Here, Peter Jones talks about what it took to get him excited about one of his most profitable investments on Dragons’ Den and how Imran Hakim, founder of iTeddy, is a role model for any aspiring entrepreneur

It’s not very often that the people who brave the Dragon’s Den manage to impress Peter Jones but Imran Hakim did it. His i-teddy, a concept that combines a media player with a teddy bear, impressed Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis so much that they invested £140,000 for a 20 per cent share.

The person is key
When you’re thinking about investing in a product you’ve got to take into consideration the person, because that person is going to be responsible for taking the product to market. You need to evaluate if they have got the skills to do it.
What type of qualities are we looking for? We’re looking for someone that’s very clear and concise. We’re looking for somebody who has sheer drive, tenacity and enthusiasm. Have they researched their idea? Can they actually go and deliver it? Have they got experience? Have they done this type of thing before? It is very much about the person. And then when you get to their idea you are then evaluating whether their idea could make it in the market. Who is the competition? What’s the opportunity? What’s the profit margin? So there’s a whole raft of things that you have
to consider – you are looking at the person and the idea.

Investing in Imran
Imran Hakim’s concept struck me as a good investment, firstly because of the way he presented. He presented brilliantly. He gave a visual of his product which is great as you actually get to see in your own imagination and mind’s eye where that product could go. He was very clear about his vision. I thought he was extremely high spirited and entrepreneurial. He had all the right qualities but immediately I saw the product I thought ‘I can see that being in
every kid’s bedroom across the country.’ And now with the launch of this product potentially going worldwide, it’s very, very exciting.

A true entrepreneur
I think Imran is a real true entrepreneur. He is making it happen, he is doing it. We’ve had board meetings at lunch time where Theo and I have said, ‘We need to make these changes to i-teddy, you need to make theses changes now.’ He’s literally picking up the phone, booking his flight, getting on a plane to China at 4’o clock that afternoon. That’s what it takes. You have to go that little extra mile if you want to be a real, make it happen entrepreneur and he
is one of those people.

Making a million
Imran is the first millionaire from Dragon’s Den so, from a standing start, he’s already made his million pounds, which is fantastic. Not in value terms, in real money. Imran is a great role model to anyone who wants to go and start a business. Honest, diligent, hard working, a true example of a fine entrepreneur and that’s why I enjoy working with him.

It’s not what you know, it’s who you know
With Imran, what we brought was the fact that you’ve got doors that obviously can open, by working with Theo and I. We know people, we can make calls so it makes it easier to do transactions. But I don’t want to take anything away from Imran because he already had those entrepreneurial qualities, he’s already been the person to make all this happen. So for us it was just about steering him, helping him, being there and putting a team around to actually say, ‘We’re with you and actually let’s think about these ideas together’. So the ticking the box of whose done it all is Imran but I think we’ve sort of helped along the way.

Good luck Duncan
The most important thing is that the Dragon kicking himself more than anybody is Duncan because Duncan said ‘It will never work, I couldn’t see it.’ It’s just great! Music to my ears that i-teddy is now not just a UK bestseller, it is about to be a global bestseller. So bad luck Duncan, good luck next time!