Lots of people recognise Trunki from BBC's Dragons' Den - Our first appearance on the show was back in 2006 when Trixie got quite a grilling (you can read Terrance's account of the day below), since then we've been on three more comeback shows and Trunki is widely recognised as 'the one that got away' with both Duncan Bannatyne and Peter Jones admitting on national television that they missed out. If you can't remember our first appearance you can jog your memory on the video below.
Now you're familiar with Trunki and Dragons' Den watch what happened when Theo 'The Destroyer' Paphitis visited Trunki Towers to see how we were doing three years on...
The Tale of Terrance, Trixie and the Five Dragons Told by Terrance Trunki
My sister and I were very excited to go to London in the spring of 2006 – we had heard stories about Dragons but nothing could have prepared us for what happened in the Den. We were in the Den for over fifty minutes with our Daddy Rob and what you saw on the TV were theatrical highlights, which the BBC edited to make an entertaining show. We were very nervous being carried up the steps but fortunately Daddy reassured us that they were not real dragons, but very successful business people.
Daddy’s pitch went very well and I was delighted to have Richard take me for a spin. We explained about our impressive sales figures that included us travelling to the Big Apple to be sold in the Museum of Modern Art and Japan and that approx 20,000 of us had been sold pr ior to the show. Trixie was a bit nervous when scary Deborah wanted to take her for a tow but she kept close to her heels and thought she was quite impressed. However she ended up next to Theo’s feet a dragon that usually makes her hide behind the sofa when he’s on the telly. To Trixie’s horror Theo started man-handling her, he then started tugging really hard on her strap and ended up pulling it off. Poor Trixie fainted and left Daddy speechless!
Even though my strap had withstood towing fully grown adults, Richard and Daddy several minutes earlier, Theo just didn’t understand we were designed for children (I think he was jealous he didn’t get towed on one himself!). Although no one had complained about our hooks before, Daddy talked to the factory after filming and in next to no time they made our hooks in a new stronger material! We also couldn’t believe that Theo stated Mothercare would never sell us; however we’re delighted to prove him wrong as we are in our third season supplying them! When the Dragons said our valuation of the business was ridiculous, Daddy said he had been to see a professional investment analyst for funding earlier in the year who, by the way, had read his business plan (unlike the Dragons). We couldn’t believe it when they said the analyst should have his license revoked!
Having watched the whole series, it seems that no matter how much you ask for, or how far developed your business is, they always want between 40 – 50% equity! Before the show we thought Peter might like to be our friend, however he gave Daddy a very rough time as he thought we were just there for an advert (unlike him just being there to boost his own ego, although we are sorry to hear his ITV show Tycoon has been canned). Daddy was there because he needed money to rapidly expand globally, and bust the boredom for children around the world. How he could say “You think you have something, I tell you you don’t, your company is currently worthless”, when over 19,000 of us had been sold!
We’re delighted to say that since filming, a further 280,000 of us are helping relieve the tears and tantrums of travelling with tots. In fact our Turnover has tripled since the programme aired in September 06! Daddy said our ‘Trunki’ name was the most imp ortant part of our business, he calls it a ‘Trademark’ and was gob smacked when Peter clearly showed little understanding of the value of our brand, stating “so what you’ve got a name, we’ve got ‘Dunki’ pointing at Duncan Bannatyne, Trixie and I thought this was funny, but Daddy didn’t. By now he was worn down by the Dragons outlandish comments that had him confused as to what value, if any, they could really add to our business.
Despite all the harsh criticism, Richard said he thought we were a great idea and Daddy did a deal with him so he could take us back to Monaco to live with his children happily ever after….. …..2 weeks later a Coutts cheque arrived in the post from Monaco, although it stayed on the pin board for a couple of days, Daddy had to cash it to buy more of us. You will be happy to hear that since her traumatic encounter with Theo, Trixie is now out of counselling but still shudders with fear every time she is read ‘Puff the Magic Dragon”! The End…..
