Reflecting on the Impact of Dragons’ Den

In this clip from our recent podcast with Arlene Dickinson, we talk about how rewarding it has been to see the impact Dragons’ Den has had on Canada’s young entrepreneurs.

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And to me, I always look at Dragons’ Den and I say the same thing every time I give a speech. Huge net positive for Canada. Whether you liked the show or didn’t like it, whether you saw its flaws, it got a lot of young people thinking about entrepreneurship. We are struggling with business formation hugely in this country. The stats are bad. We need people thinking like that. You go to business schools, you go to campuses, colleges, so many young kids come up and say, “Hey, I watched Dragons’ Den and Shark Tank growing up and that’s why I’m interested in this the first place.” That show had a positive impact, no question.

I know this isn’t about, you know, this isn’t the intention, we’re not here to talk about you, but let’s talk about you for a minute. Um, you did that too Dave, like you, you, you were so good at amplifying the intention of the show, which was really to help people find their voice and their future and to be encouraged about, you know, building a dream.

And today, and Dave, when you were on the show, you probably, it was even then, but today I am seeing so many young, I think of them as young, but you know, entrepreneurs come on who say, “I started watching you when I was eight years old.” Yeah, that’s cool. “I started watching you when I was ten years old. I have been dreaming, I’m going to sit in that chair one day.” And you know what? They will. There’s some of them that actually are going to. And at the 20th season, I imagine you’re going to see, you know, like something along those lines, where there’s going to be, um, the kind of, it’s a full circle thing.

And that’s so rewarding. Um, it’s so rewarding to see these entrepreneurs who grew up watching the show, come on the show, and have built like hundreds of millions of dollars in company. Um, you know, like, a value, and have been so successful. It’s like, it’s incredible.

No, it’s very cool.