Brewdog was spurned by Dragons Den in 2008, which perhaps underlines how good it was or not then at spotting good business ideas. Later James Watt who stepped down as Brewdog CEO in 2024 was turned down as a Dragons Den judge.
It clearly continues to rankle with Watt who has now launched a hunt for new UK unicorns- start up businesses which reach a $1billion value. There are only 89 in the UK but as Watt as certainly never read Marx he doesnt know that capitalism tends not to ever more SMEs but to monopoly.
The plan via a TV show is to get start ups to compete for a total £2million investment half of which will be put up by Watt. He claims that Dragons Den is simply entertainment but its not clear what House of Unicorns will be or where it will appear on screens.
Watt who turned up at Nigel Farage’s 60th birthday party in March 2024 and has posted in support of Elon Musk DOGE, styles himself as a disruptor. He says the business models he looks to are those like TESLA (Musk’s e-vehicle company) who offer a vision of the future. In this case a very dystopian one
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