Not many people turn the tables on these formidable emperors Dragons’ Lair. That’s why viewers were impressed when Peony Li appeared on the BBC show on Thursday night, turning down a £100,000 investment in her business and saying “I’m out.” Even more surprising: It looks like his high-stakes call paid off.
Li has since revealed that his company, Jude, which raises awareness of the taboo topic of bladder health and provides products such as leak-proof trousers and a bladder control supplement, manages an annual turnover of £5 million. These products are sold in retail outlets including Boots and QVC.
Eight months after recording it Dragons’ Lair The company’s growth in the division quadrupled and marketing costs halved. This must have been a huge relief for Li and justification for turning down the money.
Although £100,000 may seem like a lot, Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden and special guest Dragon Emma Grede (who co-founded the Skims shapewear company with the Kardashians) asked for 3 per cent of the business in return – three times Li’s share. 1 percent
But Li had arranged investment from others on better terms than those offered by the Dragons, so after they all rejected his 1.5 percent counteroffer, he took a bold gamble to move forward without them.
“If they had accepted the offer or something like that, I would have accepted it in a heartbeat,” he admits. “I definitely had a conclusion. The company is not just my company. I also have investors who have been there since day zero; I raised my first round of funding with no product, it was literally just an idea. So it was a difficult moment: I really wanted the Dragons to be part of the company and I could see the potential of this exciting offer, but I had to honor and respect the people who believed in me when no one else did.”
Li also says saying no strikes a blow against gender inequality. “There’s a bigger message here: Women in boardrooms are easily seduced and manipulated into accepting a lower offer, especially when it comes to tough negotiations facing truly impressive business people. But I thought: What are my principles, what do I want to represent as an entrepreneur? “Is this a long-term sustainable partnership that will set me up for success?”
So how did Li gain so much confidence and build this successful company?
The future entrepreneur was born in Hong Kong and went to boarding school. His passion for healthcare was instilled by his parents, whose company sold incontinence pads and liners.
But Li did not plan to follow in their footsteps. Instead, he moved to England alone at the age of 15, speaking almost no English. She has since said that the experience made her realize what it felt like to be “unseen and unheard.” He is now proud to support underserved communities.
Li also clearly has an outstanding work ethic. He studied economics at Cambridge University, earned a master’s degree there, and then took a job at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
It wasn’t a good fit, but he was inspired by the startups that were drawing up their plans. “I knew I wanted to be on the other side of these deals,” he explained.
In 2019, Li became chief operating officer of Daye, a company focused on gynecological health and menstrual care. His accomplishments there included helping to commercialize a pain-relieving tampon. It also distributed six million pieces of protective equipment to front-line workers during the pandemic.
Adorably burst into tears Dragons’ Lair She reflects on how working in healthcare reconnected her with her parents and roots. “I was so surprised when I cried. “I’m a pretty logical person,” she says. “But when they asked me what makes me tick and talked about my family, I got very emotional. I had a picture in my mind of my parents, both in their 60s, still walking around, working, serving incontinent people, and contributing to women’s health. Now I know how difficult it is to run a business; When I was younger I had no idea why they were so busy. They’re Asian parents, they never say they’re proud of me! But deep down I know they are. I continue their work. I hope they won’t be too embarrassed when they see me crying!
But his biggest success to date is definitely Jude, which he founded in 2022. The company’s most notable product is its supplements, which are made from clinically proven, all-natural ingredients like pumpkin seeds and soy phytoestrogens that Jude claims can strengthen the body. Your pelvic floor in just 12 weeks.
Li’s idea to start the company came when she realized how little was being done to tackle a common but little-discussed health problem: Jude says 14 million people in the UK are affected by bladder control problems, including one in three women. claims. It restricts the lives of especially the elderly.
Li spent thousands of hours talking to those suffering and constantly heard the word “ashamed.” “When I see a problem that needs to be solved, I need to start talking,” she said. “These are the people I want to support. “I want to play a role in improving their quality of life.”
“When I see a problem that needs solving, I need to start a conversation,” he once said; In fact, Li also had this problem when he was 14 years old. “I had a urinary tract infection that lasted ten years. All the doctors deemed me too young to be incontinent, but I was left with a feeling of shame and loss of control. This makes sense when I put Jude next to Tena and Always. “Women think it is time for us to find a solution to our health beyond just putting on a pillow.”
For all these noble intentions, Den was a great equalizer. “Dragons had some concerns about how much we were spending on marketing,” Li adds. “My response at the Den was that breaking a taboo and long-standing stigma is not cheap, a lot of messaging and branding is needed. But deep down I know we have to make the business efficient and profitable, so [on board] These are valid, legitimate questions. I love dragons; I got a lot of inspiration from them and some really valuable feedback. Deborah Meaden is so honest, she tells it like it is, and I love Emma’s philosophy. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to introduce my baby to them.”
It’s clear that Jude is more of a mission for him than a job. But many potential investors turned him down; some called her a “tiny lady” or a “pad lady”, while others said bladder care wasn’t “sexy” enough.
But in the end, his passionate speech bore fruit. As of April 2023, it had invested £5.2 million.