Did you watch last night's Dragons' Den on BBC Two? If the answer's yes, I'd guess you're probably still cringing at the pasting the Dragons doled out to Peter Hopton, who was pitching his Very PC energy efficient computers. So what went wrong? Here's my take.
Wrong
Peter was bullish in valuing his four year-old company at £5 million. His comparatively low net profits, however, left Very PC open to criticism from the multi-millionaire Dragons -- and they wasted no time laying into him.
Right
Peter was right to argue his product is green, regardless of a damning from Dragon Peter Jones. Very PC's machines are low energy -- its home models (one of which is pictured above) range from an average 24 watts to 37 watts. That's not bad. Even Dell's brand new 'eco' Studio Hybrid reportedly uses around 65 watts. In a business context, Jones was right to argue that thin clients are a more energy efficient 'green' option. But the reality is many businesses still use individual machines, which is where Very PC stands to do well.
Wrong
Peter went off the garden path by suggesting the Dragons were investing in a 'big brand'. I like what Very PC does, but no gadget-head -- the guys here on SmartPlanet's sister site CNET.co.uk -- is going to put Very on a par for brand kudos with the likes of Sony, HP and Apple.
Right
Peter was right to admit that all his computers' components are off the shelf. Most PC makers -- including the Dells of this world -- use primarily generic prêt a porter computer parts. Sony's machines are actually made by another company, Asus. Sadly, the Dragons' Den edit didn't give him a chance to point that out.
Hopton told PC Pro today: "I was rather fuming because when we actually filmed it we had Peter Jones saying all sorts of stupid things, but it was two and half hours of filming cut to fifteen minutes."
You can watch the episode here on BBC iPlayer.
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