'My Dragon's Den knock-back led to global success'
Entrepreneur
Shaun Pulfrey has achieved remarkable export success by creating a
British product which sells like hot cakes in China, as well as many
other countries.
Yet, surprisingly enough, the former hairdresser was turned down for funding by Dragon’s Den’s business gurus.Instead of becoming disheartened, he used his appearance on the show to kick-start his business and with the success of his hairdressing product, the Tangle Teezer, Shaun has had the last laugh.
“I’m a hair colourist by trade and, prior to setting up Tangle Teezer, I made a very successful and exciting living out of it,” he said.
“[Running my own business] has always been a passion of mine. I’ve actually never had the desire to run my own salon, but I’ve brought the salon mindset into creating my business for Tangle Teezer.”
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Finding that tangles were always a problem with freshly coloured wet hair, in the Tangle Teezer Shaun developed a way to tackle them by using conventional tools – a brush and comb – in an unconventional way. “I thought if I could put this formula into one tool it would be a success,” he said.
“I was disappointed when I was knocked back from the Den, but it gave my product the best free global ad going!”
(Shaun Pulfrey) The British-made Tangle Teezer is a big success in ChinaWithin just a few hours of Shaun’s appearance on the show, enquiries were already streaming in from Holland and Belgium. “I didn’t take the rejection personally, as I knew I had a product that professional stylists would want,” he said. “The one thing I didn’t know at the time was that I had the Holy Grail of products for a global problem.”
Right from the start Shaun was exporting his product abroad. “I didn’t make a conscious decision to export overseas, the consumer demanded it,” he recalled.
“My first order was from the Netherlands, so I was pretty global from the word go! There were floods of enquiries into our inbox almost as soon as we had launched, and then word of mouth spread like wildfire across the net.”
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Shaun says that his experience of working abroad helped build the company’s export success. “Working around the world as a hair colourist, the word global wasn’t frightening to me,” he said.
“One of the reasons Tangle Teezer has been such a success is because we have no cultural boundaries for this product, and it’s suited to all hair types.”
“In just five years our exports have gone from 2% to 83%. Now, our most successful global markets are Germany, USA, Brazil and Japan. Tangle Teezer is sold in over 80 countries around the world and has taken off in all of them.”
Like many small firms, Shaun did not take out bank loans to fund his product.
(Press Association) A Dragons' Den winner has backed out of his dealInstead he remortgaged his 2 bedroom, Brixton flat for £25,000 and used savings to make the value up to £98,000.
“This funded me for three years research and development to get the product to market,” he said. “The British Library was invaluable for my swotting up on intellectual property and the Government supported website called Business Link also threw up some useful information.”
Wanting to avoid potential issues with manufacturing abroad, Shaun decided to produce the product in the UK.
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“One lesson learned from working in a salon is that information can be lost in translation going across the salon floor, let alone an ocean!” he said. “Being close to my manufacturing enabled me to monitor performance and quality, and Britain has now become our global hub for distribution.”
Now the Tangle Teezer has become a surprise hit in the Chinese market.
“An influencer blogged about Tangle Teezer three or four years ago and that was our gateway to the market,” said Shaun.
“From there we stood back, analysed and strategized. Demand for all things British is huge in China – as long as they are made in the UK along with being especially well made, and beautifully designed.”
With the company now working with local Chinese social media experts to engage with young audiences on Weibo, China’s answer to Twitter, Shaun expects China to be his biggest global market within 12 months. “It’s a very exciting time for us,” he said.
Shaun Pulfrey developed the Tangle Teezer hairdressing productHe
is also currently working on a new product which he hopes will be as
revolutionary as his original detangling hairbrush. “We have a lot to
live up to, but we know we can deliver,” he said. In terms of advice for would-be entrepreneurs, Shaun believes it’s important to remember that you can’t do it all alone.
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“As an entrepreneur, you are not a singular person; you must understand you need other people to grow,” he said. “These people also need to feel your passion, enthusiasm and energy.
“Most people thought I was bonkers, but they couldn’t ignore the passion and self-belief I had in my own product. It’s never about proving any doubters wrong, it’s about getting your product to market and always putting the brand first.”
Shaun says he has been particularly lucky with his staff. “Staffing could always be deemed a problem, but fortunately it hasn’t for me,” he said. Good staff have found me – I’ve felt a bit like Dorothy going down the Yellow Brick Road, people wanted to join me for our journey!”
He also says it’s vital to make use of existing business and financial support.
“In our early days, we had a lot of support from the Passport to Export scheme run by the Government to support businesses in breaking into new overseas markets,” he said.
“This gave us the training, planning and ongoing support we needed to succeed in several territories and helped us to identify and plan our expansion.”
Meanwhile, he also believes listening to customer feedback is crucial. “Tangle Teezer is consumer driven because we listen to what people want, or don’t want,” he said.
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As with the Dragon’s Den failure, turning a negative experience into something positive has also helped Shaun move forward with his business.
“I always look at things a bit topsy turvy,” he recalled. “In the beginning I worked with a design company that didn’t work out. But rather than look at it as a negative, I thought that was the best £3,000 I spent because it led me to my current designer who I still work with to this day.”
Shaun now shares his advice with other UK small businesses in his new role as a Government Business is GREAT campaign ambassador.
“Having gained so much experience of the export market over the years I felt it was time to share my advice with other UK SMEs,” he said. “The campaign is designed to help small businesses in the UK grow, export and hire, and I feel extremely passionate about the work it is doing.”
