New research has revealed that the best way for businesses to succeed on Dragons’ Den is to reject any offer they receive.

The research, carried out by SEO agency Dark Horse, analysed 1,232 pitches from series 1 to 23 against the Companies House register to measure how long each business lasted. Of those pitches, 532 attracted at least one offer and 700 did not.

The study found that entrepreneurs who said no have consistently done best. Of the 78 businesses offered a Dragon’s money that rejected it, 65.4% are still in business today and on the Companies House register.

The second best option in the Den is to take the offer, as the stats revealed that of the 454 companies that agreed a deal in the Den, 60.6% are still in business.

Bottom are the 700 pitches to which all Dragons responded “I’m out”, as only 41.7% have survived to remain on the Companies House register today.

Taken together, half the businesses in the analysis are still going – 618 of the 1,232 analysed, or 50.2%.

The analysis discovered that even when deals were agreed on the show, it was still unlikely a contract would be signed off air. Those 454 businesses agreed £34,719,505 between them in the Den. Only 207 of the deals, worth £14,903,005, are recorded as signed after filming – leaving 247 agreements and £19,816,500 of announced investment with no record of ever completing.

However, whether a deal was struck with a Dragon or not made almost no difference to the businesses: 60.4% of those that got the money are still registered, compared to 60.7% of those that agreed a deal and never saw it completed.

The study also looked at the most successful companies to emerge from the show, and found that one of the biggest names was turned away by the Dragons. The largest company in the study is Tangle Teezer, whose founder Shaun Pulfrey asked for £50,000 for 25% in series 5 and left with no offer; it now holds net assets of £43,295,000 and employs 75 people.

The biggest business to have actually taken a Dragon’s money is Lost My Name, the personalised children’s book publisher backed by Piers Linney in series 12, with net assets of £21,799,288, making it the second largest from the show. Perfect Ted, the organic matcha energy drink that sold Steven Bartlett and Peter Jones 10% for £50,000 in series 20, is third largest, with net assets of £5,142,253.

Concrete Canvas is the fourth biggest company to have pitched in the Den, and turned down £80,000 for 50% from Doug Richard and Theo Paphitis in series 2 – it now holds net assets of £5,045,551 with 66 staff. The Wand Company, which took £200,000 for 30% from Duncan Bannatyne in series 8 for its gesture-controlled remote, holds £3,511,389, making it the fifth biggest.

When it comes to creating jobs, Pasta Evangelists, which asked for £75,000 for 2.5% in series 16 and was rejected, is the study’s biggest employer with 382 staff, and sold in 2021 for a reported £40 million.

Source: Dark Horse analysis of the latest accounts filed at Companies House by surviving Dragons’ Den businesses.

Of the 618 businesses still on the register, 525 have filed accounts recent and complete enough to read. Among those, the companies that attracted an offer hold median net assets of £34,413 compared to £5,067 for those that did not, close to seven times as much. Some 26.2% of the offer group are balance-sheet insolvent – they owe more than they own on paper, though they are still trading – compared to 36.8% of the no-offer group. Both groups remain small businesses: 85% of the offer group and 92% of the no-offer group file as micro-entities, and just ten of the 525 are medium-sized or larger.

Commenting on the study, Libby Mayfield, Head of Marketing at Dark Horse, said: “It’s fascinating to dive into more than two decades of pitches, grillings and wondering why a business meeting would need to take place in a warehouse. The stats are pretty clear that the Dragons do at least have some clue about business, as the companies they offer a deal to are considerably more likely to survive than the ones they dismiss back to the lift in shame.

“But perhaps the main lesson from the data is not to believe everything you see on TV. Even when we see happy entrepreneurs shaking hands with business tycoons, once the cameras are off it’s still more likely that no money will change hands, as more than half of the deals agreed on the show don’t actually progress.”

Source: Dark Horse analysis of Companies House records for Dragons’ Den (UK) businesses traceable on the register, series 1 to 23.

About Dark Horse: Dark Horse is a digital PR and SEO agency.