Successful Dragon’s Den entrepreneur
Dragon-backed business, Kiddiwhizz
From launching on a shoestring as a solo founder, to appearing on Dragons’ Den and securing investment, growth has come early and fast for Kiddiwhizz. Supporting small businesses like this with big business merchandising techniques is exactly what Flourish was set up for. Let’s take a look behind-the-scenes of that growth.
Meet Kiddiwhizz and its innovative portable toilet, the Whizzer! We’ve been working with Kiddiwhizz since early 2022, several months before founder Zoë was invited to enter Dragons’ Den. Needless to say, it’s been a rollercoaster ride, and the journey’s only just begun…
A tale of two founders
Kiddiwhizz is the brainchild of solo founder Zoë, who came up with the Whizzer when potty training her son Mayson. Fast-forward to 2021, and Flourish founder Sarah pre-ordered a Whizzer when it launched, seeing how good it would be for her youngest daughter. Sarah followed Zoë’s journey on Instagram and before long, Flourish was helping Kiddiwhizz blossom.
“As a bootstrapped founder of a product that had found early success, I felt out of my depth with the financial side of the business in relation to investment and retail” says Zoë. “I couldn’t have been more relieved when Sarah reached out to me to offer her help.”
We set to work on everything from sense-checking Zoë’s pricing and profit margins (she had them nailed!) to working out wholesale costs, supporting the contract process with Jojo Maman Bébé, and advising on Amazon costs.
The Den
Plot twist! Zoë was invited to pitch the Whizzer on Dragons’ Den in June 2022 and secured investment from both Sara Davies and Steven Bartlett (their only joint investment of the series).
Big things were coming, but we knew we wouldn’t be able to share that news until the episode was screened in February 2023. In the meantime, there was a lot to be done.
Due diligence and beyond
Before the Dragons’ investment could be finalised, there was a due diligence process to go through with Sara and Steven’s teams. We worked on a 3-year model which supported this, looking at projected sales (units and cash) and profit across the Kids Whizzer and across the introduction of the Adult Whizzer. The model considered sales made through the brand’s website, Amazon shop, wholesale channels and at festivals and other events.
The Dragons’ Den news broke when the episode screened in February 2023, and everything stepped up a gear. As well as finalising the 3-year model, we built a forecasting tool that takes the actual sales units, value, profit and stocks for each product line across all sales channels and projects them forward. This forecasting tool means we can make sure Zoë always has the stock she needs, while managing cash flow by streamlining stock holding.
Every month, we analyse the brand’s sales performance and send Zoë a set of recommended actions to help her place orders and manage stock. We’re also always at the end of the phone to talk through her big decisions – and her small ones – as the business grows. “Not only is Flourish the most valuable asset I have had during the most significant time of my growth” explains Zoë, “it’s the only long-term outsourced support that I budget for as a priority”.
“I cannot speak highly enough about the incredible work Flourish has carried out with me, from financial and stock forecasts to ensuring I have a watertight plan for margins and sales channels. For a small business planning a high growth strategy, Sarah and the Flourish team are a must. I feel confident about the future of Kiddiwhizz thanks to the strategies and forecasts she has produced and maintained with me.”
—ZOË CHAPMAN, KIDDIWHIZZ FOUNDER
The future looks bright
In fact, it looks positively glow-in-the-dark! The range now includes the Kids Whizzer, the Adult Whizzer and the bioluminescent GloWhizzer, which is launching in collaboration with the Gloworm Festival.
We have no doubt at all that Zoë will be thinking up more products very soon. Wherever the journey takes her, we’ll be proudly supporting Kiddiwhizz with our big calculators (and our Whizzers) in tow.
