The pitch
What walked into the Den
Tracie Herrtage brought Le Beanock to Dragons' Den in season 1, which aired in 2005.
In the pitch, Le Beanock asked the Dragons for £54,000 for 49% of the business, valuing the business at about £110,204.
After the show
What happened next
On air, Le Beanock agreed a deal of £54,000 for 49%, backed by RachelElnaugh. The terms are quoted from the aired episode as public record.
Our read
The Hub verdict
This one goes back to the very beginning. Le Beanock appeared in season 1, the show's 2005 debut run, when Rachel Elnaugh still sat in the Den. Tracie Herrtage offered a striking 49% of her beanbag-hammock business for 54,000 pounds, nearly half the company, which prices the whole thing at around 110,000 pounds. Handing over that much equity is rare even now, and it speaks to how founders in the early series often treated a Dragon as a near-equal partner rather than a minority backer. Elnaugh agreed at the numbers pitched. A Dragon taking 49 percent in the show's first year is a neat snapshot of a format still working out what it was.
A season-one deal that handed a Dragon almost half the company.
