enough

to win a once in a lifetime investment.

I'm sure you were hoping for more, right?

We haven't really seen results and I don't know what to make of that.

I'm an investor, I'm not an arts sponsor

and it may well translate into something one day,

but I'm not going to invest.

In this vast arena,

500 intrepid entrepreneurs will pitch their ideas to Richard

to try and win his backing.

It's amazing to see that, it's 500 people from all walks of life.

It's not about where you're from, what you look like,

it's not about what age you are,

it's about whether you've got an idea, some passion

and you're prepared to work hard.

From the hundreds he'll see today,

Richard will only pick the best three ideas.

Everyone knows they'll have to be pitch perfect.

You simply have to have a vision of what one day your idea can become.

You've always got to be able to look up and look forwards and go,

"One day, this little tiny thing will become this big, huge thing."

You have to have that vision,

you have to believe - that's the entrepreneur's job.

These seedling start-ups all know that the thumbs up from Richard

could put them on the fast track to success.

I have a robot from space.

We teach traditional Shaolin kung fu and promote health and fitness.

We came up with the idea in a pub.

We're just young and ambitious.

The bossy one out of the two of us? Probably me!

THEY LAUGH

It's all about coming together, but at the end of the day,

if you need to destroy someone ...

-Invest in us.

-Please invest in us, please.

We really need your investment.

Please, please, please, please, please, please, please.

First to pitch is AG Papertoys

with an idea 65 million years in the making.

Well, 19, actually, that's how old Alex is.

Oh, look, he's brought a friend!

This is a velociraptor that's made out of 38 A4 sheets...

No, A3 sheets of paper of paper, sorry!

Get it right, Alex.

You can't be messing up your paper sizes when Richard comes to call.

He'll bite your arm off!

Mate, that - that is awesome! Tell me, tell me, tell me.

I run a website called AG Papertoys,

which basically gives away flat prints like this

which people can print off for free and build as a fun craft.

-Right, OK.

-And here's a model...

And that really is something that you download and print?

I'll do a downloadable version eventually,

but at the moment I kind of thought, "What could impress Richard?"

-And velociraptors are cool.

-It totally worked!

Totally worked! Totally worked!

I think he likes it.

Are these all designed by you?

-Every last one, yeah.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-Bloody good effort, mate.

-I mean, that is...

-This is the result of sleepless nights of work.

Basically, what I'm wanting to do is,

as much fun as doing things on the web and digital is,

to move into a more physical medium

and kind of do greetings cards with my designs in them.

That's why I'm here today.

Right, hang on. How's it going to work?

How will you make them, how are you going to sell them, what's it going to cost?

First, I plan to do a small print run of five different cards,

each with a different dinosaur,

and then seeing how successful it is, I could do other series

like Christmas cards, with Santas and reindeers and things like that.

Mate, at the very least you're a gifted artist

and I think you've potentially got a brilliant business idea, so well done, mate.

-Thank you.

-No problem. Take care.

He's obviously brilliant, but I would just want to investigate that

there isn't already loads of gift cards out there that do that,

because I think there probably is but as always,

I could definitely be wrong.

We've just got to work out, can that artistic talent translate into commercial success?

Told you he likes it.

The next company to pitch are hair extension specialist, Bonnie Lush.

These girls can't wait to get their hands on Richard.

Richard should have a 24-inch unbraided style, nice and long,

all the way down here.

Probably currently, something curly.

Or maybe a Mohawk, he could have a Mohawk and stuff

and dye it different collars. It would be amazing!

It would be SO amazing(!) Or maybe just hair-larious.

Let's hope that the girls don't wig out when it comes to their pitch.

We sell natural hair extensions.

What you are looking at right now is how that has not been processed.

That really is human hair.

Someone's just gone chop and put it on boat to England, have they?

-Who's wearing it now, are you wearing some?

-We're all wearing it.

-Really?

-This is all of our products. None of my own hair.

None of your own hair? What's underneath, then?

Oh, wow!

-It really is real hair, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-None of my own here at all.

Hands off the merch, Richard!

So what are we paying for the full monty?

-This cost me about, what, 40 quid and it was just...

-Really?

-Yeah, 40 quid.

-If you're selling it for 40, what has it cost you to buy?

£17. We get it direct from China, so there's no middleman, cut all the costs.

So there's a lot of bald people in China, is that what we are talking about?

-Not exactly, because it does grow back.

-Yeah, OK!

Seems like pretty good economics.

I feel a bit for the people in China, but... Nice meeting you.

-Well done.

-So, girls, how did it go?

-He'll purchase for his wife.

-Yeah!

-Most definitely.

-Or someone.

I don't know. It's not high on my list of issues, but it's for women,

so what you don't want is a guy deciding

whether a business for women is a good business or not.

Hard though it might be for this striding colossus of masculinity,

Richard's going to have to get in touch with his feminine side.

All rhinestone encrusted, which I did myself,

and it gives the impression of really expensive

and they're not, not at all.

Quite unique in that we've got 80 eye-shadows, 45 blushers...

And then you have this chain and you hold there.

Again, you attach with this.

We're trying to bring the make-up artist experience to the masses,

to normal consumers, because most women only get it on their wedding day.

We hear you, sister!

To help sift the stunning from the stupid,

Richard's called in a crack team of experts

from make-up and marketing to technology and travel.

They are some of Britain's brightest entrepreneurs

and it's their job to sample the delights of the Expo.

Here are just two of those delights now.

-Are you selling this anywhere at the moment?

-No.

I'm taking not, by looking at the packaging.

Don't hold back, Jo(!)

Some ideas are down to personal taste.

Oh!

-It was horrible product.

-Speaking of which...

We've come to show our pleasure pillow today.

What's a pleasure pillow?

-It's got a really sexy secret.

-Right...

Basically undo the bow and place your head on the pillow

and the ties act as a blindfold

and then there's the little slits here

that you can put your hands through.

-You put your head here, facing out...

-Right.

-And then this...

You should try it, John.

It's important the product works!

I think we've heard enough.

And Richard might need a lie down

after he's seen some of the other ideas floating around.

If that spilt on something, how bad would it be?

-It wouldn't be that bad, you'd just get a flash frozen burn.

-OK.

This is the product, it's a Mongolian sauce, OK.

What's the Mongolian sauce, what should I expect?

Something exotic, something unique?

-It's a bit like Worcestershire sauce.

-Oh...

Maybe you could design your own soundtrack for your funeral.

It might have really fun, practical, things

like design your own tombstone.

# B-b-b-b-b-b-bonkers. #

-Let me take you on a chocolate-filled adventure.

-OK.

It's an adventure to a place unknown to any human

-and hidden from any man.

-Sounds exciting.

Is a place full of magic and mystery,

-and it goes by the name of Zuka Mountain.

-Wow!

Surrounded by thick jungle,

it's home to the most incredible wildlife I've ever seen

and also the strangest sounds that I've ever heard,

but it's also home to the most incredible chocolate I've ever tasted.

Unfortunately I can't tell you any more about Zuka Mountain,

because I've been sworn to secrecy.

Next to pitch, and appealing to Richard's macho side,

it's Bev, with some manly industrial-strength hand cleaner.

Brought this mammoth stand with me. What a job getting it up the stairs!

But what better way to demonstrate using hand cleaners,

by actually being able to wash your hands?

Surely there is no better way, but will it wash with Richard?

-I'm Richard.

-How are you doing, all right?

-Tell me, what's going on?

We basically manufacture superior cleaning products

made from recycled ingredients.

-Which is his is this fella here, right?

-Yes, robnik.

Our first product is a heavy duty eco hand wash,

the world's first heavy duty hand cleaner

-made from recycled ingredients, as far as we can tell.

-Right.

-Is this a mock-up, or is this ready to go?

-No, this is ready to use.

We've got a lemon fragrance in it, so it smells nice.

Ugh, let's hope it smells better than it looks!

-Would you like to get your hands dirty?

-Er...

We've got this really, really dirty rag here.

I mean, it's really manky,

so I'm not going to force you to put your hands in it

but if you do, you've got to really go for it.

Uh-oh... Say no, Richard!

And then what happens?

You wash it off with a heavy duty hand cleaner.

Really go for it, rub that into the hands.

# Cos you're filthy... #

-OK, that's pretty dirty.

-Oh, God, I hope it works!

-Heavy duty hand cleaner.

-Right.

-Rub that into the affected areas.

Rub it in.

It's an active system, so what happens is you rub it into the skin,

you add a little bit of water, agitate it.

It allows the water to bond with the dirt and lift it off the skin.

This actually looks like it's getting dirtier.

Rub that in and agitate it, that activates the system.

Is this taking for ever?

-It's going to feel quite greasy.

-Yeah, it does.

What's that, was that oil on that rag?

Engine oil, dirt, muck, grime, the worst of the worst.

THEY LAUGH

Nervous laughter!

Thank God his hands are clean!

I know! Imagine if my hands were still dirty! OK, what do you think?

-That's pretty good.

-Yeah, pretty good, pretty good.

Well done, mate, great pitch. Thank you for coming, man.

Oh, was that awkward or was that just me? Let's get some lunch.

Fortunately, it's not all bad news.

I still really, really like Bicycle Basecamp.

Basically, it's an online bike marketplace.

I know there is a lot of them,

but what they actually have

is a lot of really interesting niche bike brands

and I think more importantly, they're using the power of social

to bring people that love biking online into this community.

OK, it's really, really, really cool.

That's good, because I'm having quite a disappointing few... Yeah...

With the advice of his experts ringing in his ears,

Richard makes a beeline for Bicycle Basecamp,

part social network, part online marketplace.

-A lot of people have told me I've got to come and see you guys?

-Oh, really?

Yeah, yeah.

-I'm Gerry, by the way.

-Gerry.

-Louise.

-Louise.

-Richard.

-Richard.

Come on, we've got a minute.

Basically, our platform is trying to create something totally different, it's a social e-commerce platform.

It builds on the success of our blog, which has been around for a year.

We've attracted over 18,000 visitors for our whole social network.

So, it's really about e-commerce and social together.

We've already got over 14 brands signed up to use the site.

-So, this is, what?

-These are our brands.

-They've said that they will allow you to sell...

-..their products on their behalf.

We've got letters of intent from all of them.

What about the physics of it, where are the bikes going to be stored?

-Who's going to ship it?

-The brand.

The brand will ship it.

So you're like a sort of virtual retail hub for it?

We will manage their listings on their behalf.

So how do you get money?

We've negotiated between 10 to 30% commission.

Our commission for those sales will average out

about £96,000 in the first year.

And that would be a great first year. Let's hope it happens.

-Really well done.

-Thank you.

A great pitch, it's a lovely looking thing as well.

I'll take a glance. Sure, man. Well done. Thanks a lot.

There may be 500 start ups here,

but picking three to take to the next stage is proving tricky.

Perhaps it's the way they're pitching.

We are the future of the woman.

INDISTINCT

Do you have a little thing for him to stand on?

Doesn't Alan Sugar get one of those?

I look sharp and dapper.

-Is that better?

-I've never been this tall before, it's good!

Nothings ever bigger than muffin size.

-You've left nothing for me to say.

-What do you want to say?

It's the last pitch of the day

and inventor Gary has brought along his latest crazy idea.

OK, it's not crazy, it's a car seat, but get this,

it turns into a suitcase.

Genius! As long as you're not sitting on it at the time.

First of all, you've got suitcase mode.

It going to store Nintendos, clothes...

Sleepover at Granny's, put some slippers in.

In the aeroplane, it can go into an overhead locker.

Get off the plane, you go to the car hire,

get in the car, turns into a booster seat.

This is still a really early stage for you, is it?

Still an early stage, but I want to drive it myself.

I don't really need my hand held,

but when it comes to being my own boss

and taking something to market,

that's probably where I need the help.

Have you got a sense of what this will cost?

Base point we're aiming at right now is under £50. Great.

I'm not a parent but, I can imagine there must be a load of parents looking that going,

"I'd have one of those."

Fingers crossed. Fingers crossed, mate. Nice meeting you.

Thanks a lot for coming down, mate. I appreciate it.

It's the end of a mixed day of pitching.

-All right? Have you got anything?

-I have. This has been a tough one.

Richard still has to decide on three ideas he will invest in.

He calls in his expert team to find out what they think.

I want anything you think is good on here,

-Anything that's pony should come off.

-This one was interesting.

-Has anyone seen him?

-It could work.

-Remember the Trunki?

Well, exactly, and that's been a massive success.

-No way.

-Whoa! He was very gifted.

Whether it's going to make a great business or not, I don't know.

-Totally don't think that will work.

-That's really helpful.

We've got, like, I don't know, 30 or 40 there.

As the hall empties,

Richard turns his mind to who's going through to the next stage.

I've enjoyed all the pitches, even the bad ones.

There's a lot of good ideas and entrepreneurs out there.

It doesn't make it any easier, of course,

to get it down to a final round for seed capital.

I've got to have a sense of

the money is going to transform what they're up to.

I've got a few favourites, my experts have given me some top tips,

and now it's time to make those big decisions.

A few days after the Expo,

and Richard arranges to meet up with the businesses he's decided to back.

All that's left to do is work out how much seed capital to give them.

Seed funding is a bit of cash to get the ball rolling,

to get that business in the game.

And how much they get depends on A, how much they need

and B, what they're going to use it for.

Richard has up to five grand to sink into each

of these entrepreneurs to kick-start their ideas.

But who will be first through the door?

It's Sheffield lad Alex and his cardboard cut outs business,

AG Papertoys. And he's left his dinosaur at home.

I get up in the morning to fold paper, which sounds ridiculous,

but if you're running a kind of more conventional business,

maybe you won't have that passion for it, perhaps.

He's a very quirky character, I guess. He's great to be around.

Alex juggles making his paper toys in his bedroom with being

a full-time college student.

That's kind of my social life.

College, work, Skype - not really much of a life, really.

It's more of a social coma. Kind of technically alive.

I think he's a robot. That's the only way I can explain it.

The man never sleeps and is always busy.

It does feel a lot like I've never grown up, and hope that I never do.

I hope that I keep this strange childlike spark of creativity,

that I can keep that and I don't get boring in my old age.

You won an award from AXA for like a massive amount of money,

-is that true?

-It is, yeah.

I'm sort of rapidly processing, because what do you want from me?

I've got to be honest, your advice and anything you can give me

is more important than the money.

You definitely, definitely do not need my cash?

-No. But I need you.

-Well, what am I going to do? I make smoothies, mate.

You want to get into the dinosaur greeting card business.

-How am I going to help?

-I figured you must have, like, connections.

-Mmm.

I'm going to break my own rules here because this is about funding people.

You're going to fund yourself, but then I'll mentor you

and as you know there's a bigger amount of money

to go after at the end for proper investment,

I'm going to need to see between now and then you getting out there

and creating real sales.

-OK.

-Make sense?

-Makes sense to me.

-All right. Nice one, mate.

-And good for you.

-Thanks.

-Right. Well done. We'll speak soon.

Well, I created a bit of a grey area.

The first thing I said was that it's not about the money

and I didn't need the money, I agree with that,

there's no point in taking someone else's money.

Richard still has money to invest in two other businesses.

Who's going to be next?

-Hello.

-Louise, one half of

London-based web business Bicycle Basecamp.

The business was founded 18 months ago by 23-year-old Essex boy Gerry.

He could be the next Zuckerberg.

They'll probably make a movie about this soon.

Yeah, that's it - The Cycle Network. Gerry's co-star is his mate Louise.

They teamed up to run this blockbuster together.

Louise is very to the point, like.

She's very much, you know what you're getting from her.

Now we spend a lot more time together,

she is absolutely barmy, and I'm slightly intimidated by her as well.

-No!

-I'm just being honest. I'm slightly intimidated by her.

Gerry comes up with these ideas.

He's a little bit crazy, eccentric, going off on a tangent.

And then I suppose I sit down

and work out how we're going to make that happen. If it's feasible,

how much it's going to cost, when's it going to happen.

And hopefully try and achieve it.

Yeah, I thought so. She's the grown-up.

I'm an avid cyclist and I have been for many years.

I realised that there was no place online where cyclists could go

and sell their bicycle to other members of the cycling community.

Yeah. That's how Bicycle Basecamp was born.

There he goes, off on the road to stardom.

-Hi, mate.

-Oh, look. Gerry's on screen already.

Thank you for interrupting your holiday to talk Bicycle Basecamp.

I want to go straight in - how much are you asking for

and what would you spend it on?

INAUDIBLE

-Hello?

-Do you want to repeat the question?

'No, I can hear it.'

Houston, we have a problem.

Communicating between England and America is proving tricky.

Modern technology.

So Richard reverts to the good old-fashioned ye olde telephone

to call Gerry and tell him the news.

Hello, mate.

I'm curious about Bicycle Basecamp and they're right at the beginning

so I'm happy to put in three grand of development capital.

But I need to see a working prototype of the site

and proof that they really can deliver on the business side.

We're really, really excited.

I'm on my own because Gerry's in the States,

so also feeling a bit lonely, but other than that

I'm really, really excited.

Two down, one to go.

Gary!

Last in to see Richard is serial inventor Gary Burns with CarGo,

his two-in-one car seat and wheelie suitcase for kids.

A self-confessed mad inventor,

Gary is always coming up with bonkers gadgets.

# ..Inspector Gadget... #

This is a little book that I normally carry with me.

Any kind of ideas that I put down,

kind of recycled plastic razor that converts to a pen.

How could you flavour a baked potato? A remote-control umbrella.

You could have a wee loft lift that takes you up and down to your loft.

-This is my little bible.

-This is the prototype, is it not?

-Prototype. Picked up last night.

-So this is a very rough prototype.

The next stage for us is to get a preproduction model,

and it's about taking what we've done here, the workings of it,

and then making it more professional.

Can I tell you what I'm thinking about this, right? If I put in 2,300.

Fantastic.

Let me give you a sense of what I would need to see for that.

I would want more support for the idea from consumers,

secondly, we've got to make sure it's super-safe, but also

something that can be physically manufactured.

-Does that work?

-That works. Thanks very much.

All right. Nice one, mate. We'll talk soon.

Yes!

So Richard has chosen his three ventures.

Armed with his seed capital they have a matter of weeks

to show they can be their own boss.

I've got three wild cards this week. I've got Alex,

the super-young, super-creative card designer,

I've got Gary, the inventor, who hasn't yet got anything to market,

and I've got Gerry who is trying to turn his cycling blog into a shop.

So it's super-risky, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

Sheffield, home of steel and students.

One of those students, 19-year-old Alex,

is making greeting cards in his bedroom.

With Richard wanting to see sales,

Alex is redesigning his range to take to potential buyers.

I want to be happy with something I've designed

and I want to be proud to have my name on it.

And so that's why I've still not got the finished cards,

because I want them to be perfect.

I want to get it in lots of gift stores,

places like in the National History Museum, Blackpool Zoo,

cos they have a dinosaur section.

But I've kind of had a bit of revelation where half of me

of course wants to impress Richard because of the opportunity,

the other half says screw Richard, you've got to focus on long-term.

"Screw Richard"? Three days in and we've already got a boardroom coup.

He might seem shy, but Alex is no fool, and with the prize money

from his award he kits out his bedroom with the latest mod-cons.

Any excuse to get a hot girl in your bedroom, eh, Alex?

We'll separate into two teams and each assemble one desk.

No, no, no!

Smart man. He's getting his mates over to do all the heavy lifting.

CRASH

-Or not.

-I'm feeling sorry for you. There's a hole in it.

We said don't do that, you did. We're almost there desk-wise.

Now we just need to do everything else-wise.

We got there in the end, and now I have a sexy studio.

As much as I'd like to relax and sleep,

I pretty much have to learn to use it all so I can finish the design

of these cards, so I'll be up until the early hours doing that tonight.

But disaster strikes on Alex's night shift.

-His new computer has packed in and he's lost all his work.

-Frustrating.

I got everything working perfectly and then only one screen worked

and everything that I've done is gone and nothing works.

At all.

Don't worry, Alex. You're not the only one with problems.

Bicycle Basecamp's Gerry is stuck in America,

where he has hit his first administration problem.

That's right, y'all, he's gone and lost his passport,

and it's costing him precious time.

Suddenly, Alex's problems don't seem so bad.

With no computer and aware that he's got to prove his product

can sell, Alex takes to the streets with his old designs.

Let's hope he's got his sights set high.

Or alternatively, he could start with the shop around the corner.

I was wondering if you would be interested in stocking

some dinosaur-themed greetings cards.

-Definitely interested.

-You're up for it?

-Yeah, yeah.

-All right.

Well, that's three cards. I guess he's got to start somewhere.

Next stop, Sheffield Museum.

And it turns out it's good news.

The museum's gift shop is going to have a new addition very soon

of the first series of the dinosaur greetings cards.

Which is very exciting.

That is very exciting! He's on a roll.

Looks like Alex's soft sell might just be working.

So he checks out Harrogate card fair, which looks good on paper.

'He's the youngest of all the entrepreneurs.

'My nervousness with Alex'

is that he's a brilliant artist -

he might not translate into being a brilliant entrepreneur.

'That was the challenge I set him.

'Get down to these places, the big museums, National History Museum.'

I want to check, has he got down there? Has he pitched them?

Let's give it a go.

Sorry, I have to answer this.

I'll be with you in a second. Hello, Alexander Gwynne?

'Alex, it's Richard.'

-How are you getting on?

-'I'm getting on OK-ish, I guess.

'I've had the Sheffield museum'

say that they'd stock it in their gift store.

'I've had a few independent retailers say they'll stock them.'

And yesterday I was on the phone talking to about 15 different places

trying to find out who I need to contact,

so I've got contacts for things like the Natural History Museum,

all of these big places that I'm trying to get into.

Really good for you, mate.

So when are you going to come down to London

and pitch to some of the bigger museums?

I don't know. I'm waiting till I've got a finish product,

-which I'm hoping to have by the end of next week.

-OK.

Keep doing what you're doing, sounds like you've made great progress.

-'Thank you. Take care.'

-Cheers.

-'Bye.'

Well, that was nice.

Alex may have nailed Sheffield, but he's going to have to prove

that he is cut out for the big time to get Richard's investment.

Let's see what Bicycle Basecamp are up to.

Oh, still stuck in the US.

Moving on, I wonder what's going on with our wheelie case.

Kiddie car seat designer Gary

has been given £2,300 by Richard,

and with the issue of safety at the top of the to-do list,

Gary's gone to see a crash test dummy.

I mean, expert.

Here comes the science bit.

When we bring it to testing, we'll be talking about a 48kph impact

and we can see a case of buckle crunch, where buckles get caught

leading to the submarining of the child during the impact.

And that leads to really severe internal injury for the child.

Scary chat over,

now it's time to put Gary's prototype in the driving seat.

Uh-oh. Gary spots a problem with the seat-belt fitting.

One thing we need to establish as you can see right away

is that with the size and the dimensions as it is just now

it's not guiding the lap strap the way it should be.

And as we see,

the shoulder strap here is hanging a little bit off the shoulder.

We would need to take your advice on, once they're engaged,

is it going to take that 48kph impact?

This prototype is going to need some serious tweaking.

But Gary goes the easy way out, takes Richard's money,

spends it on a fortnight in Florida

and speeds off to Glasgow Airport, never to be seen again.

Not really. Richard has also asked him to prove

that the punters will like the seat, so along with wife Claire,

he heads to see if it's a hit with the toughest critics of all -

Scottish tourists?

No. Kids.

Speaking of airports, I wonder how Bicycle Basecamp are getting on.

Oh, still stuck in the States.

Wait...

Hurray! He's back!

Oh, Lord!

Hang on, did he just sniff his pants?

I literally just got off the plane

and I should probably sleep for a bit,

but I really don't have the time,

so yeah, I'm going to head straight into town and get some work done.

On your bike, son.

Gerry desperately needs to make up for lost time.

The Bicycle Basecamp team are under huge pressure

with just three weeks to prove to Richard that they can deliver.

He hits the office for a meeting...

in a cupboard.

That's not a website, that's a pair of shorts.

Quick espresso

and he's off again,

leaving Louise to put some serious work

into their business plan for Richard.

Told you she was the grown-up.

So, going through the range, we've got...

this one here is our large Ciao.

He's not going to get a website in a bike shop, is he?

OK, so that's a supplier on board.

See you later on.

Surely next meeting, the web designer?

-So we're heading to our web design agency now.

-Yeah.

-To discuss the first stage of development, basically.

-OK, cool.

So the design phase,

building a solid proposal, something which Richard will look at

and hopefully be like, "This website works," and want to get involved in.

Gerry's already acting like Zuckerberg now,

not allowing us into his top-secret web meeting.

Ah! Here they come.

-He can do what we want, which is good.

-Yeah.

And potentially in the timeframe's going to be cutting it fine.

Yeah, that was the only real stumbling point.

It was, is it going to be done in literally three weeks...

Three weeks and one day?

Back at Basecamp HQ, the guys have to make some executive decisions -

just how will they spend Richard's money?

So how much have we got in total?

We have £3,000.

-£3,000...

-Yep.

We had an initial budget of 1,500 for the web design aspect.

What else do we want to do?

-We have the rebranding aspect.

-Yeah.

-Which is quite important.

So focus group...

HE YAWNS

Probably should have, like, a contingency budget

-in case stuff goes wrong.

-Yep.

What else could possibly go wrong(?)

You've already lost half the time Richard gave you.

You know what they need?

More coffee.

And some more.

You know, we've been given a great opportunity to pitch to Richard.

I just want to make sure that we don't look back and regret,

so if that means staying here till 2am every night, I will do it.

Time's ticking on.

I'm leaving you to it. Night, team.

Back in Sheffield, despite a few early sales,

Alex has discovered that in business,

every silver lining has a cloud.

Turns out none of the big retailers have got back to him.

It's worse not hearing from them, because you think,

"The least you could have done is said, 'We don't want it.'"

I think it's kind of rude not replying,

not even to say they don't want it. They're just not going to bother

because you're not even worth

the 30 seconds it would take to say, "No, thank you."

And that feels like crap.

Richard's heard that Alex is struggling

and decides to give him a call.

RINGTONE

Hello? Alexander Gwynne.

-Alex, it's Richard.

-'How you doing, Richard?'

-I'm doing well, mate. How are you getting on?

-Mainly bad news.

-Go on, tell me.

-I e-mailed companies and they either didn't reply

or it just didn't get anywhere.

Yeah. So are you feeling a little bit dispirited?

A little bit, yeah.

I hear you, man. That can be tough.

There's this company I know called Millennium FX.

I wondered if it would be interesting and helpful

for you to go and spend a day with them, just see what they get up to

and just get a sense of what a business

working in the world of creating products and design

can actually look like.

Is that of any interest to you?

Oh, of course that's of interest.

That'd be extremely interesting, yeah.

Richard's idea seems to have raised Alex's spirits.

OK, mate. Well, look, keep fighting the good fight.

All right. Thanks, Richard. Take care.

-Take it easy, mate. Good luck.

-Bye.

Alex heads to meet Richard's mates at Millennium FX.

They're the artistic bunch behind the special effects

on Doctor Who, Being Human and Mission: Impossible.

Owner of the business Neill shows Alex his hairy gorilla.

Want to grab that? And just start wiggling.

-So you get the mouth opening as well.

-It's these little details.

-Yes.

-It's what makes it alive.

GORILLA SNARLS

And Alex gets out his little squid.

Spraying ink everywhere.

Fantastic. Let's have a look.

-That's a happy little fish man.

-You've got to have a happy fish man.

-Got to have a happy fish man.

-So where do you see it going?

I mean, are you interested in having a business?

It's one of those things where I do this because I enjoy it.

Where it's going, I'm not sure as I never really saw it coming.

It just kind of happened. Maybe the business gets to the stage

where I can hire someone to deal with that stuff.

Look at me, I don't wear a suit, I don't sit in an office,

I'm there, making these things. I'm covered in clay and plaster every day

and this is what I love and do,

but the business side of it is also important.

-But I've been very lucky, I can hire people who do that.

-Yeah.

It's weighing up the pros and cons,

what's the benefit of having your own business

-against going to work for someone else?

-Yeah.

-You know?

Personally, I'd much rather run my own business.

That was very, very cool.

Nothing like seeing decapitated monster heads

to get the creative flow going.

He's got some talent and he's got some brains

and they don't always come together. You often get brains but no talent

and fabulous talent with absolutely no common sense

or no ability to communicate, but he's got both.

It's nice to meet people like him

who have kind of been through what I've been through

and brought it up from working in their rooms or whatever

into turning it into a business

and that kind of gives me hope that maybe I'll do that

or maybe I'll just land a job doing what I do.

Alex leaves with lots to think about.

Will he carry on pushing for those sales

or are his sights set on a career in design?

Gary is summoned to London

for a meeting with Richard.

Well, at least he's done his market research.

It was a hit with the kids he asked at Glasgow airport.

He opted for the entrepreneurs' favourite,

the old thumbs up/thumbs down popularity test. Never stops, Gary.

Yay!

Yay!

Thank you very much. Top man. Give me a high five.

-Hello, mate.

-How are you doing, Richard?

-How's it going?

Good to see you again, mate.

-Down from Scotland?

-Yes, nice sunny day.

-Good man.

So, tell me, how goes it?

It's been going really well. Very busy.

We've had a few good, interesting meetings, a bit of market research.

Tell me, give me a sense. How many people did you speak to?

Probably about 12 to 13 families, all going through,

and it was all positive.

-It's a small sample, 12 to 13 families.

-Yes, of course.

Better than nothing, I wouldn't say that's a home run,

but better than nothing.

Secondly, then, wholesalers and retailers,

what have they been saying?

Well, we approached one of the big boys, a company called Diono.

I was quite excited about the meeting

and I think they really wanted to take CarGo seat as their own.

-Right. So what does that mean?

-A licence deal.

-A licence deal?

-Yeah.

A licence deal? Winner! You've hit the big time, Gazza!

As soon as they started to go down the angle,

"We like it, we've shown it in America, we want it,"

I kind of stopped and thought, "No,

"this isn't probably going the way I was hoping it was going to go,"

if that makes sense.

Um...

Not really, no. Cos...isn't that great?

Uh-oh.

When you sign a licence deal over,

that's you, you know, you've lost all touch with your product,

they would change it from CarGo seat and you know...

Yeah, yeah. They, to me, sound like potential guys...

Once you get it so it is something that is in production,

-maybe they're great distribution partners.

-Yeah.

My catch-up with Richard went very well. He's a shrewd cookie.

He knows the right questions to ask.

Did it really go well, Gary?

'I was a bit underwhelmed by my meeting with Gary.'

He's got a long way to go before he has a product that's sellable.

Maybe I'm being a bit unreasonable,

but I was just, I thought he was further down the line than he is.

He's still a great guy.

It's still a good idea.

There's just a lot more ground to cover than I thought there was

so it means I've just got to sort of think about that a little bit harder.

Back at Camp Bicycle Basecamp,

Gerry and Louise have planned a focus group.

Let's hope it's the big unveiling

of that website that Richard's asked them to design.

We've sent tweets out on Bicycle Basecamp on Twitter,

we've gone on Facebook, people have responded and they're coming down,

so there should be people that are interested in cycling.

Oh, yummy! Sweets.

But where are those punters?

-Any of you cyclists?

-Yeah.

Do you have half an hour free from 7pm?

-Uh... I was going to go home.

-OK.

-That is cool, but I am in a little bit more of a rush.

-Oh, OK.

-Sorry.

-All right, no problem.

Damn!

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Gerry and intern Adam try a spot of kerb-crawling.

Hello! Excuse me.

Hi, excuse me?

Gerry, take the hint.

Do you have 30 minutes spare?

-Right now?

-Yeah.

-No, I'm seriously late.

There's two here! Let's get these two.

Excuse me. Excuse me! Hello! Hello!

Hello, one second! Hello?

We're giving away an iPod, wine, T-shirts...

-Ah, bribery.

-..like a raffle.

OK, sounds...

-Would you be interested?

-Yeah, I'd be interested.

It's a cheap trick, but it's worked.

Well done, Gerry.

This way.

So is everyone sitting comfortably? I can hardly wait.

The main reason we're here is because we're changing our name

so we're a company called Bicycle Basecamp.

-We've decided to change it to Cyclr.

-What?

I can't believe that either.

We've come up with two sort of different spellings

of how the new brand Cyclr could be.

I see it on websites already and I understand why that's like that.

This is just odd.

I wouldn't necessarily think that this is... "see-cler"?

Am I pronouncing this right? I'd be really bemused by that.

So he's not a fan.

I personally would prefer a strong identity behind that brand,

like a small start-up. That looks really attractive,

whereas Cyclr, that could be anyone.

They might not really care.

I don't know, it's just the feeling I get from it.

For the exact same reason, Bicycle Basecamp sort of turns me off a bit,

because it is this passionate little community thing

and I like more of a sort of corporate, professional feel

-if I'm exchanging money on there.

-OK.

Why are you changing?

Bicycle Basecamp would only really work in English.

I really like Bicycle Basecamp. I think it's a great name.

Mixed reviews. Are they going to change their name to...

"Cy-cluh"?

-WHISTLES:

-"Cye-cler"?

"Soo-cluh"?

What are they going to do?

I'm 100%, and I'm sure Louise will agree,

we're pushing forward with the name change.

Cyclr is a name people like.

Some of their comments that they spoke about do in a way

contradict their feelings about the name change

so it is just something for us to bear in mind I suppose.

In just one week these three businesses will meet Richard

for a final time and face one big question -

can they be their own boss?

Alex needs to prove that he can be a businessman as well

as a creative.

I hope that Richard sees the enjoyment

I get out of what I do, the passion. My work is my life.

I do kind of have to balance it more, but the problem is

because I enjoy doing it I don't treat it as a job.

Gary needs to work on his business plan

and prove he can make a healthy profit from his booster seat.

I have shown him that I have put a lot of hard work in.

He knows that he can trust me to keep this hard work going

and make CarGo seat a success.

And newly renamed Cyclr must work on developing their website.

It is really tiring and it's been really educational.

I have learned so much.

This time last year it was just an idea, a concept,

now it has become something.

But will any of these have done enough to convince Richard

to part with his cash and get the backing they so badly need?

My mindset is this -

I want to take a gamble on some people that I think may get

there with a bit of help and a bit of advice and a bit of cash.

'If I really do believe that inside them there is someone that can make it'

then I'm going to be predisposed to giving them a go.

D-Day at Richard's HQ.

After six long weeks this is the moment they find out

if they've done enough to get investment.

I'm very confident in our products and our team.

I guess it's just seeing what happens.

We have done everything we can.

If I do get Richard's investment it would mean a lot

because it means he has faith in the product

and it would just be nice to get this out into stores

and get my work out there.

This could change my life. This is about being your own boss.

If I don't get investment it could take another year and a half,

two years, maybe three years.

They wait while Richard takes one last look at their business plans.

Anyone could get money, no-one could get money.

It's going to come down to whether they have got a good idea

and have got the ability to execute that idea.

I don't mean this with any disrespect,

but the business plan was pretty shonky.

Are you sure you need 300 grand to get it to market?

That seems like a lot of money.

The key costs are the manufacturing, the tooling,

because it's two big chunks of metal that are going to cast,

the top and bottom part.

Yes, it's just a bummer you have to take that risk ahead, isn't it?

What the design house are hoping to do is in four weeks' time

present an actual size prototype.

-What does it cost to get to that point?

-£20,000 plus.

-To get you to the pre-production process?

-Yes.

-OK.

Tell me what's new in the world of cut out paper dinosaurs?

All I had was one design which was the triceratops.

Since then I have developed the rest of the range.

-They look cute when they're all out together don't they?

-They make a nice set, yes.

I have got a few independent stores as well as museum

and a got turned away from a lot more places.

Yes, so you are having the experience of being at the sharp end

of business when you are out selling of people aren't interested?

Yes, unfortunately. It is stressful when you can't even get in front of them

to say, "I have this, do you want it?"

I don't know if that is something you would be able to help with.

-In what way?

-In terms of helping me get in front of them.

Um...

Well, I can always try, mate.

The reality is my network is pretty good in the world of fruit,

it is pretty bad in the world of cardboard dinosaurs.

Tell me, what have you done with the seed capital?

-Well...I'll let Louise go.

-We've done quite a few things with the seed capital.

We did a lot of work in terms of graphic design

on the new name and the logo. We had to pay for that.

We looked into intellectual property.

We wanted to know that we would be able to get the domains

if we changed our names and buy those up.

I thought we'd agreed you guys would focus on building a working prototype?

Yeah, we have...

We have a proposal, for how the website would be.

We do not necessarily have a working prototype.

We have got all the things in place of how it would be.

-Yes, but no prototype.

-No.

There's a big amount of money that's got to be invested upfront

to allow this thing to ever become real.

Yes. This is quite an early journey and I can understand that.

I don't want to scare you off, but we'll get there.

I just need that person that could change my life.

In my pocket just now I've got my resignation from my day job.

-You could make that decision for me.

-No, I can't, mate.

I really can't.

-I understand that.

-Only you can make that decision.

-Yes.

-This is your decision.

You've got to decide whether YOU want to resign from YOUR job, take the risk.

Yes.

Are you sure you want to be in business by yourself

because the reality is for it to be a successful business

you are going to have to spend 90 percent of your time

not designing, it will be on the selling,

on the producing, on the chasing invoices, all the gubbins.

The knowledge I had to wake up and do a business plan,

it turns out I hate numbers.

I love the designing aspect of it.

The business side not as much,

but I don't this is a cool little triceratops anymore.

I see this as numbers and boring leaflets and books full of information.

That does suck all the fun out of it for me.

But the vast majority of your time to make a success of you doing this by yourself

is going to have to be on what I would call the generic side of business.

I just wondered if that's going to bring you the maximum happiness.

As opposed to going to get a job in a company where you could be

employed almost full-time to do the creative and the designing.

If a company hired me

to do creative designing I would probably take that. If I'm honest.

What I think I've got here in front of me

is a group of people who are passionate about social media.

And probably very good at it.

Now we have developed this idea for the ultimate

destination for cyclists to buy and sell products.

We feel as if we have developed, with the help of cyclists,

and the help of businesses and the help of brands,

to really develop this concept,

this great social bicycle marketplace.

But that doesn't make a business.

Who is going to be the person in charge of HR?

Who is going to be the person in charge of finance?

A business is this multi-dimensional thing,

that you need someone to be good at each bit of it.

I am nervous that what you have got is a group of people that are good at one bit.

I am still try to tease out from you guys who's doing which of those bits.

In terms of running the business I am taking on the role of doing that.

Gerry is the founder. I look into the operations.

I will be the one who will be managing the business.

-He delegates what he needs to delegate.

-Can I offer some advice?

-Yes.

-Talk more.

I am not saying you talk less, but you talk more

because if you are trying to raise money from people, anyone

sat on my side of the table with their thinking about the business,

of course they want the idea

and the passion and the vision, of course.

Then once that's sold and landed in the first five minutes,

then you have to convince someone that they are going to be capable of delivering that vision.

I've seen the plan. I'm going to take a few minutes.

I wanted to hear what you guys had to say.

Thank you for answering my questions. Just give me a few minutes to consider and I will come back.

-Of course.

-Thank you.

I think he's got talent.

I don't know if he's going to be best served being an entrepreneur.

-Either way it's been a great experience.

-It's been fun.

We have learnt a lot.

We are talking like it's over already. We don't know yet.

I like them. He seems like a decent guy.

A passion and hobby does not a great business make.

The more I talk to him two things happen.

I get more convinced and I get less convinced simultaneously.

It's really strange.

I actually don't know what I'm going to do.

My question is, what are you after? Are you here to get investment?

I don't need investment. Money is not the issue.

At the moment this is about me investing in businesses

and I love you for being so honest.

You're saying you don't need the investment right now. Good for you for saying that.

OK. Path A of entrepreneurship or path B of being a paid designer.

-Yeah.

-I will commit to doing what I can to help you in either of those

paths once you have decided what's the right path for you.

That seems fair. Yeah.

-OK, mate, keep in touch, good luck.

-Take care.

-Cheers.

I'm not really sure where I'm going to go with it,

whether I'm going to become a full-time designer

or try and do it myself to see which path takes my fancy.

He's gone through the whole process, seen what it takes to set up

and run your own business. It is seriously hard work.

He has found it is not for him. I just wish him boatloads of luck.

-Hello, sorry to leave you.

-That's all right.

Dearie me.

Um... OK.

So I'm dealing with a guy who I think,

my sense of it is his strengths are the creativity...

I see you more as the inventor and the founder.

There is definitely a big fat hole in the finances

and the business side of things which

scares the bejesus out of me because the numbers to me are...way off.

Um...

How's this, right?

I'll put in £25,000.

-OK.

-What do you think?

Fabulous.

What can I say?

I feel like I want to give you a shot because I feel you deserve it. Do you know what I mean?

I'm not a charity. We're going to have to get it onto a business

footing, but we will help and support where we can.

-Thank you.

-All right. Well done.

-Thank you very much.

I'm blubbing like a big woman.

I thought I'd lost it earlier.

I was ready for being shown the door.

I've been shown the door with an opportunity to go to the next stage.

So...

A lot of hard work.

Sorry!

Business is never just about the stuff that's on paper.

It is also about the idea.

Every parent I've spoken to about Gary's car seat loves it.

So I'm really gunning for him. I hope he makes it.

Back again. I just wanted to properly think it through.

I like you guys. I like the area.

On the downside I am nervous about your ability to do the gubbins.

The actual business side of it.

Let's face it, it's a business. That's really important.

I'm not going to invest.

I think at this stage you're not investable.

I'm not saying you're not going to get there.

I'm not saying you're not going into a good area.

I want to invest in a business not in a community.

Communities typically are not monetarised. They're communities.

If I hang out with my friends to have a chat I don't want

someone trying to sell me something.

When I go shopping I don't want someone trying to be my friend.

I just want to buy the thing.

But you're younger than me and I could be out of touch

and that's maybe the way that the world is going.

OK. Thank you. I appreciate all the time and energy you have put into it.

'I took a pass on those guys today but eventually they will find

'someone who does believe and that could be your investor.

'That is the secret. You've just got to keep going.'

Richard's actually pushed our business forward

so in a sense that's not really disappointment,

it's more continuing the way we've been going on.

You get a lot of nos before you get a yes. One day we will get our yes.

Richard hunts down three more business ideas...

I get the mission,

I'm struggling to understand the business model.

-..before his HQ gets hijacked...

-Whose bright idea was that?

You can stick that up your skinny vines.

..things hit boiling point for the entrepreneurs...

It's not the fact that I'm going to have to spend

hours on the computer, but I have nothing.

That is the problem.

..and Richard goes crazy with his cash.

I would take the bet on you guys, so I will invest.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd