Bio Dragon’s Den

Have you ever dreamt of starting your own business? Have you ever thought about what kind of model you would have for it?

Up until the 29th March 2019, I had never really understood what is involved in the creation of a business. That all changed when I attended a ‘Dragon’s Den’ workshop held by Chris Walker at Bangor University.

Ideas brewing

At the start of the session, we were split into groups consisting of around 5 people. The task was to create a product or service which is sustainable, environmentally and climate crisis friendly.

This was done by creating a mini PechaKucha consisting of 10 slides. We also created a Crowdfunder video to advertise the product.

Our group began by discussing ideas before we settled on one we named ‘Flowers on Towers’. This was to be a service for urban buildings, mainly high-rise buildings, to create gardens on their roofs.

Once we had our idea, we could begin work on our business model. We had a canvas (shown above) to help with this. In order to make a business idea work, you need to think about each of the 9 key elements involved:

• Key Partners
• Key Activities
• Value Propositions
• Customer Relationships
• Customer Segments
• Key Resources
• Channels
• Cost Structure
• Revenue Streams

Business model canvas

One aim of our business was to allow people living in high rise flats in cities to feel like they can have access to a garden if they wanted to sit outside.

Beekeeping in urban areas

The main aim of the service was to help increase biodiversity of insects, such as bees, in urban areas. Other packages would be available to customers who preferred plants which would take in more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

One of our main revenue streams would involve a maintenance package in which customers would pay for the company to replace and maintain plants monthly.

Other Ideas

At the end of the workshop, each group had to present their ideas to others. Some ideas included:

• An app to identify bird songs
• Bags created from bacteria

Thoughts & my career

This workshop allowed me to see how much is involved when setting up a business. When brainstorming ideas, I realised just how difficult it is to create a business that hasn’t already been thought of in the past.

However, as time was limited, I didn’t get to take part in the creation of the video as I was creating our powerpoint. It would have been more interesting to be involved in every stage of the creation of our business idea, to have a better understanding of each stage.

Although it would be nice to start a business in the future, I don’t think it is something I personally would ever do.

Firstly, it involves having an idea which fills a void in the market; something I don’t currently have. It also requires a lot of planning to make sure you can fund such a venture,

Overall, creating a business also involves taking a risk and hoping people invest in your idea. When the idea is good enough and well thought out, the rewards can be limitless. However, taking such a gamble I don’t plan on doing.