A COUPLE who failed to dazzle on Dragons’ Den have had the last laugh as their beach towel business is now worth a blinding £2million.
Entrepreneurs David and Sarah Glashan failed to impress the multimillionaire panel with their bag that opens up into a sun lounger topper – but they’ve more than proved their doubters wrong in the years since.
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They entered the lair in 2006 asking for £250,000 for a 20 per cent stake in Itsa but were quickly scoffed out of the room.
Health club owner Duncan Bannatyne said: “I don’t like it. I wouldn’t use it”, before later adding: “I couldn’t work with you.”
Australian investor Richard Farleigh described David’s strategy as a “mistake”, while Peter Jones, estimated to be worth an estimated £1.157bn, said: “I don’t think you’ll sell the volume you expect.”
More than a decade later though and the Glashans have certainly found success.
The “multi-functional” Itsa, which has pockets to store your valuables, won a Double Gold Award at the British Invention Show and is now used by hundreds of thousands of people around the world.
What’s more, the business is valued at just shy of £2m.
David and Sarah, who used to run a computer consumables company, came up with the idea after countless sand-covered trips to the beach while travelling post-retirement.
They grew fed up with their belongings getting filled with grit so designed the Itsa, which retails at £29.99.
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Wanting to get their “luxury” towel, which folds into a bag, in front of the masses, they applied to appear on Dragons’ Den.
Producers of the hit BBC show loved the concept and David and Sarah appeared before the investors, but walked away empty-handed.
David, from Thorpe Bay, Essex, said: “We were filmed for over two and a half hours and received a 12-minute edited slaughter.
“I was embarrassed by the way we were shown.
“But we featured in their follow up shows How to Win in the Den and Where Are They Now? so thanks for the exposure.
“Itsa is now valued at just less than £2m.”
‘I’LL TAKE YOU TO COURT’
In a now iconic clip, David threatens to take Theo Paphitis to court for saying someone might copy their idea.
Theo tells him: “I was selling these eight years ago, the duffle bag type as opposed to a square bag and without the secret pocket at the end and the pockets at the side.
“Somebody could quite easily do their own.
To which David replies: “I will challenge you if you want to bring one out to copy me, because I’ll take you to court, I won’t think twice about it.”
Theo then claims he was there first before David hits back again to say: “No, it doesn’t matter. If you put the pockets on the side, you’re copying it.”
Reflecting on this words 16 years later, David said: “It would have been impossible to take him to court.
“Financially we weren’t strong enough.”
After launching the original Itsa, David and Sarah released several fresh versions in different sizes, colours and fabrics.
They also designed a beach wrap, pillow-turned-bum bag and clips to stop your towels blowing away.
The husband and wife are now developing a new product to “bring value travel products to the masses”.
They hope to offer this to retail outlets airport-side.
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