Make-up for men and shoes with three edges on “The Lion’s Den”: The products range from very practical to crazy. The biggest sensation is a mini wedge for the molars.
“No, please don’t do that!” pleaded Judith Williams. Ralf Dümmel shouted: “Do you know what you’re missing out on? Teleshopping, listings in all the drugstores…!” And Tillman Schulz was completely lost: “I think I’m watching the wrong film.” There has never been so much disbelief in the “Lion’s Den”. The bone of contention was made of silicone: two tiny dental bridges that are supposed to relieve tension in the neck, shoulder and back by stretching the jaw muscles. A miniature miracle, if it works.
The two founders – a physiotherapist and a medical product consultant from Franconia – call their invention “Tj-Motion”. And they were so impressed by Dagmar Wöhrl’s quick and unpretentious offer (“I’ll give you the 200,000 euros you asked for on your terms”) that they didn’t wait for any more offers and immediately gave the Franconian family businesswoman the nod. A displacement activity? A Franconian connection? Or simply a misunderstanding? The rest of the investor group was in an uproar. Dümmel, who had already filled the republic with thousands of “Tj-Motion” displays in his mind, was biting his nails. And Judith Williams lamented the outflow of capital to her fellow lion: “This is the strongest deal we’ve ever had.”
Dagmar Wöhrl hits the bullseye at darts
But the beauty entrepreneur didn’t go away empty-handed in the second DHDL episode. She landed the deal with “maleup”, a make-up line for men – developed by two amateur boxers and cleverly marketed via TikTok. The founding duo confidently stepped into the ring and quickly made it clear that they would not sell off their company shares so easily. When Williams tried to swindle them for 20 percent instead of 10 percent (“I really want to do this with you”), they refused – and made a counter offer: double the lion’s power plus an increase in the investment amount from 150,000 to 200,000 euros. Williams reluctantly agreed and had to share the business with Tillman Schulz.
“The Lion’s Den”
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As in every show, not all pitches were successful. This time, two startups even left the studio without funding. With “Karanga”, a peanut sauce with a particularly high peanut content, the lions saw the danger of being copied (Williams: “Brand, brand, brand and storytelling – you have to be unique”). For the presentation of a special dart shoe, the founders of “triple20” even brought a handful of fans into the studio and held a blitz tournament with the lions. The findings of the throwing: Dagmar Wöhrl is a natural talent, Ralf Dümmel is not. And according to the jury, the shoes offer a stable hold and are even comfortable. But: The market is too small to make real money. Or as Dümmel put it: “People don’t go to the pub to play darts with special shoes.”
Self-optimization board at “The Lion’s Den”
In contrast, it was somewhat surprising that the “Micale Visions Board” found an investor. It is a slightly better, completely analogue album in which you can put motivational cards with pictures and affirmations. Sayings like “Old ways do not open new doors” or “The person who falls and gets up again is so much stronger than the person who has never fallen” did not exactly get the lions out of their chairs. Janna Ensthaler was incensed by the price, which she felt was too high (just under 80 euros). Ralf Dümmel found the product “extremely in need of explanation”. Only Tijen Onaran apparently had the right mindset for the market opportunities of the self-optimization board. She paid the two founders the 150,000 euros they wanted, but refrained from any false caution when negotiating the shares: 40 instead of 20 percent.
Transparency note: Like Vox, Stern is part of RTL Germany.
Source: Stern
