Details Post Dragons Den – Pitcher tells all.

Now that it’s aired, we can finally talk about Tal’s pitch in the Den on CBC’s Dragons’ Den.

We taped the show way back in May ‘09 and I was actually pitching for about 40 minutes. A lot has changed since then and what was cut out was that those shoes were just prototypes as we rushed to get the factories to make them in time for filming – our shoes on our site now are our full line to date, quite different and so far, doing well and you can order online at: www.oliberte.com/shoes That said, great experience to pitch in the Den.

About Jeanne Beker, to be honest, I didn’t have a clue who she was. I pretended I did and they cut out a part when I’m talking to Dianne Buckner where I said that I didn’t even know who she was. That said, yes, she was a bit tough on us but in all honesty, she’s not really our target market or has a strong sense of fashion that is not high-end fashion. We’re a bit more contemporary and a a bit out of her fashion-diva comfort. That said, our shoes were not fully launched when we pitched and just prototypes so we can respect her thoughts given what she had in front of her.

All the other dragons were pretty nice too – no complaints. We were really thinking it would come down to Brett and Arlene, but Brett really just wasn’t interested – made sense. Again, I have a lot of respect as given where they were sitting with no sales back in May, it’s a tough sell on the valuation. What they didn’t show was that at the end I’m shaking hands with all of them and Jim and Arlene ask me to get in touch with them after the show. We’ve been talking for a number of months about them possibly investing – it’s a process and we will see what happens. They are both very savy and love the idea behind Oliberté.

About the staff at CBC – just awesome! There are some super talented, highly underpaid superheros bringing great Canadian programming to our TVs. Thanks CBC for the chance and exposure.

In terms of moving forward, we’re getting there – we’re featured at the upcoming grammys, miss america and bet awards. Also, celebrities wearing and support our shoes already including: K’NAAN, Snoop Dog and Kirsten Stewart.

We already have signed European and Australian distribution agreements which is for 10,000 shoes for the next 12-14 months (just to start) and currently we are in about 25+ stores (mainly USA) across North America.

However, no matter the outcome, I’m being positive about the exposure. There were about 3,000 people that tried out across Canada, only 300 get invited to pitch to the dragons and then of those only 100 are shown on TV and about 75% of those have full segments as we did.

So yeah, again, wish I went on the show with our current line when we were in full production and not development, with all the sales and contracts we do have now. Oh well, that’s life. Luckily, still going strong and your continuing support has been key.

Pride. Power. Liberty. This is Africa.
Visit us at: www.oliberte.com