Not everything presented in the third episode of “The Lion’s Den” turned out to be a real must-have. The lions weren’t exactly bubbling over with enthusiasm, but they invested anyway – in a delivery service for balcony flowers, for example. Somehow the coal has to go.
Carsten Maschmeyer had a flashback when pitching “The Plant Box”. Suddenly he was back on his mother’s balcony and looked at the lovingly arranged flower boxes. And like many who come from poor backgrounds and have come into money, he told of his wealth. “I have the privilege,” he said with barely concealed pride, “that I have somewhat larger gardens.” One can probably speak more of parks. The question remained: What does a venture capitalist want with a flower power company?
The presented products:
• Bavarian BBQ Rescher
The stainless steel attachment should ensure that the grilled food gets a crispy crust.
• The Plant Box
The arranged flower sets are delivered in a plant sock made of sheep’s wool and only have to be placed in the window boxes at home.
• Rest T
The shirt can be inflated into a rescue cushion in seconds and is intended to guarantee water sports enthusiasts safety and mobility at the same time.
• Smart Braille
The e-book reader, equipped with special software, is intended to give blind people access to more literature.
• WireStyle
The thread pictures, made with the help of a robot, consist of thousands of nails and can represent preset or personalized motifs.
The most colorful balcony in “The Lion’s Den”
“We need support for everything that has to do with scalability.” This is music to the ears of lions. The recapitulation of the pattern set by one of the two founders of “The Plant Box” followed promptly. “Grow, grow, grow!” chanted Carsten Maschmeyer when he – in a double pack with Judith Williams – had come to an agreement with the start-up. For the deal, the major investor had to virtually compost his capitalism – or as he put it himself: “My garden heart defeated my capital head.”
Not all of the jury members were convinced of the flower women’s business model. Balcony plants that are wrapped in sheep’s wool and delivered to your home ready to plant – is that more than a “lovable thing” (Kofler)? Nico Rosberg feared the follow-up costs beyond the required 90,000 euros investment. “You need a website and a merchandise management system – I calculate in my head with 300,000 euros.” For Maschmeyer, these are nothing more than peanuts. “I say through the flower: deal.”
Grill deal of the week
Crack, crunch, crack – delicious such a Wammerl. Especially when it’s grilled really crispy. “Resch” means something like crispy in the rest of Germany. The founders of (der stern tested the product) even placed the Bavarian dialect term directly in the name of their grill attachment and wished the sponsors “An Guadn”. This is best spoken with meat in the mouth. For vegetarians, this pitch was a nightmare. Dead calves were munching on their bellies, the fat ran down the chins of the lions. Nils Glagau was delirious from the best “crunch experience” of his life, and everyone praised the “popping of the skin”. Above all, Ralf Dümmel found the Wammerl and the cheeky types “fragrant”. And of course the money he rakes in with it. “Pack me’it!”
The most hyped idea
Is it art or do you hang it up at some point? Georg Kofler wasn’t so sure about the works of “WireStyle”. “It may be that the picture bores you at some point,” he mused. Ralf Dümmel, on the other hand, was on fire: “The wow effect is amazing!” A robot uses thousands of nails and kilometers of thread to knit a picture together in an hour. The “artists” are a qualified physicist, a software developer – and the machine. Nils Glagau undoubtedly saw an artistic will at work in this and buttered 200,000 euros into the robot manufactory.
applause and out
Blind people have been reading with their fingers for almost 200 years. Braille is the tactile script. The problem: There is little printed literature for this target group. Smartbraille wants to change that. A software converts e-books into a braille book that can be read with a specific tool. Everything is still in the prototype phase. The lions thought the idea was great – but how many blind people read Braille are there actually in Germany? The somewhat pushy founder, himself the author of several thrillers, reported between 70,000 and 100,000. The verdict of the expert jury: uncapitalizable.
The three of Res-T wanted a cool life jacket for cool peopleSelling. The stylish shirt, which has an integrated air cartridge, is said to cost almost 150 euros. For legal reasons, it cannot be called “life jacket”, only “buoyancy aid”. That sounds extremely uncool. Nils Glagau: “I’m not convinced that the cool people are willing to spend so much money.” Res-T went for a swim.
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Source: Stern
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
