Pitch your ideas at Warwick’s Dragons’ Den!

Following the success of last year’s Dragons’ Den session at the Warwick Network, a further series of events will take place where you will have the opportunity to pitch your idea for either a new on-campus business venture or a service improvement initiative, with the potential to receive management support, business mentoring and resources from the University to turn your idea into a reality.

Following an update the orginal two events have now been combined into a joint New Business Ideas and Service Improvement event on:

• Tuesday 22 July at 12.30 – 14.00, in the Arts Centre studio

You are welcome to bring your lunch along to this event.

If you have an idea for a new business or an opportunity to improve a service or efficiency at the University, we want to hear about it! You’ll need to prepare in advance of the session by completing the form on the links below to tell us more about your idea and emailing it to Michele O’Shea at M.O-Shea@warwick.ac.uk by noon on Friday 4 July for both the service improvement and new business ventures.

You’ll be notified in advance if your idea has been shortlisted for presentation. If you have an idea and aren’t able to attend the event or you don’t feel comfortable presenting yourself, we’d still like to hear about it – please still submit it by the deadline as this will give the panel time to review all ideas.

The shortlisted applicants will then pitch their ideas to a panel of five Dragons consisting of senior members of staff and / or external guests . The winner (or winners) will be decided and announced during the session. The benefits for winners could include management support, business mentoring, access to expertise, networks, resources and funding.

Please note you can sign up to attend the Dragons’ Den sessions without preparing and pitching an idea. Audience participation is just as crucial!

Please register here to reserve your place in the audience. Please also complete this if you are submitting a proposal as this will help us manage numbers.

Find out more…

During the Warwick Network day, four intrepid entrepreneurs pitched their ideas for new University-based businesses to a panel of Dragons. The panel, consisting of Ken Sloan, Abhinay Muthoo, Quentin Compton-Bishop and Tom Britten, got into the spirit of the event by dressing up in festive outfits and worked up a sweat trying out a UV Sport spin class!

The winning ideas, were Fuzzy Duck Fancy Dress and Warwick on Wheels. As a result, the University bookshop now sells a range of fancy dress and the University bike hire scheme will launch at the start of the new academic year. In addition to the successful bids, two other ventures, UV Sport and Convibo, are working with colleagues in Warwick Ventures to explore the opportunities for commercialisation and proposals for seasonal pop-up retail units are being developed.

Proposal form - Service Improvement (Word Document)

Proposal form - New Business Ventures (Word Document)

If you have any queries when completing the form, please email Michele O’Shea at M.O-Shea@warwick.ac.uk

Quick Links

Proposal form - Service Improvement

Proposal form - New Business Ventures (Word Document)

If you have any queries when completing the form, please email Michele O’Shea at M.O-Shea@warwick.ac.uk