Welsh businessman 'forgot own name' moments before Dragons' Den pitch

Wales is known for many things, stunning coastlines, incredible scenery, talented singers, the rugby - but one man wants to put Wales on the map for business success. Elliot Tanner, who is 38 and from Montgomery, managed to walk away with an impressive deal on Dragons' Den, despite even forgetting his own name moments before.

Elliot, who grew up in Montgomery, entered Dragons' Den with his business Stashed, which makes bike storage products. After intense negotiations, which saw four dragons fighting over him, Elliot accepted an offer from Touker Suleyman for £100,000 with a 4% stake in the business - a figure he whittled down from seven per cent.

Speaking about being in the den and pitching to the dragons Elliot said he "really enjoyed it" but did have a total mind blank before. He said: "I definitely stood behind the doors and they were about to open, my mind went just completely and utterly blank. I couldn’t remember my name, I couldn’t remember who I worked for, what we wanted, where I was and I was like ‘oh my God, I have forgotten it all’

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"By the time I’d walked round and got to the point of pitching, I was like okay, I’ve remembered my name, why I am here, what we are looking for and I really enjoyed it after that. They were good fun, really good fun." For the latest TV and showbiz gossip sign up to our newsletter.

"I actually really enjoyed it, in a weird kind of way. I know most people are like it’s the scariest thing in your life but actually I loved it. When you know your business and you know your numbers and you know you’ve got a really good product, a really good business already it's much easier I think to go in and be confident in there."

On how he kept up with the many offers that kept coming in - as Touker, Steven Bartlett, Deborah Meaden and Sara Davies all passionately fought to get the deal - Elliot revealed the negotiations actually took half an hour and he was in the den for two and a half hours. He said: "It was impossible… I went to the wall twice, to be honest, by the end I got to the point where there were so many offers, I couldn’t actually remember what they all were. I knew we had four really good offers from four great dragons, I just had to stick to our guns of who we went in with and it wasn’t the best financial offer but it seemed like the right person."

Speaking about the moment he accepted the offer, Elliot said: "It was amazing, it brought together two years of hard work to be recognised by someone like that, their interest in our business was amazing." While negations are still ongoing with Touker, Elliot said: "We are still in negotiations over the involvement, it took a couple of months to even get contact after the show… it’s not a quick process when you go through due diligence and contract negotiations." appearing on Dragons' Den has been a massive boost for the business.

Elliot explained: "It has given us such a boost, it has been amazing…the reaction has been amazing." and attending a trade show recently, he added: "All the owners of every business came in to see us because they had seen us on Dragons’ Den." It has been a great year for Welsh businesses on Dragons' Den, you can read about another Welsh business that walked away with a deal here and viral brand Hair Syrup which also appeared on the show, and Elliot is keen to champion this with his own business based in Abermule.

He said: "I think it is fantastic. I have always worked for Welsh businesses, I’ve always lived in Wales, I was educated in Wales, I want to build a Welsh business.

"I love where we live, I love the people around us so a really proud moment to put Wales on the map and show you can make products in Wales. You can make a profitable business in Wales that is doing good things and hopefully, it totally inspires other people.

"Younger people, especially going through the same kind of career path as me, that you can set up a business here and you don’t have to import all your products from China or the far east, you can make stuff here viably. Ironically I went to primary school in this little village and we’ve somehow ended up back here so it is a lovely full-circle story."

Reflecting on how far his business has come, from beginning as his own solution to bike storage during lockdown: "My daughter was born during Covid and space just became really tight, all the extra space you did have was then filled with the pram, or the car seat and we didn’t want to stop our hobbies or give up our bikes and I was like there has got to be some way to store your bikes. I looked around for months and there is nothing that stores your bikes more compactably or gives you good access, maybe I’ll design something.

"I created it, put it up on the ceiling and showed my wife and she was like ‘that’s quite good that you should start a business doing that!’ and three years later we’ve got a business out of it."

To the endless hard work: "It is crazy. It has been huge amounts of work, really hard on the family, people around me, it has taken its impact, we’ve been exceptionally busy over the years.

"There were moments where I was literally sleeping on the factory floor for a couple of nights, trying to get stuff done. Don’t get me wrong, it's been hard, it’s been really hard but it’s starting to pay off."

Elliot is proud of how far the business has come, he said: "I’m the one stood there on TV but the reality is, there is 15 people behind me who are making it all a reality. Everyone put a lot of time, effort and enthusiasm into the project to get us there… without everyone behind me supporting it, I wouldn’t be able to do it."

Dragons' Den continues on BBC One, Thursdays and you can catch up on iPlayer.