well done 19400

Dragons' Den star is back after red card

14 November 2005
RACHEL Elnaugh, founder of Red Letter Days and panellist on BBC's Dragons' Den, is returning to business just three months after the gift vouchers company she founded 16 years ago went into administration.



RESURRECTION: The fiasco at Red Letter Days taught Rachel Elnaugh 'exactly what not to do' at Easyart.com

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She is taking a 20% stake in Easyart.com, an online seller of prints of famous artworks, with a brief to bring it to the stock market through a listing on Aim.


Elnaugh, 40, will become chief executive of Easyart.com, taking over from its founder and largest shareholder Simon Matthews, 44, who is shifting careers to become a psychotherapist.


Easyart.com is also taking over its closest UK rival Worldgallery.co.uk in a deal that will take its sales this year to about 1.3m, on which it makes profits of 50,000.


Elnaugh lost more than 300,000 when Red Letter Days was forced into administration in August and then bought from the administrators by her fellow Dragons' Den panellists Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis. Since then she said that she had had many offers of work and offers to run businesses both via her website and through contacts.


The Easyart.com opportunity came 'via a contact of a contact in the City'.

She said: 'I jumped at the chance because art was my first ambition. I wanted to read art history at university but all five I applied to turned me down, so I ended up as an accountant. I firmly believe that if what you are doing is something which you are passionate about, you are much more likely to succeed.'


She declined to reveal how much money she has put up for what should become - through share options - a 20% stake in the business. But venture capitalist Brainspark, which has backed the business since it was founded in 1999, has invested the best part of 2 million for its 22% stake.


The US equivalent of the business, art.com, was recently bought by Getty Images for $80m (46m).


Easyart.com hit the headlines two years ago when it successfully defended itself legally against Stelios Haji-Iannou's Easygroup over the easy prefix in its name.


Elnaugh believes the business could be turning over between 5m and 10m by the time she plans to bring it to the stock market, in two to three years.


She said: 'All the business needs is a marketeer to come in and turn up the heat. So far it has only used the internet to sell and there is massive potential for using traditional channels to grow sales.'


As for the Red Letter Days debacle, she claims she now 'knows exactly what not to do'. The most important lesson she learned from its failure was 'don't step back from being chief executive and let someone else run your business. Although, come to think of it, that's exactly what Simon is doing with me'.

Easyart.com sells reproductions and limited-edition prints and has a framing business in Uckfield, Sussex. The second series of Dragons' Den starts on BBC2 tomorrow
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=405035&in_page_id=50001

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9070-1872826,00.html

The second series of Dragons' Den, the "reality" television business show, begins tonight on BBC2.

Its success (although the phrase "cult hit" should always carry the caveat that it means the programme had a loyal, but small, following) was based largely on the usual voyeuristic glee of seeing entrepreneurial hopefuls have their life's work and dreams ripped to shreads by expert business people who tantalisingly hold the dosh that could kick-start any of the wannabes' businesses.

One of the panel of experts in series one was Rachel Elnaugh.

Ms Elnaugh, pictured, earned her position of authority on the programme because of the success of her business, Red Letter Days. This was a company, which she founded in 1989 when just 24, which acted as a sort of brokerage or agency between providers of prestige trips of a lifetime (hot air ballooning, driving a racing car at Brands Hatch, a luxury day at a health spa), to sell on the trips to a mass audience, taking its own cut. A simple, yet brilliant, marketing idea that was good for the providers, and good for Ms Elnaugh's business. It made her a millionaire.


During the filming of the first series of Dragons' Den, Ms Elnaugh breathed fire over any budding businessman or woman who dared put forward a sub-standard idea (the dog basket that never ponged was one proposal that stank the place out) or, heavens above!, who might have unwittingly offended her with a misplaced personal comment (something which sank the snowboarding enthusiasts who wanted to develop a "trike" to bob through the powder on the slopes). So much for business being about the bottom line and not about personal interests.

Yet even as this was all being filmed, Red Letter Days was struggling as a business. By this summer, it collapsed. Customers who paid their hard-earned cash to Red Letter Days for the trip of a lifetime were stiffed when suppliers, who had gone unpaid by Red Letter Days, refused to complete the order. Several suppliers blamed Red Letter Days for failing to make agreed payments.

All this was going on as Ms Elnaugh was busy recording the second series of Dragons' Den. Very unfortunate timing for the producers, but more than a little embarrassing for Ms Elnaugh?

Not a bit of it, it would seem.

"Business life is fickle," her website says, continuing, "and following her decision to appoint a new CEO and step back from the company in 2002", so clearly nothing of the disaster that followed was anything to do with Ms Elnaugh, "Red Letter Days plunged into losses of 4.7 million." Whoops.

"Despite Rachels attempts to save the company, a series of betrayals", betrayals, no less! "misplaced trust", trust! misplaced! "and life under the media spotlight", oh, dear, the perfidious media spotlight, "led to Red Letter Days falling into administration on 1 August 2005.

"The ensuing publicity was perhaps the most generated by any unlisted SME in British Business history." Such a modest claim.

The website also includes mention of Theodore Roosevelt, with whom Ms Elnaugh clearly associates herself, together with several messages of support (all anonymous), and buried away in a pithy statement issued to the producers of another TV show (one which did not see matters in quite the same way as Ms Elnaugh), a brief message of regret to the "small number" of customers who were left out of pocket. "I did everything I could to keep the company alive, and have learned from the mistakes I made at the time," she says.

But clearly, Ms Elnaugh does not believe the "media spotlight" and publicity surrounding Red Letter Days was an altogether bad thing. After all, she was never too busy or pre-occupied with the troubles at the business to turn down the filming schedule for the TV programme.

And guess what? Just as the second series is about to launch - doubtless with Ms Elnaugh dispensing lots of valuable advice about how to run a successful business - it has been announced that she is to re-launch her own business career with a 20 per cent stake in easyart.com.

Apparently Ms Elnaugh said, "I jumped at the chance because art was my first ambition." So your first ambition wasn't to be successful at business then, Rachel?

try ringing your broker and ask him to quote you on 500k of shares or 1mil...

you will have a shock...

makes me very happy

wish they would bloody announce

another op to top up on the cheap...

news out this afternoon re geosim... excellent!!!!

How do you know.ketcenta,are you judging by the buys or do you have a crystal ball,your views are greatly appreciated,as long as its not a ramp.

when the derampers appear which they did in full force and today... and then two lots of 500k go through, its damned good sign, weeks ago today we were in 50% in the afternoon and then got an announcement at 5pm, a friend rang Brainspark and they said news is iminent... cant spell iminent sorry... but you know what I mean...

I bought more this morning, already in profit, and expect to see a strong rise this afternoon

on top of that look at the 19 intraday

why would anyone want to invest in a company that has rachel elnaugh on board?-wouldn't go nr it after her last company collapsed - very fortunate to have been bailed out by sound business men 'friends from the show'- i would think a gesture of good will amongst friends- can't see much in it for them.

katcenka- are you working on behalf of rachel elnaugh pr team?.

By the way thanks katcenka for the heads up for Dragons' Den, quite an entertaining program. Not sure RACHEL Elnaugh gave the impression of someone you would rush to put your money in though.

in fact i find her very annoying giving it the large one- they should scrap her from that program and give it to someone who's opinion would be respected- male or female.

guys... forget looking at easyart.... look at GEOSIM... look at the other BB for BSP... i think the penny will drop, I am up 200% its going to rocket

Im confused, why are you up 200%. Does BSP own Easyart.com and GEOSIM and why are you up 200% :-) BSP is down 7% today....

i bought a 1.1p 3 weeks ago... geosim... how much do you think BSP will get for it, alot more than 10mil

M4rt, BSP owns a % of Easyart about 20% from memory, there is a potentially large deal to be signed with Geosim and "The Firm" DYOR.

Brainspark says sale of Geosim stake nears completion

LONDON (AFX) - Brainspark PLC said the sale of its 50.1 pct stake in Geosim
Systems Ltd to an unnamed US private equity firm is nearing completion.
The group announced heads of terms for the sale on Aug 11.
Brainspark said it will disclose the name of the US private equity firm when
full legal documentation on the deal has been signed.
newsdesk@afxnews.com
slm/

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Oh right So 1.1p to 2.2p is a 200% profit is it??... although still a very good profit i think you will find your only up 100%

yes sorry, I I sold at 2.6p and got back in at 1.6p... almost 200%.. its got a lot further to go

Not bad at all... Yes it does seem that way, although if they are saying deal has been done I would have thought the price would have moved already.

Why did you not looked into vog,its up 100percent to

no the deal has not been done, nothing signed yet, and the value we dont know yet either, they said minimum 10mil... but that was six months ago

google earth has not been around that long, and google are looking to buy some companies.... they 7bil to spend...
you cant lose

look at the trades for the past weeks, no one wants to sell....