Making Money: The Apprentice - A Dogs World

Another interesting episode, two people got the famous phrase “You’re fired!” from Sir Alan Sugar. Ifti got the sack for not contributing to the task as his mind was on his family, while Rory was shown the door for being an effective project manager.

The two teams were set the task of designing and pitching a dog accessory to three retailers. Team Stealth settled on a flat pack doggy wardrobe, while Team Eclipse went for a utility strap aimed at the dog-walker (Rambo’s outfit according to Sir Alan).

Although the Boys team, Eclipse had orders from two of the three retailers, it was not enough to beat the Girls who came in at the last hurdle with an order for 2000 units making a profit of over £5000.

Where did Team Eclipse go wrong?

· Picked the wrong product
· Ignored the focus group on product ideas
· Poor pitch

What can you draw from the task?

· Money is the end result of valuable ideas
· Design products for a niche market
· Product must justify retail price
· Research your product and potential customers

Getting the sack was a difficult blow for Rory, an entrepreneur who had gone bankrupt twice before. Let’s hope he is learning from his mistakes and recognising the patterns of failure.

Anyway, the moral of the story from Sir Alan Sugar, when pitching a product, put your effort into the person / company who has the potential to buy a big quantity.