Pilon School of Business alumni Ryan Knight offers a first-hand account of his appearance on the CBC show ‘Dragons’ Den’

Sheridan alumnus Ryan Knight recently appeared on Season 19 of the CBC program Dragons’ Den, where the Pilon School of Business Hall of Fame inductee successfully pitched his business and received an offer of investment from one of the Dragons. Knight’s business, Detailing Knights, is a mobile, waterless car-cleaning operation.

He shared his first-hand account of his experience, including how he used his position as co-executive of the Afro-Caribbean Business Network to land an opportunity for other members of the ACBN to audition for the show, as well as how his time with Sheridan’s Entrepreneur Discovery and Growth Engine program (EDGE) helped prepare him for his winning pitch.

I was at an event last January where one of the previous Dragons, Bruce Croxon, was in attendance. I was a fan of his. So, I went up and, you know, I'm fan-boying, trying to get a picture! He was there with the producer, Molly Middleton. She said: “Did you know the auditions are happening?” I had auditioned for Dragons’ Den back in 2013 and didn't get on and I never applied again. But when she told me that, I was like, ‘You know, I'm going to go and audition.’ But then I was thinking to myself -- because I run the Afro-Caribbean Business Network -- how about we invite other entrepreneurs from ACBN to all go down together? So, we did like a delegation down to CBC Studios in February -- there were 22 of us from the ACBN -- and we all pitched our individual businesses to see if we could get on the show.

On the day of the shoot, which happened in May at the CBC studios in Toronto, I was so paranoid that my detailers -- who I needed to help me -- would not be able to make it. So, my wife and my kids drove down separately, while I went to pick up Kenneth and Chris, because they are the most experienced detailers that we have. I remember waking up early that day. We kept asking for an afternoon slot, but then we got told that we were going to be the first people to get recorded that day. That's like 9 a.m., so we had to be there by 8 a.m.

I was going to wear my Detailing Knights branded T-shirt, but my wife was like, “No, let the detailers be in their uniform. You be in the suit and be the CEO.”

The good thing is, I've been in pitch competitions at Sheridan, with their EDGE programs. It's wild how a pitch brings all disciplines into one two-minute presentation. Because all the numbers that we need to have on point I learned in my accounting diploma.

When you get past the first round of auditions and are given the opportunity to pitch to the Dragons, they assign you one of their producers to work with ahead of time. They help prepare you for the show and how you want the set to be for your pitch. We figured that we could have a car on set. Sam Wildman, who was the producer helping me, said: “You know what would be cool? We should have one of the Dragons’ cars on set!”

So, in the episode you'll see the Ferrari we use is actually Wes Hall's car. You'll see in the show he's quite shocked that it's dirty, because when he brought it in, it was clean! They had to make it dirty. So, he's like, “Yo, what happened to my car?!” That was a real reaction from him. I knew the car reveal -- when they pull the curtain back and show his dirty Ferrari -- would be good.

When you're talking to the producers, they tell you that, even if it all goes well, it's not guaranteed that they’ll use you on the show. But my wife kept telling me, "Listen, they brought a Ferrari up into the studio for this pitch. There's no way they're not putting this on TV!"

Even though the episode is only about nine minutes long, I was pitching them for about 45 minutes. Brian Scudamore was my target Dragon and he expressed interest early, but you don’t necessarily see that in the way the episode was edited. The Dragons asked questions and then I asked some questions of my own. I remember Manjit Minhas … she asked if we could detail in the cold weather, because she's from Calgary. I was like, ‘No, we're not really targeting cities with long winters.’ And then she was out. As the other Dragons all started to go out, because Brian had shown interest, they told me he'd be the perfect Dragon because of his expertise in franchising.

I wasn't really disappointed because my target was always Brian.

Halfway through my pitch, he made his offer. But he hadn't said how much he wanted. So that's what I was just waiting for. I was like, 'Man, he's probably gonna ask for a half my company or something crazy!’ So, 25% was the maximum I was willing to give. And then when he came back and offered $150,000 for 25%, I thought, ‘OK, this is where I wanted to be!’

I have watched the show so many times, so I knew the negotiation was now in my hands. I could push back — and I always say, you’ve got to counter! So, I eventually went back to him and asked if he’d settle for 22.5% instead.

The way they edited the pitch, it seems like Wes Hall responded to my counter to Brian by telling me I should simply accept the offer. But that’s not how it played out. Wes actually gave the advice before I said anything. As soon as Brian gave the offer, Wes explained how Brian could take my business nationally.

That's why you'll see my face showing how I was struggling with the idea of countering. The fear is that, if you counter, he's going to just back off the whole deal. But I didn't take Brian to be that kind of cutthroat Dragon where even you negotiating with him is going to make him angry. But I thought, ‘I'll kick myself if I don't ask.’

It ended as closely to how I had it scripted in my mind as it could have. I can't think of anything additional, except I was hoping that Wes Hall might have come in on the deal, too. But I got a Dragon who’s an expert in franchising and who’s willing to invest in the company. I was able to tell my story and deliver a smooth pitch. So, yeah, I mean, I couldn't have asked for anything better.

The camera crew followed me after my pitch to the green room, where my family was waiting. So, they caught the reaction of me telling the team that I got a deal and hugging my wife. I had to be quiet about what happened until the episode aired in September. But we’ve been working with Brian’s team since July, performing due diligence, and working to fix the gaps in our operations, because we're smaller than companies that he would typically invest in. Working with his team has been great.

We've been learning a new operating system and making sure operations keep growing. Because when talking to Brian’s team, they want to see a company that is growing. So, we’re making sure that our marketing strategy is on point, we're hiring proper area manager and detailers, more salespeople. That was one of the pieces of advice that we got: that we have to lean into the sales side of things. It's really been a grind to get the business into a box and have a proper owner's manual, so that we can give this owner's manual to anybody that's our franchisee and they'd be successful operating it. So, all that kind of admin stuff has been where my head has been the last few months.

We are flying out in February to Vancouver to talk with Brian's team and see where we are. It's almost like an actual final presentation to seal the deal.

It's humbling because reading Brian's book (BYOB: Build Your Own Business, Be Your Own Boss) is good and you get kind of the overview. But then when you're sitting across the table from a team that is operating hundreds of millions of dollars, and you realize what it takes to actually get to that level. I feel like it's turned me back into a student. Like you think you know a lot, but then you come up against something that shows you -- you know nothing! You have to learn again. So, yeah, I feel like I've become a student. Now, some teachers at Colleges and high schools are calling me and saying they're using my episode of Dragons’ Den as an example of a good pitch. And when I'm speaking at schools, including Sheridan, we play it!  I've watched it, I don't know ... I don’t think it's hit 100 times yet, but a lot!  And I don’t like watching myself, but when teachers are saying they are using it as a template or example ... I'm proud of that.

The good thing is, I've been in pitch competitions at Sheridan, with their EDGE programs -- Entrepreneur Discovery and Growth Engine. It's wild how a pitch brings all disciplines into one two-minute presentation. Because all the numbers that we need to have on point I learned in my accounting diploma. You're creating those spreadsheets to be able to speak to it. The communications classes, the marketing classes, everything kind of all gets put into a box and then that's what you're presenting. So, it's cool to see all the things that I learned at Sheridan coming together and allowing me to deliver like a smooth presentation that got investment.