Dragons’ Den star ‘set for life’ after bankruptcy from company worth £700,000-Meghna Amin-Entertainment – Metro

A Dragons’ Den contestant has revealed she’s now ‘set for life’ after bankruptcy from the ‘appalling’ product she brought to the BBC One programme.

Laura Bartlett entered the Den 12 years ago, seeking an investment of £100,000 for 15% of her business, a fashion publication titled Urban Coco Magazine, and valuing it at around £700,000.

However, she faced brutal backlash from the likes of Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Duncan Bannatyne, Kelly Hoppen and Piers Linney, who branded the Leeds-based outlet ‘a college project piece’.

Despite the grilling she received in the Den, and the subsequent failure of Urban Coco Magazine, Laura learnt lessons from her experience, which led her to exit from a future successful project that set her up for life.

On the show, Laura stumbled over her numbers and what the investors’ money would be spent on after a grilling from Deborah, while Peter – who already had a stake in Wonderland Magazine – blasted it as ‘appalling quality’.

He fumed the copy he received was ‘sub-standard’ and said he expected ‘better or more from a student’.

‘You need a reality check, go back to the drawing board and make this 100 times more impressive than it is today,’ he slammed.

Laura Bartlett starred on Dragons’ Den 12 years ago (Picture: BBC)

She pitched to Dragons Kelly Hoppen, Duncan Bannatyne, Deborah Meaden, Peter Jones, Piers Linney (Picture: BBC/Andrew Farrington)

At the time, Laura walked out in tears but determinedly vowed that she was ‘going to try and prove them all wrong’.

She now admits she wasn’t ‘mentally prepared’ for the experience, but did manage to initially succeed in proving the investors somewhat wrong in the six months between filming Dragons’ Den and the episode airing.

‘In that time, I’d actually done the thing that I’d asked for investment for, which was launch my magazine all over the world,’ she said in an interview with Journalism.co.uk.

Urban Coco Magazine sold out in 60 countries and Laura felt as though she had more opportunities coming her way, but her company went into liquidation and she was made bankrupt.

‘The Dragons were right, I did fail at that business,’ she admitted.

Peter branded Laura’s product as ‘appalling’ (Picture: BBC)

None of the Dragons invested (Picture: BBC)

The following year however, Laura said she ‘dusted myself off and decided to start again’, and with the Dragons’ Den experience behind her, founded her lifestyle and tourism magazine House of Coco.

The entrepreneur spent the next ten years focusing on the travel magazine that would allow her team to have ‘amazing experiences all over the world’ and inspire readers to step outside their own comfort zones, and reached 1,900,000 million online readers a month.

Looking back at her experience on the BBC competition, Laura said the ‘appalling’ magazine she had taken into the Den was actually a ‘placeholder’ as her first edition wasn’t ready but she needed something to show them.

She’s now left ’embarrassed’ by the ‘terrible’ version, and said it isn’t an actual representation of what she later produced.

‘It got better and better as the years went on,’ she said, and the end of Urban Coco Magazine led to Laura’s success with House of Coco.

Laura learnt from her Dragons’ Den lessons and created a second successful company (Picture: BBC)

She left the experience in tears and now admits she was ’embarrassed’ over the original product (Picture: BBC)

Though she remained coy over the actual figures her new company is valued at, having just exited from it she did reveal she’s been ‘set up for the rest of my life’.

‘I’ve bought a house in the country, and I’m mortgage free, and I’m very happy,’ she said.

She insisted she couldn’t reveal how many figures she’d walked away with, but did say: ‘My dad would be proud.’

‘I see rejection as redirection,’ Laura continued.

‘Everything happens for a reason, I’m a massive believer in that, and I’m really grateful for the journey that I’ve been on.’

Dragons’ Den airs Thursdays at 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.

Entertainment – MetroRead More