Here Be Dragons

For those of us in Hursley who are old fashioned enough to still have TVs, a must watch has always been, Dragons Den. People with ideas or businesses have to present to a set of investors with the hope that they will pay for a stake in their company. It can often seem very similar to the sort of thing we have to do here, presenting emerging technology to customers, or trying to convince our IP attorneys about a patent disclosure.

One of the businesses yesterday was doing online downloads, but with the songs dynamically mixing together when transitioning from one to the other. He did a great job of explaining the idea, won over the investors and got the funding. A much better job than I did several years ago trying to patent an idea for desynchronising music to make it feel more live. The idea was that you’d download the song, but it’d never sound exactly the same twice. So maybe the title, “Britney Spears In Your Living Room” didn’t help with some of the more traditional reviewers. Luckily, a great mentor in the form of an IBM master inventor wouldn’t let them win and it did at least get published (hit guest user and then go the url again – great i know). Next week, my brilliant idea for centripetal submarines…

4 thoughts on “Here Be Dragons

  1. What they never tell you about the show is that none of the deals have actually ever gone ahead; there is always a complication which means that the investment does not go ahead, for example lies told in the presentation uncovered in the paperwork, no rights or patents exist and also silent partners that become vocal where money is concerned.

    This is why we have not seen a follow up programme on the successes so far!

    Having said that, I too enjoy the programme for which I see two rules to presenters 1) always offer half of what you ACTUALLY intend on giving away 2) always have a patent

  2. I think it’s only a matter of time before Britney runs over a photographer and kills ’em. What happened to that sweet old Britney we used to know and love?

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