CBC’s Dragons’ Den touches down at Beedie School of Business
Oct 01, 2011
SURREY, BC— Jim Treliving and Bruce Croxon, members of the popular business television program Dragons’ Den, visited students from the Beedie School of Business on September 29 as part of a special evening at the SFU Surrey campus devoted to entrepreneurship and innovation.
Treliving is chairman/ owner of Boston Pizza International and Croxon, is founder of Lavalife and Vida Spas. Dragons’ Den, which airs on CBC, is Canada’s highest-rated entertainment program.
At the sold-out event, the twosome discussed what they looked for from budding entrepreneurs, and answered students’ questions on how to be successful in business.
“Practice, practice, practice,” Treliving told students aspiring to become entrepreneurs. “It’s like any other game you go into.”
Croxon urged the students to always be open to advice and new ideas. “Never be arrogant enough to think you have all the answers,” he said, while cautioning them of today’s venture capital realities. “Right now, there are more ideas out there than funding available. Especially in technology.”
A special highlight from the night included a mini-Dragon’s Den, with two student teams from the Beedie School of Business pitching to the Dragons. The winning pitch in the so-called Mini Dragons’ Den went to EMBA student Kiana Mohseni, who impressed Treliving and Croxon with her social networking new venture called Caregaroo.
“Entrepreneurship is at the heart of the Beedie School of Business student experience, which makes this event so special,” said Kirk Hill, Assistant Dean of External Affairs for the Beedie School of Business. “As one of Canada’s most-watched television programs, Dragon’s Den speaks to this country’s appetite for entrepreneurship, and we were thrilled to have Jim and Bruce share their wisdom with our student body.”
The Beedie School of Business event was hosted in conjunction with partners Venture Connection and Coast Capital Savings.
Visit Storify for more highlights from the SFU Dragons’ Den event.