“The Lion’s Den”: “Founder’s dad” meets “the coolest guy at the counter”

“The Lion’s Den”
“Founding dad” meets “coolest guy at the counter”

By Kai Butterweck
05/22/2023, 10:58 p.m

This time in the lion’s den: “Father’s joy” with Carsten Maschmeyer, aftermath rejoicing in the Glagau home and a thrilling Ralf Dümmel, who for once doesn’t get all his horses to the finish line.

Every year, 300,000 start-ups are launched in Germany – always with the hope of growing as quickly as possible. A small part of them make it to the gates of the lion’s den – knowing full well that in front of the eyes of Germany’s most influential investors, their entire professional life could experience a rocket boost.

The three students Raul Seidenfuss, Felix Kruse and Frederic Redmann present the lionesses and lions with their self-cooling beverage cup “frats”, the “first double-walled beverage cup with a cooling function”. The three busy youngsters from Mannheim score not only with their innovative product, but also with their likeable manner (“We want to be the coolest guy at the bar!”).

Soccer stadiums, festivals, parties

The first round of whispering is quickly opened. Nils Glagau and Tillman Schulz put their heads together (“Just think of the football stadiums, the festivals and all the garden parties!”) as do Ralf Dümmel and Carsten Maschmeyer (“Well, how’s your pulse?”). At some point there are two lucrative offers on the table. Carsten Maschmeyer pushes forward again: “I want to be your founder dad!” Says the big businessman. An intensive consultation later, Carsten Maschmeyer’s father dreams become reality. The “frats” boys opt for the duo Dümmel/Maschmeyer – much to the delight of the former: “Yes!” resounds once again through the lion’s den.

The somewhat sad-looking lions Nils Glagau and Tillman Schulz can also celebrate this evening. After the three horse friends and safety fanatics Veronika Hajek, Michael Schuhböck and Patrick Pauliner (“Lovelstar”) went away empty-handed despite having brought a horse and glowing LED stirrups, Nils Glagau’s hour came first.

Nils Glagau gets nervous

While the brothers and climate collapse opponents Tobias and Sven Hubbes (“lynes”) talk their mouths fuzzy and have to watch as one lion after the other – despite words of praise – get out, Nils Glagau nervously runs his fingers through his hair again and again. Somehow, the impressive digital points collection program for sustainable mobility has quite a few question marks with it.

But there’s also a small flame for the “disarmingly honest” founders and their app – and that flame just won’t go out. “Enough now!” Nils Glagau rumbles. For a brief moment, the atmosphere is in the basement. But then the turnaround: “You convinced me. We’ll just do it now!” says Glagau. Even colleague Ralf Dümmel cheers: “I treated the boys so well,” explains the Regale king.

Shrug the lions

Shortly thereafter, food expert Tillman Schulz can also look forward to it. In the race for the delicious fruit smoothies from “Häppy Snäx”, he and Dagmar Wöhrl left behind Ralf Dümmel, who was also interested and bidding. The latter would like to do it again. But none of the investors present really liked the last pitch of the day. Instead of a renewed cheer, the episode ends with disappointed faces on the founders’ side (“Paleo Movement”) and a collective shrug of the shoulders from the lions.