Back in the Den, Our New Episode To Air Sunday 2nd!

Last year James and I breathed a sigh of relief as we walked away from The Den with the best offer ever seen on the programme, all of the Dragons' pledging to invest in our water transport, sanitation and storage device, for the original equity offered.

Despite a record breaking result, Red Button Design were awarded £45,000 in grant funding from Oxford Said Business School, prompting James and I to take the difficult decision to suspend this original deal. We continued to progress and retain 100% of our equity, spending this money from Oxford (and subsequent funding and support secured from NESTA and Scottish Enterprise, amongst others), producing a fully working prototype.

Since the prototype was lovingly completed by James back in August, we elected to get back to the fearsome five and ask if they'd like a second chance (or should that be 'to give us a second chance'?) at an investment. Of course, almost a year down the line, 20,000 pre orders in the bag, prototype in the office, field trials ready and waiting, we are no longer looking for £50K seed funding. This time we're asking for £200,000 towards our half a million pound project and the BBC were there to see what happened.

Will we escape the wrath of the Dragons' a second time?*

Tune in to find out: Sunday 2nd November, 9pm BBC2

* no really, will we? We don't know yet either!

Time To Take Stock...

Well we're coming up to the end of our first year and thought it'd be appropriate to take a look back at what an amazing year it has been..

on July 27th 2007 Red Button Design Ltd formally registered at Companies House. By August we were one of 25 global businesses who made it into the Grand Final of the the "Business In Development" Social Business Plan Competition which received over 3,000 entries. Later that month James and I travelled, in great secrecy, to Pinewood Studio's to film "The Dragons Den". Where, despite securing the best deal ever done in the den (all 5 Dragons investing for the original equity offered), we are sworn to legally-enforceable silence until the episode airs! In September Red Button Design travelled out to San Fransisco to receive a Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Award. We were the only UK company to be recognised in the competition. Not to rest on our laurels, November not only saw Red Button in the Final 5 "Enterprising Young Brits" in the British Chambers of Commerce Competition for the Social & Community Category but we were named the most promising innovative business idea addressing 21st century healthcare and medical challenges in the Oxford Said Business School's National Enterprise Competition. We were awarded a £10,000 prize and put forward for the Oxford SBS 'Global Challenge' where we were also awarded the overall award for Social Enterprise beating 182 entries from 23 countries and netting a further £35,000. December, and our Episode of "The Dragons' Den" airs just before Christmas. James and I finally get to see which 13 minutes of our 2+ hours of interrogation were deemed worthy of screen time! We collapse with relief and the website collapses under the deluge of hits! January 2008 and the new year sees us traveling to India with the UK-India Business Council on a Government Delegation with PM Gordon Brown, to be interviewed live on TV with Richard Branson, Karan Bilimoria, Peter Jones and Gordon. I did manage to get a question in which was answered by the PM and praised for it's insightfulness by the very lovely Richard Branson! We also spent time with a wonderful NGO working on the features of the product with a small village community in Mewat, part of India's poverty belt. We return to find out that Red Button has received £1,000 for winning the Regional heat of the Dumbartonshire Business Gateway Competition and progress to win the National Competition and receive another £4,000. In February I am accepted on to NESTA's Starter for 6 scheme, an intensive four month training programme for young creative entrepreneurs. Entry to this scheme is extremely competitive and is provided at no cost to the companies who are accepted! James gets nominated for "Global Student Entrepreneur 2008" in
March (we're awaiting to see how his application progresses). April saw us reach the last 5 young businesses in the HSBC 'Unipreneurs' competition from over 800 potentials. I completed NESTA's Starter for Six Training Programme in June was nominated as Glasgow University's Young Alumni of and The Company is awarded £7,000 follow on grant funding from NESTA.

*phew!*

So that takes us up to July and we're currently working on a series of educational text books, awaiting the publication of a few magazine articles, raising second-stage funding, re-designing the website and securing our International Patent.

Not bad for our first year I think you'll agree!

Press Release

Red Button Design win £45,000 in Oxford University's 21st Century Challenge Competition with their life saving water transport, sanitation and storage device.

The trio scooped a total of £45,000 in prizes on the night for their Reverse Osmosis Sanitation System (ROSS) which can effectively and cheaply provide safe water for the developing world.

Entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, policy makers, academics, corporate guests, sponsors and competitors gathered at the Saïd Business School in Oxford for the annoucement this week. The judges awarded two prizes, the first a £10,000 prize to a company addressing a pertinent problem affecting people in the 21st Century and a second for £35,000 awarded to the ‘Global’ winner representing the most investable social enterprise.

Steve Rayner, Director of the James Martin Institute for Science and Civilisation at Saïd commented:

‘The competition exemplifies what the School stands for, bringing together business with social and environmental issues that address the problems we are faced with in the 21st Century. The strength and quality of submissions was outstanding and the overall winner was selected on its ability to meet certain criteria; the scale of the problem being addressed; the impact of the individual business on problem solving; and for its simplicity and elegance’.

The 21st Century Challenge, the largest such competition in the UK, is designed to encourage commercial solutions to help solve the major social and environmental challenges of the 21st Century. More than 180 entries were received from 23 countries. Participants had to submit a five page business plan focusing on one of the three challenge tracks. Three finalists were drawn from the entries to each track and the nine finalists then went forward to the grand final event and pitched their business plans to a panel of judges.

Red Button Design was founded by Amanda Jones, a Glasgow University Graduate, James Brown and Nicky Pang who are both studying Product Design on a joint course run by Glasgow University and Glasgow School of Art.

The judging panel for the grand final comprised:

Professor Steve Rayner, James Martin Institute for Science and Civilization (Chair)
Rob James, DFJ Esprit
Keith Evans, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Jonathan Guthrie, Financial Times
Wendy Hart, Grant Thornton
Ravi Kapur, NESTA
Antony Ross, Bridges Ventures
Nicholas Pitts-Tucker, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC)
Richard Sanders, Permira

For further details please contact Amanda Jones:
Amanda@thisisredbutton.co.uk

Christmas Comes Early For Red Button Design

There were more than 180 entries from 23 countries, submitted to the the Oxford University 21st Century Challenge Competition each focusing on one of the three challenge tracks:

Tomorrow’s People – business ideas covering healthcare and medical challenges
Tomorrow’s Planet – business ideas covering environmental challenges
Tomorrow’s Wealth – business ideas covering social inequality and distribution of wealth challenges

Red Button submitted to the Tomorrow's People track.and were selected as one of the nine finalists (three from each track) to go forward to the grand final where they present their business plans to a panel of judges before an audience of venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs, policy makers, academics and corporate guests.

I am thrilled and stunned to be able to report that not only did Red Button Win their challenge track scooping the £10,000 Tomorrow's People Award..

BUT

We also scooped the 2007 Global Prize winning another £35,000!

£45,000 will literally allow us to get through the next stage of prototype development without selling off any equity meaning that when we do come to sell a percentage of our company the risk will be significantly lowered due to further prototype advancement and we will recieve a significantly better price!

We are so thrilled, so so thrilled!

Social Suicide via Webcam

Well, we have be listed as finalists in the prestigious Oxford 21st Century Challenge, sponsored by NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts). Celebrating new technologies for global change.

We are one of 3 finalists in our track and on Wednesday James and I make the long drive south to Oxford in preparation to pitch for our lives. If you are so cruelly inclined you can watch this evil spectacle live via webcam at 3:10pm Thursday 29th November (http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/21challenge/news/Events.htm)

We have no delusions of winning, such are the companies we are up against, however we are very flattered to be able to add "finalist" to our wrap sheet against such a well regarded competition.

At least that's what we keep telling ourselves.