On the 14th August 2014 Jordan Daykin showed off his new invention on the reality TV show Dragons’ Den. The 19 year old inventor already owns two other businesses and had the idea for the Grip It Fixings when he was only 13! With sales for the Grip It Fixings booming by over 600% since the day he appeared on the show it looks as though he has nothing to worry about for the future either! In previous blogs we have discussed how to manage returns in your store, but with this great invention we expect that there won’t be many coming back!

The fixings are designed for use with all the different types of plasterboard installation and they hold loads of up to 180kg. Tradesmen are very keen to purchase their own Grip It Fixings as on Dragons’ Den the product proved its strength by having Deborah Meaden sit in a chair which hung off chains from Grip It Fixings that were attached to a plasterboard wall. The fixings are easy to use and have wings attached so that the fittings are removable and can be reused.

Deborah Meaden made Jordan the offer and he secured an £80,000 investment into the business. The product is in over 1,000 UK shops and is also being sold in Belgium and Germany, with Daykin hoping to move it over to the US. Jordan was offered a larger equity share but managed to get Deborah down to 25%. Jordan said: “I asked Deborah if she could meet me half way at 25% as this was my original set maximum before going into the Den. I even stated that if it was the money she was concerned about I could guarantee it as the business was already self-funding. She then said she would like to meet me half way because she wanted us to both be happy with the deal and that she wasn’t interested in the guarantee as she doesn’t go in to a business thinking about how she can get her investment back.”

Grip It Fixings have become a huge success and sales figures issued by IronmongeryDirect show that the product became the ‘biggest online and mail order supplier of ironmongery products in the trade’ after the show and were also one of their top sellers. The Managing Director of IronmongeryDirect, Wayne Lysaght-Mason, said: “Demand has rocketed for Jordan’s clever invention since it featured on the show, with sales well on the way to justifying Deborah’s decision to invest £80,000 for a 25% stake in the company which manufactures the product.”

When asked why he went on Dragons’ Den Jordan said: “The whole idea came about one night when I was sat brainstorming the next steps as we had already contacted all the UK buying groups and were awaiting feedback. The next step was to tackle Europe and then head for the US. I was watching Dragons’ Den one night and thought if I could get a dragon on board with their expertise and contacts, we could get the product abroad in no time at all where me on my own would take 10 times as long. I applied in December 2013 and appeared on the show in February 2014.”

Jordan has already been given advice from Deborah Meaden and the invention has had so much success that Jordan was even worried about having enough stock! He said: “The biggest piece of advice so far given to me by Deborah is that when I was worrying about stock due to the company growing from 500 stores to 1,400 in a matter of months she said not to worry about saying to people they are going to have to wait as there’s no shame in the product being in demand and waiting for a good product.”

After investing in the product Deborah Meaden said: “Coming up with a practical solution for a problem that enough people experience and at a competitive price is the essence of business and that Jordan did this at the age of 13 is extraordinary. Having worked with him for several weeks now and seeing his drive, clarity and focus, it is no surprise that the range has already grown and Grip It now sells in over 700 stores nationwide.”

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