Dragons’ Den has been on our TV screens for nearly 20 years and is responsible for catapulting a number of businesses into the mainstream. While the idea of securing a lucrative investment may sound like a dream, the reality is that being grilled about your business plan by a panel of highly experienced investors can be pretty daunting. Not to mention, there is no guarantee that you will walk away with anything. But that does not mean you shouldn’t take your chances. Here are the hardest Dragons to secure an investment from.
The Toughest Dragons
Over the years, the panel has undergone a number of changes but these are the Dragons that are the least likely to back your business plan.
1. Sarah Willingham
Sarah Willingham takes the title as the hardest Dragon to convince to invest in your business. During her time on the show, the Nightcap PLC founder and CEO invested in 0.22 businesses per episode. To put that into perspective, Sarah was 85% less likely to make an offer than others who have sat on the panel.
2. Piers Linney
In joint second spot are Piers Linney and Kelly Hoppen. Linney made his millions by investing in tech firms and became known for his “logical and less emotional” approach. Similarly, design guru, Kelly Hoppen, earned a reputation for not making many offers, with both investors only making 0.375 offers per episode.
3. Duncan Bannatyne
Duncan Bannatyne has been accused of being “tight with money and arrogant”. So, it is no surprise that he takes the third spot, with an average of 0.42 offers made per episode.
Top 3 Investors
Here are the Dragons that are the most likely to make your dreams come true.
1. Steven Bartlett
Steven Barlett struggled at school and even unsuccessfully applied to be a contestant on the show. But he did not let these hurdles stop him from succeeding and at age 28, he became the youngest ever Dragon to sit on the panel. He has been crowned as the most generous investor on the show, making approximately 0.86 offers per episode.
2. Tej Lalvani
Vitabiotics CEO Tej Lalvani has made a name for himself as one of the “shrewdest and most suave businessmen” to grace the panel. So, it is easy to see why he is in the second spot, with 0.82 offers made per episode.
3. Touker Suleyman
At 0.68 offers per episode, Touker Suleyman rounds off the top 3 investors. He is known for splashing the cash, with reports suggesting that he has invested around £1,877,666 on the show.
Complete Ranking
| Rank | Dragon | No. of episodes | No. of total seasons | No. of total offers | Offers per episode | Offers per season |
| 1 | Sarah Willingham | 31 | 2 | 7 | 0.2258064516 | 3.5 |
| 2 | Piers Linney | 24 | 2 | 9 | 0.375 | 4.5 |
| 3 | Kelly Hoppen | 24 | 2 | 9 | 0.375 | 4.5 |
| 4 | Duncan Bannatyne | 108 | 12 | 45 | 0.4166666667 | 3.75 |
| 5 | Hillary Devey | 22 | 2 | 11 | 0.5 | 5.5 |
| 6 | Jenny Campbell | 29 | 2 | 15 | 0.5172413793 | 7.5 |
| 7 | Nick Jenkins | 31 | 2 | 17 | 0.5483870968 | 8.5 |
| 8 | Deborah Meaden | 212 | 18 | 128 | 0.6037735849 | 7.111111111 |
| 9 | James Caan | 36 | 4 | 22 | 0.6111111111 | 5.5 |
| 10 | Theo Paphitis | 84 | 9 | 55 | 0.6547619048 | 6.111111111 |
| 11 | Peter Jones | 221 | 20 | 147 | 0.665158371 | 7.35 |
| 12 | Sara Davies | 55 | 4 | 37 | 0.6727272727 | 9.25 |
| 13 | Touker Suleyman | 113 | 8 | 77 | 0.6814159292 | 9.625 |
| 14 | Tej Lalvani | 57 | 4 | 47 | 0.8245614035 | 11.75 |
| 15 | Steven Bartlett | 28 | 2 | 24 | 0.8571428571 | 12 |
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Methodology
We looked at every successful and rejected pitch from series 1 to 20 and then ranked each Dragon based on the number of offers they made compared to the number of episodes they appeared in. Dragons that appeared in less than 20 episodes were excluded from the dataset.If you have any questions about our findings methodology, please get in touch with Lance (lance@avidpanda.com).