Good founders provide solutions to real problems. This is the case with Eezee. All the lions are thrilled, Dümmel gets the contract. What happened to the deal after the show?
Some problems you don’t understand if you haven’t had them yourself. Silicone jointing is one such thing. It’s unimaginable how shitty it is – say those who have done it before. Even the professionals.
The Geffers family from near Freiburg is made up of professionals. Until recently, they owned a heating and plumbing company with 50 employees, all of whom knew the cross with the silicone joints. Even experienced craftsmen find this difficult, admits senior Heiko Geffers when he pitched his new company, his startup Eezee, to the jury of “The Lions’ Den”. “And customers often complain that it wasn’t done well,” adds his wife Sandra Geffers, who managed customer service at the family business for years.
Sold by the meter instead of from the tube
The Geffers have now come up with a solution for this: Eezee, a flexible prefabricated joint. Looks like a thick elastic band and is easy to apply, no tools, no drying time and no cartridge. Tape it off, smooth it out and hope it looks reasonably good. The junior Tom-Lewis demonstrates this in the program and the comparison to the classic silicone joint made by Judith Williams shortly before shows: Yes, it really looks neater.
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The Geffers say they spent three to four years developing the dry joint. They also have the patent for their solution. In fact, this simple solution does not yet exist anywhere in the world; the patent attorneys have checked that. A big advantage that excites the lions. As does the fact that the Geffers recently sold their craft business and can now concentrate 100 percent on Eezee.
In order to get the startup off the ground, they now need support from investors. A deal that, at least from the perspective of experienced DHDL watchers, has “Dümmel” written all over it. However, Ralf Dümmel had to fight hard for it, because all the lions secretly seem to be big DIY enthusiasts or know the joint problem from somewhere else. At least they could all feel it.
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Or the numbers convinced them: “Carsten, that’s a cash cow!” Judith Williams whispers to co-lion Maschmeyer when Heiko Geffers praises the excellent margins of the rubber part.
All lions want to be there
Either way, all the lions made their offers. Most would have been willing to accept the offer from the Eezee inventors – 100,000 euros for 10 percent of the company shares – only Janna Ensthaler tried to get through the door with a little less (100,000 euros for 7.5 percent of the company shares).
In the end, Germany’s leading everyday problem-solving investor got the contract.
Does Dümmel keep his word?
We asked: Did the deal stick? And yes, says the Dümmel team. Eezee is exactly “one of those ideas that makes you ask yourself: Why didn’t it already exist?” said Ralf Dümmel after the show. He just loves that kind of thing. And in this respect the deal has actually come about and nothing stands in the way of more beautiful, unspoiled, glued and botched joints in Germany’s bathrooms.