Dragons fail to heat up Richmond inventor's interest

Tristan Hyatt-Williams, along with partners 26-year-old Dean Tempest and Ben Drummond, 40, refused the offer of veteran dragon Duncan Bannatyne.

The Scottish entrepreneur was after a 40 per cent share in the team’s board game business, Linkee, but the team felt he was not enthusiastic about the project.

Mr Hyatt-Williams, 42, said: “He didn’t say ‘I love this product, I love games, I can really make this big’.

“When we asked him what he could bring to it and how could he make it big he said ‘I don’t think I can, I can just give you the money’.

“I think if we are going to give away a lot of equity then we need somebody who is really behind it.”

After the show was aired on Sunday evening, August 25, the team’s website crashed and the game sold out on Amazon.

The game, which asks players four questions and guess the link between all the answers, was road-tested by Mr Hyatt-Williams at the pop up shop opposite Richmond station earlier this year.

The father-of-two said: “I had my two daughters wearing sandwich boards which read ‘Linkee is in the pop-up shop’ walking up and down the street.”

The team were at the television studios for 11 hours from 7am until 6pm when they filmed for the show.

Mr Hyatt-Williams said: “We were with the Dragons for about an hour, for about a 10 minute slot on the show. They were very thorough.

“We work in advertising so we had a bit of practice in sharing our ideas in front of people but nothing prepares you for the surrealness [sic] of standing in front of those five people you have seen so many times on television.”

Can you play Linkee?

Which British WWI biplane shot down more enemy planes than any other?
Name the ancient trade routes that linked China to the West.
Name the property that partners Park Lane on a Monopoly boards.
In what type of building would you commonly find an ambassador?

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