At the beginning of the fourth episode “Die Höhle der Löwen” it gets hairy: Nadine and Marcel Stiller want to have reinvented the hair tie. “Volummi” is also intended to help thin hair to have more volume. Two lions with a long mane are particularly looking forward to it: Nils Glagau and Judith Williams seem to have understood the product straight away, the rest of the comparatively short-haired, consisting of Carsten Maschmeyer, Tillman Schulz and Ralf Dümmel, is waiting for things to come.
Numbers first: The start-up wants 135,000 euros for 15 percent of the company shares. As the two lions already suspected, “Volummi” is about a hair tie that is supposed to provide full volume even for thin hair thanks to two rings. According to the couple, it took more than 80 attempts to create today’s product. The finished hair tie consists of two rings and a snap button that opens it. After the presentation, the inventor draws the conclusion: “A ponytail as we women love it”. The effect: Because the hair in the outer ring is stretched evenly around the inner ring, a hollow space is created that makes the braid appear fuller.
Maschmeyer praises the packaging, his expertise seems to be exhausted with it. Williams pounces on Nils Glagau’s hair – can he also wear a braid? He can. Then there’s the price. “Volummi” should cost 9.99 euros – with a production price of one euro – because of the small amount. Mr. Regal pricks up his ears, Glaugau turns to Williams: “Judith, if you’re interested, let me know.” Maschmeyer is out, the others are consulting. Ralf Dümmel offers the money for 20 percent of the shares and promises to put “Volummi” on the shelves everywhere – you guessed it. The businessman has done his job with it.
The enthusiasts follow: Judith Williams is sure that “Volummi” is a “perfect fit” and wants to team up with Tillman Schulz. Glagau, still in a braid, can’t believe it. “We want to be fast internationally,” explains Williams. Schulz boasts of his large branch network and offers Williams 200,000 euros for 15 percent. Dummel goes with me. Enter Nils Glagau. He likes the product but has to do the deal alone. He offers the requested money for 15 percent. Brief consultation, Dümmel trembles nervously and calculates the sales in his head. In vain, Williams and Schulz get the contract.
Short change in the cave: Carsten Maschmeyer, Tillman Schulz, Ralf Dümmel, Janna Ensthaler and Dagmar Wöhrl are present for the next deal. It’s about golf. And surprise: There are only a few golfers in the ranks of the well-heeled lions, only Maschmeyer and Schulz know their way around. These are therefore not optimal conditions, since Prof. Dr. medical Daniel F. à Wengen and Monika Küsel want to present a putter that requires some prior knowledge. And who invests 150,000 euros for 15 percent of the company shares if you have no idea?
The story is a bit reminiscent of Newton’s apple: the professor dropped a ball on an acrylic block and found out that the golf ball and acrylic harmonize surprisingly well – but there are no clubs made of this material. The “Iceblock Putter” was born – an answer to the “lifelong search” for the perfect putter, according to the professor. Schulz nods, apparently he knows that too well. The club is an acrylic putter that is said to score with a large hitting surface, a large “sweet spot” and auxiliary lines. Despite these qualities, he is allowed. What is missing is the marketing. The price is 269 euros, production is 69 euros.
A competition ensues – the lions try to putt the hole with the “Iceblock Putter”. Schulz succeeds, Wöhrl endangers the studio windows. Dümmel misses, Ensthaler succeeds, Maschmeyer misses. With Schulz it’s no wonder, he has a handicap of 3.6. “It’s almost like a professional,” explains the professor. Things are less professional on the number side: So far, the two founders have only been able to sell 26 rackets. “But that doesn’t get around well,” criticizes Maschmeyer. That’s far too little for him, he signs off.
Wöhrl follows, she simply has nothing to do with golf. Neither does Dummel. Also: Have you ever seen a putter at Kaufland? Exactly. Ensthaler and Schulz remain, the two new lions. However, Janna Ensthaler does not want to either. All eyes on Schulz, the near-pro. “You really don’t make it easy for me,” summarizes Schulz. The product is not scalable enough for him and he fears that he cannot make any money with it. He also cancels. no deal
Enter Wolf Weimer. With “Articly”, the 28-year-old would like to bring an “app for newspapers to listen to” onto the market – or make it known. The app already exists. He wants 70,000 euros for 20 percent of the company shares. Meanwhile, the lions are chatting in the studio: “Are any of you still reading the newspaper?” Dümmel asks. Only Wöhrl is committed to printed paper. But it’s not about the newspaper. It’s about the way it’s consumed. Weimer assumes that people in his generation would rather hear articles than read them. “My generation is crazy about audio content,” he explains. But he lacks content from quality journalism. He wants to change that.
“Articly” is a “newspaper to listen to” where you can have hand-selected articles read out by professional speakers, summarizes Weimer in his pitch. The app draws its content from newspapers such as “Süddeutsche” or “Zeit”, but also offers “Articly Originals”. His product is the “Spotify of the German newspaper industry,” he says. He has already won over a target group: the blind and visually impaired have been using the app from the very beginning.
Maschmeyer wants to know how up-to-date the articles are. “Relatively up-to-date,” replies the founder. But it’s not about news either, but reports and background reports, he adds. The numbers are as follows: There are currently 650 articles, 2500 users use the app. The costs are between 6.99 and 8.99 euros depending on the tariff. 43,000 euros in sales are booked.
Now it’s the turn of the investors: Dümmel signs off – what else. Schulz too. No product, no deal. For Dagmar Wöhrl, the start-up is not “tangible” enough, nor is it a lion less. Maschmeyer and Ensthaler remain undecided. “You’re a bit like David versus Goliath,” says Maschmeyer. “And ‘I love rising Dave'” – aha. After all, an offer follows that meets the demands of the founder. Ensthaler holds the closing argument and offers the same deal. Surprisingly, he decides in favor of Carsten Maschmeyer – and in doing so effectively signs his resignation from a management consultancy. “And we’ll kill your job, too,” says the investor happily.
After the rather dry deals, things are now getting a little livelier. With “Brilamo”, founder Linda Koller wants to make life easier for wine lovers. It’s about a polishing cloth for wine glasses (the star has tested the product in advance). 15 percent of the company shares should cost 100,000 euros. Glagau, Williams, Wöhrl, Ensthaler and Dümmel are waiting for the pitch in the cave. After all, four out of five are looking forward to what’s to come. Dümmel explains that he doesn’t drink alcohol at all. So his excitement about a wine deal is still limited.
But it’s about glass cleaning. “Brilamo” is said to make polishing wine glasses much easier. This is a wand that presses a microfiber cloth precisely against the inside of the lenses to make streak-free cleaning quicker and easier. Williams can’t believe it – apparently she’s had bad experiences with manual solutions. Ralf Dümmel’s interest has now been aroused.
The price is shocking. The founder would like 79 euros for a “Brilamo” set. Dümmel and Williams almost fall off their chairs. “But that’s a proud price,” says Glagau. The problem seems to be in the manufacturing. Koller pays around 15 euros for an article. That worked: Glagau signed off immediately, he can’t imagine that many are willing to pay so much money. So far, the founder hasn’t been able to counteract this with mass sales either: within six months she was able to sell “only” 813 sets single-handedly.
Ensthaler admires that and sees parallels in himself. But she gets out – wrong product. Williams celebrates the founder as a “heroine” – mainly because of her work performance. And gets out too. Wöhrl says she falters. She initially declines, but promises that she will take over if there is no deal – unusual but possible. Enter Mr Regal. Unsurprisingly, the thing is far too expensive. But exactly for this case Dümmel is the right man. He offers 100,000 euros for 25 percent and gets the bid. And Dümmel is obviously a doer: the miracle tool now only costs 20 euros in a set. You can also see how he did it: While “Brilamo” still had a high-quality wooden handle in the show, the product is now only made of plastic. However, the function will hardly have changed as a result.
The last appearance was made by veterinarian Dr. Lars Meyer with his start-up “WunschCapsule”, a kind of configurator for individual dietary supplements. Sounds expensive – it is for the lions too. 200,000 euros for ten percent of the shares – the most expensive deal of the evening. The idea for his company came from a previous company that offered a similar product for pets whose owners had tasted it themselves in the past.
The doctor does not come empty-handed: he himself has set up a huge hall in which the orders are packaged. To date, he has invested over a million euros in “Wunschkupplung”. What he hopes for from the “Lion’s Den” are new distribution channels. He introduces his company to Carsten Maschmeyer, Tillman Schulz, Dagmar Wöhrl, Nils Glagau and Ralf Dümmel.
The product is quickly explained: “Wunschkapelle” puts together individual tablets from over 180 raw materials, which are tailored to the needs of the customer in the best possible way. What exactly comes in is determined by an algorithm based on different information in the configurator. The price for a can with 290 capsules is 100 euros. Production costs 20 euros. Around 100 packs left the dispatch warehouse in the first two months.
Wöhrl is the first to sign off – she doesn’t like that Dr. Meyer has two companies. “It never goes well,” she predicts. But the veterinarian believes in his idea – otherwise he would not have already invested seven figures. That also impressed the lions, with the open debts of around 800,000 euros depressing the mood. Dümmel flinches – exit. But that also has to do with online sales.
Maschmeyer thinks the business is too risky. High debts, only one manager, several companies – nothing for him. The same applies to Schulz. It remains Glagau. The problem: He is very familiar with other investments in dietary supplements – and he lacks a real test to really customize the “desired capsule”. But he also believes in the idea – and offers 200,000 euros for 30 percent. So the desired sum, but triple the shares. After a short phone call, the founder makes a counter offer: 25 percent. Glagau rejects. no deal
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