Dragons’ Den star’s company now worth £3,250,000 after taking ‘huge risk’

A Dragons’ Den star whose company is now worth £3,250,000 has admitted they took a huge risk in going on the BBC One competition.

Omar Mian brought his business Potion Paris to the Den, alongside his partners Astyn and Suzanne, back in 2022, hoping to secure a £50,000 investment from the likes of of Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Touker Suleyman, Sara Davies and Steven Bartlett.

After offering just 6% equity in their fragrance company, an award-winning toxin and cruelty-free lifestyle brand that offers refillable and sustainable products, the entrepreneurs were showered in praise from the five impressed Dragons.

So much so, that the trio walked away with three offers and a joint investment for 20% equity from Peter and Steven – far more than they were first looking to give away.

Now, reflecting on their experience as former stars Carla Saull and Laura Bartlett have done, Omar and Astyn admitted they took a huge risk in going on the entrepreneurial competition, and have yet to sign a deal with the two investors.

In an interview with Metro, Omar explained that after launching the brand in December 2019, with it taking off a few months later, they were approached by the Dragons’ Den team.

Steven Bartlett and Peter Jones put in a joint investment for Potion Paris three years ago (Picture: BBC)

At the time, the company was doing so well that he didn’t think the risk of going on the show would be worth it.

He said: ‘As great of a show as it is, it can go one of two ways. It depends on how you catch the Dragons on the day because you can have a great business and great financials but if they don’t like you, they can tear you apart on TV, so it’s a risk.’

He held back from going through with the process initially, but a year later, having faced ‘bumps’ in the company after the fallout from the pandemic, they recognised they needed the support.

However, their experience was nothing like they’d expected.

The nature of the show, Omar felt, was that they could ‘catch you out’, so he knew he had to be ‘really prepared’.

Astyn, Omar and Suzanne entered the Den in the hopes of securing a £50,000 investment (Picture: BBC)

‘You have to know your business inside and out, which I think most entrepreneurs probably do, but the scary part is remembering the numbers, because in a normal environment, if somebody asked you something you’d have access to it on your laptop but you don’t have your laptop in the Den, so you have to know everything in your mind and that adds another level of fear,’ the Potion Paris founder said.

‘There’s a lot of elements that aren’t really natural like in a natural investment scenario, but that’s showbusiness, you have to know everything, it’s a lot of memorisation.’

Recalling the ‘bright lights’ and long minutes waiting behind-the-scenes, Astyn admitted the process was ‘really daunting’.

Omar added: ‘I remember when the lift doors closed, there was a moment of panic, because even though we’re not claustrophobic, you’re in that lift for three or four minutes, and you almost want to say, “Just open the door because I need to breathe”.’

Omar recalled the surprising experience on the show and afterwards (Picture: BBC)

Once the lift doors opened and they pitched in front of the Dragons, they were met with another surprise, with Astyn revealing how different the investors are in real life.

‘You have these impressions of them before you actually go on the show, and you think of them to be exactly as how they’re portrayed on the show, but they’re not at all,’ she said.

‘It’s completely different. Deborah, for one, she was really lovely. The whole way through our pitch, she was smiling at us and giving really lovely feedback.

‘She didn’t end up putting an offer in, but she genuinely gave us some really good feedback on the product, which you don’t see in the show. And that’s because she is portrayed to be like a real fierce Dragon, but she’s not, she’s lovely, super sweet.’

It’s not just been their experience in the Den that has shocked them.

Deborah Meaden was different to how she’s portrayed on the show, Astyn revealed (Picture: BBC)

Following a clash between Strictly star Sara and Peter teaming up with Steven, the Potion Paris entrepreneurs left with two investors they would have on hand – or so they thought.

‘Peter and Steven were the duo we wanted, because Peter Jones is the longest-serving Dragon, he’s got the business acumen and just to get that validation from someone like him, that’s the ultimate goal when you go into the Den,’ Omar told us.

He went in so confident that he even wanted to get a t-shirt printed with ‘Thank you Peter and Steven’ on the back, convinced he’d walk away with their offers. (His idea was firmly shut down by Astyn and their family and friends.)

But after filming the episode, when all the pair immediately received was just an ‘awful’ piece of paper that was ‘too ugly to frame’, they were waiting in anticipation to be contacted, and after a week went by, were called by an employee from Peter’s company who manages his investments.

‘We were planning to have Peter Jones round for afternoon tea and to meet my mum,’ Omar joked (Picture: BBC)

‘What you learn quite quickly is that you don’t speak to the Dragons,’ Omar revealed, claiming he felt a little bit ‘misled’.

‘We were planning to have Peter Jones round for afternoon tea and to meet my mum,’ he laughed.

‘But what transpires is that it doesn’t really work like that.’

The investors’ offices were in contact with the entrepreneurs, rather than the investors themselves, and Omar and Astyn even sought advice from previous Dragons’ Den stars, who warned them: ‘It’s not what you expect. Don’t expect that you’re going to see them, don’t expect that you’re going to even speak to them. We’ve been with them for two or three years and we saw them once at a launch party, you literally just shake hands with them.’

The founders, who are married and expecting their second child together, were left ‘disappointed’ at the reality of what working with Peter and Steven was really like.

Married couple Omar and Astyn spoke to Metro about their experience on the BBC One programme (Picture: BBC)

Omar said: ‘So when that sets in, I guess there is a bit of disappointment because you go on this show as entrepreneurs looking for that mentorship from these people that you’ve grown up with, and that’s really why you go on the show.

‘But when you realise that’s not the case, it’s a little bit disappointing, and some of the things that the offices tend to support with are quite basic things as well (like employment contracts or help with websites).’

Despite remaining in touch with Steven and Peter’s offices, and after realising that 20% of their business was a large proportion to give away, Omar admitted: ‘I guess we’re sort of at an impasse where nothing’s been confirmed and nothing’s been sort of denied really. We’re just sitting in that middle area.’

Nonetheless, they’ve now valued Potion Paris at £3,250,000, and secured funding from private investors.

Potion Paris is now valued at £3,250,000 (Picture: BBC)

They were met with immense success when the episode aired originally, with a repeat returning to screens tonight, and later sold out on QVC in seconds.

Omar said: ‘As soon as the episode went live, we had all our family around, and I remember having my laptop open and you could see the number of people on the website and the number of sales coming through, and it was significant.

‘Straight away when that went live, there were hundreds of thousands of people on the website, orders were just churning out, so it was a really great feeling seeing all of that. Even after the show, nobody ever takes that feeling away from you.’

Without needing Sara’s help in launching on QVC, the pair were able to push themselves onto the platform a few months after filming, and became the fastest selling fragrance brand ever to debut on the store, selling out in less than two minutes.

‘It was unbelievable,’ Omar said, with Astyn calling the whole experience ‘surreal’.

They called their experience ‘unbelievable’ and ‘surreal’ (Picture: BBC)

‘Dragons’ Den has definitely added value, but just not the value that perhaps people expect,’ he continued.

‘What it really comes down to is the value of going on Dragons’ Den. The fact that you’ve been on the show and that you’ve then got the offers, that’s value that you take away, and I would hold that really dearly.

‘That’s an accolade that nobody will ever take away from. But it’s important for people to know you won’t get mentorship from the Dragons, that’s not what this show is about.

‘But it will give you a platform. If you come out on the good side, you’ll have an accolade which stays with you forever.’

He added: ‘I would say to anybody though, if you’ve been approached, go for it.

The Potion Paris founders haven’t yet finalised the deal with Steven and Peter (Picture: BBC)

‘Yeah it is a risk because if it goes wrong your business could be over, if you go on that show and you get torn apart, you need a great PR team to bring you back.

‘But if you go on and they love it, it doesn’t really matter what happens with them after that point. The accolade will stay with you.’

Omar founded Potion Paris after ‘losing everything’ from a luxury self-catering apartment business in Dubai, moving back to the UK and turning his life and business around.

Sharing his journey, he said: ‘I got to a point where I couldn’t grow the apartment business myself anymore and ended up merging the company with another.

‘I just made some bad decisions along the way and ended up losing everything, and then had to come back to the UK after spending 14 years in Dubai, where everyone thinks you live the high life, and at one point, I lived the dream.

‘I’d built up this business, I was living in a penthouse at one point, it was great.

‘And then all of a sudden, I lost everything, and came back to the UK almost with my tail between my legs. I’d been away for 15 years and had to start afresh, that was difficult.

‘But then I had this idea, I saw this vision for a fragrance brand online, I could see that no one had done anything like this before, so I sold the house and put everything into it.

‘Everybody thought I was crazy, but yeah I sold it, put it in and believed in what we could achieve, and that was it really.’

Dragons’ Den airs Thursdays at 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

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