TRURO, N.S. – Maybe they don’t need the Dragons after all. Sometimes, just rubbing elbows is enough.
That’s the way things look with the New Age Performance Mouthware team who have been working on an offer they received from three Dragons’ Den members during a taping of the CBC Television show in April 2017.
“The momentum in the company has been absolutely great,” said company partner and Truro dentist Anil Makkar. “And opportunities are coming to us. Dragon’s Den was a catalyst that got us to where we are today. It really jump-started our business, being on that show.”
It was revealed during the show’s airing last September that all six of the business moguls made offers on a partnership with the New Age Performance mouth piece and mouth guard company.
In the end, Makkar and partners Rob Charlton and Pete Czerwinski settled on a deal with Dragons Michele Romanow, Arlene Dickinson and Joe Mimran who agreed to invest $100,000 for six per cent of the company's royalties, over a seven-year period.
During the course of working through the due diligence process, however, Charlton, as company CEO, questioned what the Dragons would be contributing to New Age besides the monetary investment.
“Because basically, at the end of the day we’re looking for their guidance and their mentorship to take us to where we want to go,” Makkar said. “Their response was: ‘You guys are doing all the right stuff. We don’t know how much more we can help you with.’
“So, at the end of the day, we’re like, we’re executing this the way we are supposed to. We’re doing well with this, why do we want to give royalties, right?” Makkar said.
“So, we left that with them and said, ‘if you guys want to do the deal come back and tell us what you are going to give us as mentorship and guidance.’ So that’s where it stands.”
Both Charlton and Chief Financial Officer Janine Taylor are both recognized for their business and marketing experience, Makkar said, and have been taking the company in the right direction.
“The momentum in the company has been absolutely great,” he said “The sales have been really, really good every month. We do mostly online sales but the bonus for us is, we now have international distribution.”
That includes distributors in China and Singapore and Makkar said the company is also beginning to see a lot of repeat customers.
And regardless of whether New Age ultimately signs on with the Dragons, Makkar credits the “phenomenal show” for giving his company “huge” exposure. He highly recommends it for others looking for a similar boost.
“It’s hard to predict what will happen because we left it in their ballpark right now.”
