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WaterBuoy floatation device - Waterbuoy and the Dragons' Den

Waterbuoy entered the Dragons’ Den, BBC2’s hit TV show

James Halliburton, the man behind Waterbuoy, bravely entered the Dragons’ Den first in the fifth series of BBC2’s hit TV show on Monday 19th November 2007 at 21.00, where he faced the fierce panel of financial investors with Waterbuoy, his ingenious emergency floatation device that saves boaters’ dropped valuables from a watery grave.

Waterbuoy was a massive hit and James Halliburton walked away from his pitch with one of the best deals ever offered by the Dragons. This, combined with a veritable feeding-frenzy at the METS show in Amsterdam, means that Waterbouy is now one of the hottest retail products in the marine and leisure sector.

“I was quite calm on the day of filming,” explains James Halliburton. “One thing that I knew was in my favour is the fact that I have a working Waterbuoy product that the Dragons can invest in, it’s not an idea or a set of products that don’t exist yet. The design, manufacturing tooling, branding, patenting even the packaging is all finished – I was there to get them interested and to get their help with the retailing side of the business.”

“The Dragons’ Den TV studio is a very strange environment, unlike any business meeting you’ve ever been into. It’s quite intimidating and I can see why some people just lose it when the cameras roll – it is very intense. I was quite calm waiting for my turn in front of the cameras – but that feeling didn’t last long! Soon, it was time for me to enter the Dragons’ Den and I was facing the panel.” – Now they want him back!

After a brief explanation and a dramatically successful demonstration of the Waterbuoy product, James had their attention. Fortunately, some of the dragons had first-hand experience of losing items when fishing or boating and a very good grasp of the markets involved.

Theo Paphitis, Peter Jones, and new Dragon James Kahn, instantly showed an interest in the Waterbuoy and began a bidding war. “Two camps emerged, Theo and Peter combined their efforts against James [Kahn] and I was left with a choice between the two. For the purposes of the show and due to Peter and Theo’s experience in the more relevant retail sectors, I settled with their offer of £200,000.”

“We have been developing plans since the close of filming and we are currently negotiating the best way forward.” The episode itself has caused a wave [ha! ha!] of interest, website traffic has soared and Waterbuoy is taking an impressive volume of pre-orders through the new on-line chandlery at www.water-buoy.com, the only place on the Internet that you can buy Waterbuoy at the moment. However, UK, European and USA distribution deals are now nearing completion and the first big batches of retail product are expected in shops before Christmas.