My story. Laban Roomes, Goldgenie

www.goldgenie.com

Luxury gold plated gift company Goldgenie was founded in 1995 by London entrepreneur Laban Roomes. Laban recently appeared on Dragons’ Den and successfully secured backing from James Caan. He tells his story here.

I’d had two previous chances to go into the Den but always lost my nerve at the eleventh hour. Believe me, it’s incredibly daunting and watching the programme on TV can’t prepare you for how intense the pressure is in there. I thought the dragons gave me a tough time and I got a bit flustered - making a mistake with my numbers and forgetting a detail, suicidal errors when pitching to the UK’s leading business people - but I managed to compose myself and put my story across with passion. It worked and I felt I was attracting interest, but within no time, one by one the Dragons declared themselves out, everyone that is but James.

I’m no newcomer to business. I’ve experienced failure but that only makes success taste sweeter. How many other gold platers do you know that have flown to Hollywood for the Emmys to deliver customised phones to Denzel Washington and Helen Mirren? I knew I just needed the capital and expertise to take my business to the next level.

Having heard my story, James must have understood my performance in the Den was down to anxiety rather than incompetence as, to my amazement, he offered me the £60,000 investment I needed. What impressed me about James wasn’t so much the investment as the package that came with it: James is an incredibly astute businessman but he also has a track record of turning people’s dreams into reality.

Within six weeks of James' investment, we have already launched our new website www.goldgenie.com. I am so excited when I see the new orders rolling in. Getting accepted by Harrods to stock our products has been the major highlight and a dream come true when we open there in November.

Since working with James and his team and I can confidently say that, for me, he is the ideal backer - his vision for Goldgenie is incredibly exciting and I am determined to be his most successful Den investment.

Latest News

Dragons' Den man strikes gold at Harrods 20 December 2007.

Get hold of your new iPod                                                 25 February 2008.

Goldgenie launches at Harrods 11 December 2007.

 Harrods Goldgenie launch