cornels_world

The show was a great experience. One I was able to do it with my daughter who also loves reptiles, but it was all completely positive. I was most worried about my valuation and not being sure if I was asking too high. I was also worried about Kevin ripping me a new one for whatever reason, but in the end he was replaced before the season started. For anyone trying to get onto the show there has to be some entertainment value to your pitch. Mostly if you have a stupid product that they can rip you a new one, those are the pitches that they like. I am positive the reason I got on is during the interview process I had a dragon with me and there was a news reporter in my pitch. At the end I thought it wasn't going well and was almost packing up, and then he pipes up "Oh I get it you want to bring a live Dragon to the Den". All of a sudden the producers seemed much more interested..

What happens after you pitch to the Dragons? After the taping you are sworn to secrecy by contract till thew episode airs. If it doesn't you still can't say anything for 4 years.

About a month after the taping I was contacted by Michael's assistants about entering into due diligence. It is pretty involved and can be quite costly being a small business. They want your books to review, they want you to send them sales reports monthly to track how your sales are going, and a lot more than I typically do. I record my sales as they happen, but only get my book keeper to update my expenses 2 or 3 times a year. If I had to do it monthly it would be quite a bit more expensive. I told them that I was interested in moving forward and getting them everything they required but I wanted to know how involved Michael would be in my company. I told them that if it was just monetary involvement I would just go to the bank and I was really wanting the business expertise to be able to grow my company. I never heard back from them. I sent the same email again but also cc'd Michael's email address that I had and still never heard back. I took that as meaning it would just be a monetary investment and I didn't think it would be worth it. At that point I went and talked to the bank and after a long drawn out process I got the loan I required and moved forward with purchasing my CNC machine, and moving into a commercial space.

Most people think that once you get a deal on those shows that you just get handed the money right after and a deal is a deal, but the deal on the show is just a handshake. Either party can back out at any time for whatever reason. I have seen that only 1 in 9 will ever see funding from an investor on the show. Most likely in due diligence they probably would have backed out for whatever reason, but I didn't want to waste any extra money and give up a part of my business I have worked so hard to build.

The best part of this experience was that it pushed me to quit my Full time job and concentrate on Cornelsworld full time. I may not be making as much as I used to but I love what I do and I typically leave work with a smile on my face and way less stress. I also now have more time for helping out at home and with the kids after school activities. For what I spent getting my family and my product out to Toronto regardless if it aired or not was worth it in the end.

It depends. Is one of them a lead character and a fan favorite?

It depends on the day. In real life it would be a lot simpler to discipline your kids with a cage haha. Can't think of anyone to be honest. I have had a few customers though...

That's a good suggestion. Maybe Justin Bieber. Even my daughter would agree with that one these days.

The big 3 snakes, venomous reptiles, and Crocodiles, Alligators etc I think would be the main animals that should be restricted. Anything that gets that big is going to be risky for people other than people with specific training for those types of animals.
The New Brunswick case seems really wierd to me and with recent charges to the owner I am wondering if foul play might have been involved. Only time will tell. Really sad for the family of the boys for sure. I personally don't think the snake was to blame.