We can't quite believe that it's already been over a month since we appeared on BBC's Dragons' Den and what a month it has been! We've been overwhelmed with support for our little brand and we've received so many questions asking us what it was really like to go on the show, so we thought we'd share a little bit of what goes on behind the scenes...
The audition process is pretty intense and there's no guarantee that you will get on the show or if you do, if your episode will be aired.
It took about 6 months to go though the process. It starts with a call with a producer to find out a little more about your brand and what you do, you then have to send in your proposed pitch, speak with a BBC psychiatrist to make sure you can handle the pressure of TV and everything that comes with it. Then you have to go through due diligence...
The Due Diligence process is real! It took a lot of printing and a lot of digging into our business to make sure we had everything in place for the BBC.
We had to work with the BBC to get our set-up to fit within their guidelines. You might notice on the show that half of our packaging is facing the wrong way? That's because the BBC don't like to show too much branding as it can be seen as an advertisement vs TV show - crazy we know!
Genuinely this was the hardest part. I wanted to feel confident walking into the Den but also like myself. Finding a sustainable option was a nightmare, but we landed on a suit from Aligne and shoes from British shoe brand Air and Grace.
The filming was in Manchester so travel and accommodation was paid for, we even got to stay an extra night because our episode filmed so late into the evening.
Launching into Credo across the USA and dealing with the sudden tariff changes (thanks Trump!) at the same time as the DD process was a real juggling act.
We were quite surprised that this wasn't a given, but luckily I trained as a makeup artist so I had that part covered. The hair however I had to sort pre-filming and I'm so glad I did. Nothing can make you feel worse than having a bad hair day.
You have to prepare your pitch like a script which gets approved by the BBC multiple times. They can make some last minute changes which they did for us, but thank goodness I did speech and drama as a kid, as I'm pretty sure this saved me from a meltdown.
Everything I had on me to keep me calm and relaxed throughout filming including my favourite crystals, my great grandmother's broach and a bottle of calming drops which was empty by the end of the day.
This was the scariest bit. I was told to wait by the lift and the doors will open when they're ready for you, I was told 'it could be 5 mins, 2 mins or 10...'.
All the while there was a camera man in my face to capture my reactions.
It flew by, but at the same time it felt like the longest pitch in the world. There's so much that wasn't shown in the show that I wish we could tell you about, but we signed an NDA with the BBC.
Just because you film your episode, it doesn't mean it will be aired. Which means you could do all the work above and it never comes to fruition. We had to wait almost a year to find out whether our episode would be shown on TV and we only found the exact date two weeks before so it was all hands on deck!
It triggered some serious anxiety about how I would look on TV. The HD cameras are so scary and as you know, the general public can be pretty nasty but luckily everyone has been so kind to us.
We were told not to overstock and that would be my advice to any business that goes on the show. Have an enough stock in so you feel comfortable and if you go out of stock, just set up a pre-order function. We ended up with over a 600% increase in sales that month which was MAD!
You don't get any heads up about what's in your episode, how it's been edited or what is being cut, so you're really seeing it live with the nation which is exhilarating but also so hard to prep for.
The come down after filming was intense. I was on such an adrenaline high when I left the Den that quickly crashed on the way home. The same thing happened when the show aired, it's been a real rollercoaster ride but 100% worth it.
You can watch our episode of Dragon's Den here...
Find out more about your award winning sustainable skincare here.
