Dragons Notice Entrepreneur Pitching From Cue Cards | Dragons' Den Canada

Summary

Vancouver entrepreneur Jordan Yuridi pitches his startup, ultimateadventure.ca, to the dragons seeking $30,000 for a 20% stake. The business model revolves around organizing group adventures at reduced prices by leveraging bulk buying. Despite Jordan's enthusiasm and personal experience in adventure tourism, the dragons express concerns over the scalability and logistics of the venture. They question the company's preparedness and ability to guarantee merchant discounts without assured participation. Ultimately, the dragons decline the investment, citing the business model's lack of scalability and the high risk involved.

Takeaways

• 🚀 Jordan Yuridi, a Vancouver entrepreneur, is seeking $30,000 for 20% of his business, UltimateAdventure.ca.
• 💡 The business model aims to address issues faced by merchants and customers in the daily deal industry by offering organized group adventures at reduced prices.
• 🎯 Jordan's company leverages bulk buying, a strategy proven by the daily deal industry, and combines it with event planning to offer unique experiences.
• 🏔 The adventures range from once-in-a-lifetime experiences like skydiving and bungee jumping to more accessible activities that appeal to a broader audience.
• 💼 The revenue model involves negotiating with merchants for discounted rates in exchange for guaranteed customer numbers, similar to Groupon and LivingSocial.
• 📈 Jordan emphasizes the business's ability to guarantee specific dates and numbers of attendees, which is a key differentiator from traditional daily deal sites.
• 📉 The dragons express concerns about the scalability and logistics of organizing such events, questioning the business's long-term viability.
• 💸 The business is in its early stages, with Jordan valuing the company despite having no inventory, brick-and-mortar presence, or distribution concerns.
• 🚫 The dragons ultimately reject the pitch, citing the business model's lack of scalability, high risk, and the inability to leverage the large adventure tourism market effectively.
• 💭 The dragons also critique Jordan's pitch preparation, suggesting he was unprepared to address their concerns and did not effectively communicate his business strategy.

Q & A

What is the name of the startup that Jordan Yuridi is seeking funding for?

The name of the startup is ultimateadventure.ca.

How much funding is Jordan Yuridi asking for and what percentage of his business is he offering in return?

Jordan Yuridi is asking for thirty thousand dollars for twenty percent of his business.

What problem did Jordan identify in the daily deal industry that his company aims to solve?

Jordan identified problems with both merchants and customers in the daily deal industry that his company aims to fix.

What is the unique selling proposition of Jordan's company?

The unique selling proposition is organizing group adventures and offering them at a reduced price to the public by using the method of bulk buying.

What kind of adventures does Jordan's company offer?

The company offers a range of adventures from once-in-a-lifetime experiences like skydiving and bungee jumping to more everyday activities.

How does Jordan's company plan to make money?

The company plans to make money by negotiating with merchants for lower prices in exchange for guaranteeing a specific number of customers on a given date.

What is the main difference between Jordan's business model and traditional daily deal sites like Groupon?

The main difference is that Jordan's business model guarantees a specific date and number of people for the merchants, which allows for better negotiation on pricing.

What is the risk that Jordan's company takes on by guaranteeing a specific number of people for an event?

The risk is that if fewer people show up than guaranteed, the company still has to pay the merchant for the guaranteed minimum number of seats.

What are the operational advantages of Jordan's business model?

The operational advantages include having no inventory, no brick and mortar, and no distribution, which reduces overhead costs.

What concerns do the investors express about Jordan's business model?

The investors express concerns about the lack of scalability, the high risk involved in guaranteeing events, and the early stage of the business without any proven revenue.

What is the final outcome of Jordan's pitch to the investors?

The investors decline to invest in Jordan's business, citing concerns about the business model's scalability and the lack of preparedness for the pitch.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 Pitching an Adventure Startup

Jordan Yuridi, a Vancouver entrepreneur, is seeking $30,000 for 20% of his business, ultimateadventure.ca. He moved to Vancouver to work for a daily deal company and identified issues with both merchants and customers. His startup aims to resolve these issues by organizing group adventures at reduced prices, leveraging the bulk buying method from the daily deal industry combined with event planning. Jordan explains his business model, which involves negotiating with merchants for lower prices in exchange for guaranteed customer numbers, and discusses the risks and challenges of his venture, including the lack of inventory and the need for logistics in organizing events. Despite the potential for high costs and effort, he believes his business model is scalable and justifies his request for funding.

05:02

📉 Critique of the Business Model

The second paragraph reveals the dragons' critique of Jordan's business model. They argue that many businesses fail due to underfunding or overexpansion, and they believe Jordan's pitch lacks preparation and a solid strategy. The dragons point out that Jordan's model is not scalable and has no leverage, as he cannot guarantee a minimum number of customers to merchants. They also express frustration that Jordan has not provided any revenue figures or a clear plan to capitalize on the $1.9 billion adventure tourism market in BC. The dragons feel that Jordan has wasted their time and that his idea is not investable, leading them to decide against funding his venture.

Keywords

💡Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is an individual who organizes and operates a business, taking on financial risks to do so, with the goal of making a profit. In the video, Jordan Yuridi is portrayed as an entrepreneur seeking funding for his startup, 'ultimateadventure.ca', which is focused on organizing group adventures at reduced prices.

💡Funding

Funding refers to the capital provided for a project or business venture. In the script, Jordan is attempting to secure $30,000 in funding from the dragons (investors) in exchange for a 20% stake in his business, illustrating the concept of seeking financial support to grow his venture.

💡Bulk Buying

Bulk buying is the practice of purchasing large quantities of goods or services at a discount. Jordan's business model involves bulk buying to negotiate lower prices for adventure activities, which is a key strategy in the daily deal industry and is central to his pitch.

💡Event Planning

Event planning involves organizing and coordinating activities for a specific event. Jordan's company combines bulk buying with event planning to offer organized group adventures, showcasing the importance of logistics and coordination in creating memorable experiences for customers.

💡Daily Deal Industry

The daily deal industry typically refers to businesses that offer discounted gift certificates usable at local or national companies. Jordan mentions this industry as inspiration, indicating that his business model is influenced by the success of companies like Groupon and LivingSocial.

💡Merchants

Merchants are business owners who sell goods or services. In the context of the video, Jordan negotiates with merchants to provide his customers with discounted adventure experiences, highlighting the relationship between his business and the service providers.

💡Risk

Risk is the potential for loss or injury. The dragons express concern about the risks involved in Jordan's business model, particularly the lack of guaranteed attendance and the potential for financial loss if not enough customers sign up for the adventures.

💡Inventory

Inventory refers to the goods or products held by a business. Jordan mentions that his business model has no inventory, which is advantageous as it eliminates the need for physical storage and reduces overhead costs associated with traditional retail.

💡Scalability

Scalability is the ability of a business to increase output to accommodate growth. The dragons question the scalability of Jordan's business, suggesting that the manual nature of organizing events may limit its potential for expansion.

💡Investment Perspective

An investment perspective considers the potential for financial return on an investment. The dragons evaluate Jordan's business from this perspective, questioning its viability as an investment due to concerns about scalability, lack of leverage, and the business's early stage.

Highlights

Jordan Yuridi, a Vancouver entrepreneur, seeks $30,000 for 20% of his startup, ultimateadventure.ca.

The business model combines bulk buying with event planning to offer group adventures at reduced prices.

Jordan highlights the problem-solving aspect of his business, addressing issues faced by merchants and customers in the daily deal industry.

The company organizes a variety of adventures, from once-in-a-lifetime experiences like skydiving to more accessible options.

Jordan emphasizes the cost and effort savings for customers by organizing these adventures.

The business negotiates with merchants for discounts in exchange for guaranteed customer numbers.

Jordan explains the difference between his service and daily deal sites like Groupon and LivingSocial.

The business model carries no inventory and has no brick-and-mortar operations, reducing overhead.

Jordan acknowledges the business is in an early stage and requires funding for further development.

Investors express concerns about the business's scalability and logistical challenges.

Jordan is challenged on his preparedness and the investability of his business model.

One investor is critical of the lack of leverage and scalability in the business strategy.

Jordan is told that his business idea is not investable in its current form.

The discussion reveals a lack of revenue and underfunding as potential issues for the business.

The investor panel decides not to invest, citing concerns about the business model and its potential for growth.

Jordan's pitch is criticized for wasting the investors' time and not presenting a viable business strategy.

Transcripts

next up a Vancouver entrepreneur who

hopes to find funding for his

adventurous startup

[Music]

hello dragons my name is Jordan yuridi

I'm from Vancouver BC

I'm here today to ask you for thirty

thousand dollars for twenty percent of

my business ultimateadventure.ca

it's two and a half years ago I moved to

Vancouver to work for a daily deal

company and found that there were many

problems with both the merchants and the

customers

um

my company not only fixes these problems

but puts together organized group

adventures and offers them at a reduced

price to the public

we take the proven method of the bulk

buying excuse me we take the proven

method of bulk buying from the United

States if you're running a cue card you

don't know your deal

if you can't explain your business

you're never going to sell it to me

so give me the cue cards

all right sorry man that's real life you

can do it you know you know it you seem

very competent relax

so what my company does is it takes a

takes the proven method of bulk buying

that the daily deal industry has proven

and combines it with event planning to

be able to offer these sort of

Adventures to the everyday public at a

reduced price

so bulk buying a like skiing or ski

event trips or yeah so what we'll do is

we'll put together a an adventure of

some sort whether it be something that

is a once in a lifetime experience like

skydiving like bungee jumping or so on

so forth all the way down to something

that appeals to the everyday person what

are we looking at here with all the

pictures going on these are actually

pictures of things that I've done just

to show you because not only do I speak

from experience on this but I'm able

wait a minute what's that Adventure

uh that is an Oktoberfest event so that

would be something that has a little bit

more of a Mass Appeal to the broader

market we've got a pretty exciting life

going on I have actually oh my God yeah

so the in order to do something like

this on your own it can be quite

expensive it can take a lot of uh a lot

of time and effort to try and find

somebody to go with a lot of

coordination okay I get that but how do

I make money so how you would make money

is we've seen from the daily deal

industry such as Groupon and living

social we take that same sort of concept

and go up to the merchants and say you

know what I'm going to bring you a bunch

of business but you need to give it to

me at a significantly lower price

because i'm doing all the work and

bringing you all the business but what

makes you different than the daily deal

what makes us different is we're able to

guarantee a specific date a specific

number of people

so let's say a tour operator a

helicopter ride operator has in a day

100 seats available and you want to tie

that whole day up with your idea so

you're going to guarantee him a hundred

people and he'll drop his price by what

20 30 percent okay well with that so

part of the negotiation is I will go

deal with the merchants and I say I'm

not going to guarantee a specific number

because I have no way why would he give

you a discount because I'm guaranteeing

you a minimum seats wait I'm about to

get there so no matter whether someone

shows up or not you're going to pay me

right

what we can do is we can arrange some

sort of payment on that now you might

want to know exactly what does that mean

does it offset the risk on you now to

get 25 people in those seats

yes it is it does put a lot of risk on

me

now one of the great things about this

business model is we have no inventory

no brick and mortar no distribution we

don't have to worry about any of that so

and you also have no sight

it is very early and that's part of the

reason I'm asking for the thirty

thousand dollars here's the big problem

this is not an automated online business

this is uh no you roll up your sleeve

I'm not worried about you coming into my

adventure facility I'll take the

business at 20 off if I'm worried about

your business because when you start

having to organize all these events

you're talking Logistics are going to

kill you it's going to be it's not going

to scale

I do see your concern with that now one

of the greatest you do see a concern

with that I do concede your concern with

that I'm out

it is very early there's not a huge huge

amount in terms of the valuation of what

I'm valuing the company at but this is

what I need right now the company is a

domain name number one it is but number

two you're a tour promoter you're just

using the internet a little bit here and

there to help the people register but

from an investment perspective I don't

think it's ever going to be investable

okay so for that and a lot of other

reasons I'm out good luck

okay

Jordan you demonstrated that business is

probably the scariest Adventure you can

go on and that started right from when

you came in here right you've done a lot

of stuff absolutely ever being more

scared than you were right then you look

more comfortable with that blonde in

Germany than you did coming out here but

my gonna be this I think

you're out there I'm not sure

[Music]

I'm not 100 sure I'm following what you

mean by that I

okay so many businesses fail because

they're either A underfund or B they try

to grow too fast so one of the things

that I want to do is obviously to

reinvest a lot of the revenue backwards

you don't have any Revenue you weren't

even ready prepared to come in here to

pitch us for this

I I was prepared over no you weren't um

you're not prepared for a pitch you

don't get the money I'm out

Jordan let's take stock

you want me to give you thirty thousand

dollars to experiment with a business

strategy that most people here think is

stillborn right out of the gate because

you have no leverageability and you

can't scale it 1.9 billion dollars in

the province of BC alone was spent on

what they call Adventure tourism you

have no way to make money off that

information and here's the issue this is

a very valuable space you stand in

thousands of people try and come here of

which a few hundred get a chance

you've completely wasted our time and

made sure that somebody else had a

better idea that I could have made some

money on isn't there instead which

really drives me crazy I'm very unhappy

with you

I'm out okay

[Music]

Kevin you didn't need to be that mean to

him not mean

you can help them understand what's

wrong without it's not my job I'm not

here teaching anybody this is the advice

then

that sucked you don't need to give

advice just don't have to wait that's a

jerk

next