"Our goal is to have all consumers use our platform since they can save money," Vias Stratis, the Cypriot founder of cash-saving app ApoPou says, explaining the reasons why he recently dared to venture into Greece's Dragons' Den to seek support from the show's millionaire investors.
Stratis recently spoke to CBN about his experience on the hit television show, which saw him leave with an offer from entrepreneur Demetrios Mallios, the half-Cypriot founder of Aeon Group, Inc. a portfolio of companies that includes a family of technology-oriented funds, and related enterprises.
The ApoPou founder had proposed, in return for a €30,000 investment, a 6% share of the company and 10% of the royalties on each sale until the €30,000 was recovered.
The final agreement saw Stratis accept giving up a further 1.5% of the company in return for a €30,000 investment, so a 7.5% share of the company and 10% of the royalties on each sale until the €30,000 was recovered.
He had also received an offer from another 'Dragon,' Tassos Economou, the founder and Managing Director of iGroup, an investment holding company with offices in Monaco, London and Athens. Stratis chose to choose Mallios' offer instead.
Can you tell us more about your decision to present ApoPou to Greece's Dragons' Den?
Our goal is to have all consumers use our platform since they can save money. In order to do that we needed to have a huge marketing budget. And since we didn’t have that budget, the idea came to pitch our startup to Dragons' Den.
In order to do that, we needed to have a solid product so we developed a mobile app and a browser extension.
The browser extension is a big part of our business since it reminds the user that there is cashback available to our members.
You can find ApoPou Reminder in the Chrome store.
Can you tell us more about the experience of being on the show, where you ultimately received funding from well-known entrepreneur Demetrios Mallios?
Although I cannot reveal a lot of details about the show, I can tell you that it was the experience of a lifetime.
From the first interview to the casting and finally the live event, it was an amazing experience.
If you are not prepared to answer a million questions, it will not be possible to get an offer. The Dragons are pitched to daily by hundreds of businesses and they know immediately if you have a winner.
Another thing is you need to be relaxed since you are in a stressful environment with all the cameras facing you.
After my pitch, there was a guy pitching who was so stressed that he left and did not proceed with his pitch.
