"My name is Rick and I'll be your interrogator today"

Here's the link to today's Financial Post column recounting my experiences at the Dragons' Den auditions.

In this article I give the CBC TV show credit for raising "investor awareness" among Canadian entrepreneurs:"

"Dragons' Den is doing a great job educating Canadian innovators about the cruel realities of markets. This was my second stint as a deputy dragon. I was delighted to see pitches were much stronger than last year. The essential message of capitalism is getting through: To win investors' support, you must know your market and offer a return that more than compensates the risk. Pitchers are talking more about the size of the opportunity, market growth and
return on investment."

Of course, nobody's perfect. I found 5 common errors that should be taken into account by anyone pitching business ideas and opportunities:

* Not clearly stating what you want.
* Putting too much faith in the idea.
* Failing to differentiate your product.
* Not selling yourself.
* Taking too long.

Read the article here.