A REJECTION from Dragons' Den "still burns" for the founders of BrewDog despite the company going on to achieve a £1.8 billion valuation.
James Watt and Martin Dickie had been in business with their Aberdeenshire craft brewery for two years when they applied for the BBC investment show in 2009.
They got through the initial application process and were selected for a screen test but producers decided they would not go on to meet the "Dragons", who at the time included Duncan Bannatyne, Peter Jones, Theo Paphitis and Deborah Meaden.
The two men were looking for £100,000 investment for 20% of the business which Brewdog said would be worth £360 million today.
Earlier this year, the brewery passed a £10 million target in its fifth Equity for Punks crowdfunding initiative, which valued the company at £1.8 billion.
Recalling the Dragons' Den rejection, Watt said: "It was a huge kick in the teeth for us at the time and that stinging rejection still burns today.
"Looking back, despite how much of a setback it was at the time we are actually really happy we got turned down. It forced Martin and I to go back to the drawing board in terms of how to finance our business.
"As a result we created a model that lets the people who enjoy our beer own a part of our company. Equity for Punks would not have existed without the Dragons Den rejection."
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