Dan Eisner, True North Mortgage

In 2007, I was impressed by Dan Eisner‘s mortgage brokerage business, True North Mortgage, when he described how lucrative and profitable it was when I met him at the Calgary Dragons’ Den audition.

By chance I met Dan again today, and he said he now has 7, yes SEVEN, officies across Canada (2 in Calgary, 2 in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and Halifax).

I am happy for Dan. Have a watch of my video interview with Dan Eisner in 2007.

TRANSLOGIC: BPG Motors UNO (video interview + demo)

Check out “TRANSLOGIC 47: BPG Motors UNO (video interview + demo)“.

“We all know motorcycles are awesome, but in our view most are missing two key ingredients: a zero-emission electric drivetrain and the ability to transform. That is, until 17-year-old Benjamin Gulak created the UNO as a high school senior. Now on their third iteration, BPG Motors is perfecting this unique EV cycle and TRANSLOGIC is the first to take it for a spin.”

Dan Eisner, Avenue Magazine Top 40 under 40 (2009)

I saw the familiar name Dan Eisner (a Dragons’ Den entrepreneur/pitcher in 2007, with video interview) in an article today and then I found that he was selected by Calgary Avenue Magazine as one of its 2009 Top 40 under 40.

I want to send a belated congratulation to Dan. Great job Dan!

Erin Bolger’s The Happy Baker – 2010 New York Times Best Cookbooks

I am excited to report Erin Bolger’s “The Happy Baker” has made the 2010 New York Times Best Cookbooks!

[...] After a while, Ms. Gold’s injunctions to cook “breathtaking” food made me want to curl up on a cinnamon bun for a nap with “The Happy Baker: A Girl’s Guide to Emotional Baking” by Erin Bolger (Harlequin, $17.95), a bright spot on the often-messy bookshelf of culinary comedy. Ms. Bolger’s tales of love, loss and caramels, matched with easy recipes, include advice on why sleeping with the gardener at a Cuban resort hotel is a good idea, and how to deal with a Valentine from Mom. She and Matt Moore, the earnest author of the self-published “Have Her Over For Dinner” (Last Resort Press, $25), might make a nice couple. Mr. Moore, a musician in Nashville, targets the young man who wants to make dinner on a date — while managing to avoid the usual Playboy-tinged prose of cookbooks “for men.”

Congrats Erin on your great job! You’ve worked hard to make this possible!

Feel free to check out my video interview with Erin “The Happy Baker” from earlier this year.

Erin Bolger “The Happy Baker” interview (with video)

(Cross posted as an examiner.com article.)

In the season 5 episode 6 of Dragons’ Den the happy, humours, and driven Erin Bolger pitched her book “The Happy Baker – A Dater’s Guide To Emotional Baking” and made a $50,000 deal on TV with Calgary-based Dragon/investor Arlene Dickinson.

The following are some highlights of what Erin and I talked about in the video interview,

- What lead Erin to write and self-publish the book? I asked if she has got any help in writing the funny bits in the book? For example, did she have a comedian friend to help her write?

- An update on Erin’s deal. On TV Erin & Arlene agreed to: $5,000 cash, $20,000 in travel miles, and $25,000 in PR services, in exchange for 30% of the proceeds from the book sales.

- How did Erin come up with the 300,000 copies sales target? Thats one out of every 100 Canadians! How far along has Erin reached the target so far?

- We also talked about some of the recipes in the book. Here are links to the recipes for “My Mom’s Cupcake” and “ME + YOU – YOU = ICE CREAM COOKIE SUNDAE“. Both look very yummy.

- We also talked about Erin’s Paris cookbook festival experiences. And her experience in visiting the world famous Pierre Herme shop in Paris.

Erin Bolger “The Happy Baker” interview is coming soon

This reporter just had a most wonderful video interview with Erin Bolger (Erin pitched her book “The Happy Baker – A Dater’s Guide To Emotional Baking” in the season 5 episode 6 of Dragons’ Den where Erin made a deal on TV with Calgary-based Dragon/investor Arlene Dickinson.

It will take me some time to process the video and write the article, in the mean time, here are some photos.

(All photos by Erin Bolger. Used with permission.)

The following are photos from Erin’s recent Paris trip.

The Happy Baker: A Dater’s Guide To Emotional Baking (Season 5 episode 6)

Erin Bolger’s, author of “The Happy Baker: A Dater’s Guide To Emotional Baking“, pitched on CBC Dragons’ Den last night and it was a ton of fun to watch her pitch. Now, the no cash deal is a sure win for Arelene, what I am much less sure is how does Erin think now. I am trying to interview Erin to find out if the deal is closed and how are things with her book.

At press time, the book’s success or failure is riding a lot on Erin’s shoulder. But I like Erin and hope she does well. Stay tune and I will post an interview if I get a chance to chat with her.

Here is the lovely Erin showing you how to bake!

Dragons’ Den entrepreneur & inventor Ben Gulak (Uno bike) update & interview

Few days ago, I conducted an exclusive interview with 2008 Dragons’ Den entrepreneur Ben Gulak from Milton, ONT where Ben gave an update of what happened after his 2008 TV pitch and shared some latest info happened after the Nov 11th, 2009 CBC Dragons’ Den update show.

Read the watch the interview here.

Less is More

Hello Fans of CBC Dragons’ Den and readers of Dragonfly on the wall,

You may have been wondering why the silence in the last few weeks and no reviews of the recent episodes? Well, I am still a big fan of Dragons’ Den and watch every episode but I have been busy with other things. And it takes time to write a good entry.

Don’t worry, I am still going to post new entries here from time to time. In fact, I am in touch with one of the cool Dragons’ Den entrepreneur. (Please see the following update)

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Nov 26, 2009 Update: I’ve done an interview with Ben Gulak (remember Uno?) yesterday. I will try to find some time to complete the research and processing of the interview and will post it soon. Stay tune.

Interview with Dan Eisner, True North Mortgage

(Cross posted at Kempton with possible additional readers’ comments)

I was impressed by Dan Eisner‘s mortgage brokerage business, True North Mortgage, when he described how lucrative and profitable it was when I met him at the Calgary Dragons’ Den audition in April, 2007. So I was not surprised to see him invited to pitch in front of the Dragons and then got a deal offered to him. (See my comments of Dan’s business pitch here.)

Since the show was aired, Dan has updated us in his blog that “after much deliberation we decided not to go ahead with the deal“.

The following is my interview with Dan where he shared his Dragons’ Den experiences and a few things future Dragons’ Den entrepreneurs may find useful to know. Dan also talked about one behind the scene thing happened during the pitch, talked openly about his entrepreneurial experience, and a few other things. I hope you will enjoy the interview as much as I in making it. And hopefully will also get inspired by the chat.

“One week I was working at my old job. The next week I was working here.” – Dan

Dear reader and viewer, has the entrepreneurial bug bitten you yet? (big smile)

Interview with Jodie Urchyshyn, Lit Cosmetics

(Cross posted at Kempton with possible additional readers’ comments)

I met Jodie Urchyshyn, owner of Lit Cosmetics, when she had her two auditions for Dragons’ Den in Calgary in April, 2007. And then again in Toronto when she pitched for real before the Dragons. (See my comments on her business pitch here.)

As a side story, during her second audition in Calgary (where she knew she has been invited to Toronto to pitch in front of the Dragons), she impressed me (unknowing) by repeatedly giving up her spot to other entrepreneurs that came later than her but don’t have the invitations to go to Toronto yet. She could have gone ahead, taped her part and left. But she was really nice to the other entrepreneurs and I think the other entrepreneurs appreciated it.

Without further delay, here is my interview with Jodie at her Calgary store to talk about her Dragons’ Den experience and what has happened to her business since Toronto.

Jodie has all her sparkles named and she picked five for the Dragons. Can you guess who has which one?

New chat with Atomic Tea’s Jessica & Russell Bohrson (Post-Dragons’ Den)

(note: This post is cross-posted at Kempton with potential additional comments.)

I’ve planned for months to do a post-Dragons’ Den interview with the Jessica and Russell and I am glad I waited for four more days after they pitched *atomic on national TV on Monday. (See my chat with them four months ago here.) I am glad because I was able to get a sense of how people feel after they watched the *atomic pitch. And I ended up asking the Jessica and Russell some of the questions raised by a few Dragons’ Den forum commentators.

For example, I asked how do they feel about the controversies about their deal being drastically changed by one of the dragon? To me, their answers showed great maturity and the ability to look at the big piture.

I also asked them about people saying stuff like “bubble tea is nothing new“. Again, they gave a very insightful answer. Watch how they explain in their own words. [Hint: Will you say the multi-billion Starbucks is copying the business of coffee?]

Here are some tidbits of information and observation that you might find interesting (well, I certainly did),

1. 2-atomic — Do you know that their store phone number in Calgary 228-6642 actually spells out 2-atomic ? Isn’t that cool? (Just match it to your telephone keypad and you will see.) And they got this number for free because the previous owner of this number was using it as an infrequently used smart ring and was really kind. Incidentally, as a return favour (and a karma thing), Jessica bought them a small gift to say thank.
2. Arlene — Arlene has visited their store, tried the drinks, and she loves it. Jessica and Russell have also visited Arlene’s Calgary office and really admire the hard working and nice Dragon.
3. Kiosk — To get a kiosk for *atomic, they actually went to get help from some industrial design students at University of Calgary to make the kiosk easier to use and more ergonomic. On the big scheme of things, this may be a small thing. At the same time, this is paying attention to details (like the phone number 2-atomic). Attention to details is something that is integral with what I call “Relentless Pursuit of Excellence“.

Finally, I hope you will enjoy the video chat (click to view in larger window) as much as I in talking to the wonderful and hard working Jessica and Russell. (Join their Facebook group here.)

(note: Jessica and Russell will appreciate very much if any Dragons’ Den or *atomic fans can post *atomic’s Dragons’ Den pitch on YouTube.)

Interviews with Atomic Tea’s Jessica & Russell Bohrson

Oct 17 Update: Here is my review of Atomic and other businesses/pitches in episode 3.

Oct 20 Update: Here is my post-CBC Dragons’ Den airing Oct 19th interview with Jessica and Russell.

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Here is my chat with Atomic Tea’s Jessica & Russell Bohrson after they finished pitching their business and talking to Dianne Buckner.

The following two chats were filmed about two weeks after they came back to Calgary after the Atomic Tea DD pitch.

Here is my chat with Jessica (click to view in a larger window),

Here is my chat with Russell (click to view in a larger window),

Here is something I wrote after the Calgary interviews with a non-descriptive on-location video as to not give away the secrets of what business I was referring to. Notice the fact that their store was steps away from Calgary’s C-Train line (see video). The three most important thing for a retail store? Location, Location, and Location. See for yourself. (smile)

Here is what I wrote about my experience after talking to them and my gut feeling of them as good entrepreneurs.