Jennifer Obleman
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, September 26, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - Show me the money.

That was the plea from four entrepreneurs who pitched their big ideas to a panel of judges, including Sean Wise, online host for CBC's the Dragon's Den, during a session on sourcing capital investment at the Prospects North 2007 business conference last week.

No cash was awarded to the presenters, but one of the four may have the opportunity to make a pitch to an even broader audience - on television.

Over the next few weeks, conference organizers will evaluate the proposals and the judges' response to them, and may forward one outstanding idea to Wise for consideration for Dragon's Den if the show goes to a third season.

"That'd be quite exciting. I'd give it a shot," said Raymond Karu with Restoration Finishes, who was one of the presenters.

Karu demonstrated his method for restoring wood finishes, and said he was interested in marketing his technique by selling kits online or distributing them to major home renovation outlets like Home Depot.

Hard-hitting questions about patents and other legalities followed the presentation, and Karu said the judges' comments were very valuable.

"I think Sean Wise's advice was excellent. Had I listened to him before, I would have been better prepared. I thought the questions from the panel were excellent and helpful," he said.

"I was also pleased that so many people thought my presentation was interesting. In fact, some of those conversations have led to meetings with potential investors."

Karu said the challenge was a great experience, and he would encourage others to take part in similar showcases in the future.

The other presenters were Christopher White, who presented an idea for a TV series about university students returning to Yellowknife for vacation, Jessa Sinclair, who proposed an idea for a children's magazine about life in the North, and Francois Thibault, who presented an idea for Northern aboriginal-designed jewelry.

According to Wise, all four pitches had potential, but they could use some tweaking.

"The strength of all four pitches was passion, but that was also the weakness. All the pitches were about why it's important to them, not to the investor," he said.

"If they evolve their pitches to focus on the investors' perspective, including more hard, objective numbers - budgets, cost of goods, use of capital, margins - and focus more on how they plan on generating 10 times the return on investment, I could see these as possibly appearing on season three."

Joining Wise on the judges' panel were John Laratta, a partner with McKay LLP, Chris Taylor, manager of business programs with the NWT Business Development and Investment Corporation, and Gerald Crick, acting manager of Aboriginal Business Canada for Alberta and the NWT.