Appearing in the Den has a tendency to change lives - increased sales, new distributors, and emails from across the country. We like to call it "The Dragons' Den Effect." Each week, Dragons' Den producers will follow the successes and track the big news, and give you the inside scoop on what happened to these entrepreneurs after their big debut. This week we checked in some of our hardworking pitchers from Episode 18.

FriendMatch.com

Katie Hartle had a great time watching her pitch with family and friends at The Wood Tavern, a local bar in Winnipeg. They shared lots of laughs over her pitch and she impressed her friends with how she took on the Dragons. That night alone she received over 15,000 hits to her website and many new members have joined the site. Katie even had an investor contact her - but no deal quite yet. Everyday FriendMatch.com continues to grow and she "still feels a success coming on".

Krisda

After the show aired, orders for Krisda sweeteners and Krisda Natural Soda skyrocketed! Mark Wilson and Chris Shadbolt had to double their staff and buy three new machines. Loblaws, Wal-Mart, Sobeys Urban Fresh, Whole Foods Market, and Choices Market (Vancouver) now all carry Krisda products! Starting in April their product will be available in hundreds of stores across the United States.



Beardo

Jeff Phillips currently resides in Australia so he attended his viewing party through Skype! After the show he saw a five times increase in sales and traffic to his website and the Beardo Facebook fanbase also grew by 1000 members within the first two days. Jeff's been busy filling orders and talking to many interested retailers who are interested in carrying the Beardo. While they were thankful for all of the advice they received they were disappointed that the Dragons didn't make an offer on their product. Jeff said that "we have been growing faster than ever and it seems that they may have missed the boat on this one!"



Stroll-Air

Agata and Martin Majerski said that this "has been a great moment for us". They shared this special occasion with 50 of their closest family and friends at the Core Complex in Kitchener, Ontario. After the show aired their website crashed but within 48 hours they received more visits than they do in most months. So far they've received many orders and are anticipating more to come. Many small, independent retail stores are now interested in carrying their product, as well as distributors as far as Russia and Greece. They have also been contacted by Costco and are scheduled to having a meeting with them sometime soon.

Posted on Mar 13, 2012 1:08:12 PM