Originally written on 9 October 2009. Updated May 2025 for republication.
This week’s Dragons’ Den online included Darren Fenton from Northern Ireland, whom Julie and I both warmed to. His presentation was logical and engaging, and he made a good first impression. The problem was that the product he wanted us to invest in had little going for it. If I’m rude, it was a torch with an elongated bit on the top to make it look like a shortened version of the Star Wars lightsabre. We couldn’t see how it would make money. The other issue was that if it started to make money, it would take no time flat for a prominent manufacturer to imitate it and pretty much put him out of business: he had no patents, of course, because you can’t patent a torch!
But he was good, and I would be glad to talk to him again about the possibility of getting together in a business that sold a product with legs.
It made me think about how I choose my business partners. In the end, if truth be told, I invest in people rather than products. I still want to be sure that what I call a product/market exists. Product/markets is a simple concept that says your company does not have a product unless there is a market. Ask yourself, “What am I selling and to whom am I selling it?” But investing in people means that I look folk in the eye and decide whether they have the passion, the commitment and what I call the business nous to take a product to market. Darren had all of that, and I hope he finds a feasible product/market that will take him into a successful business.
The person that Julie and I invested in, David Warr, had a well-developed product with a feasible and potentially significant market.
Tip from Shaf – Measuring People Up
I use a simple formula to decide whether I want to work for me or with me. Do I trust the person? Could my people and I work with them? Are they good at the job they are going to do? In some ways, the first two questions are more important than the third.
I’ve said before that anyone can be an entrepreneur, and I believe that. However, I’m working on a checklist that people can use to see if they fit into the profile of an entrepreneur now or, if they don’t, what they might do to correct their weaknesses. Watch this space!
In football they say, “play the man not the ball”. In business I say hire the person not the product.
This blog, originally written in 2009, reflects my thoughts on investing in people—a principle that still drives how I evaluate opportunities today.
