How Dragon’s Den reject turned investment snub into successful haircare brand stocked in Boots and making £6.5m revenue
A DRAGON’S Den reject has revealed her company is projected to generate £6.5 MILLION revenue this year.
Lucie Macleod, 24, failed to secure £190,000 investment in exchange for a 3% equity stake in her TikTok-viral haircare company, Hair Syrup.
But it turns out that the young entrepreneur didn’t need the dragons after all.
Following her three hour interrogation on the show in July, Hair Syrup continued selling like hot cakes and even landed in Boots in October.
Lucie dreamt up the business in 2019 while studying English Literature at the University of Warwick – and has since fulfilled over 250,000 orders.
She was frustrated with her “unhealthy, frazzled hair after years of bleaching and heat damage” but struggled to find an affordable product that could hydrate her locks and nourish her scalp.
The haircare entrepreneur began mixing ingredients in her student kitchen and, after countless hours of effort, actually found a formula that “completely revitalised” her hair.
In May 2020, Lucie posted her findings on TikTok to her three followers, and the video ended up raking in more than 600,000 views.
People began begging her for bottles of the miracle oil, so Lucie, from Pembrokeshire, set up shop in her parent’s conservatory during the pandemic and used TikTok to promote her products.
She was making big bucks in a matter of months.
“I spent about 10 hours a day packing,” she told Fabulous in 2023. “I was up every night until 2am. It was very stressful, and obviously with my degree it was very, very hard.”
Hair Syrup is one of the video sharing app’s most popular brands, with the business’ page having over 325,000 followers at the time of writing.
“Within six months it was going really nuts, literally just from TikTok,” Lucie said.
“The sales started coming in really quick and in the first month, I’d hit 100 sales, which is a lot considering it was something I was doing out of a conservatory.
“It was literally just me packing and sending everything out. When it was busy, every week was a 90 hour week.”
BBC came knocking in early 2024 after noticing Lucie’s online success, and she presented to the dragons (the panel of investors on BBC’s Dragon’s Den) in July.
Dragons' Den stars - past and present
Dragons' Den has been on our screens since 2005 and sees entrepreneurs enter the Den to try and win investment for their businesses from the Dragons.
Over the years there have been many wealthy investors sitting in the famous seats, here’s a rundown of them all and how long they were on the show for.
- Peter Jones – series 1 – present
- Deborah Meaden – series 3 – present
- Touker Suleyman – series 13 – present
- Sara Davies – series 17 – present
- Steven Bartlett – series 19 – present
- Duncan Bannatyne – series 1 – 12
- Rachel Elnaugh – series 1 and 2
- Doug Richard – series 1 and 2
- Simon Woodroffe – series 1
- Theo Paphitis – series 2 -10
- Richard Farleigh – series 3 and 4
- James Caan – series 5-8
- Hilary Devey – series 9 and 10
- Kelly Hoppen – series 11 and 12
- Piers Linney – series 11 and 12
- Nick Jenkins – series 13 and 14
- Sarah Willingham – series 13 and 14
- Jenny Campbell – series 15 and 16
- Tej Lalvani – series 15 – 18
- Emma Grede and Gary Neville were guest Dragons during series 21.
“I felt like the brand was getting really big and a little bit out of my control and above what I could handle,” she said.
“I thought I’d love to have a dragon on board to help me take the brand in a new direction.”
But when she was under the lights, Lucie found the pitching process “very intense” and not what she expected it to be.
Investment juggernaut Deborah Meaden forensically questioned the profitability and dividends of Hair Syrup, causing the other dragons to bow out – including beauty mogul Trinny Woodall.
I spent about 10 hours a day packing. I was up every night until 2am
Lucie Macleod
However, fashion retail entrepreneur Touker Suleyman made a last-minute offer.
He proposed investing £190,000 for a 3% stake, but only if he could get his investment back in three months while keeping his equity in the company.
Lucie accepted the offer, despite the other dragons inferring her not to.
Then, Touker shockingly withdrew, forcing the young entrepreneur to walk out of the den empty handed.
After Lucie’s rejection on Dragon’s Den in summer last year, Hair Syrup has gone from strength to strength.
It is now stocked in Boots – something Lucie says has been a dream since starting in 2020 – and has a team of 14 staff, as well as two warehouse units in Pembrokeshire.
Hair Syrup is on track for £6.5 million revenue in the coming financial year.
Not only that, but Lucie has turned her unsuccessful pitch on the BBC show into hilarious TikTok content.
“They were harsh girl, I’d have been sobbing if I was you,” one customer joked in the comments of one video.
“Even though they didn’t invest, the lessons you take away will probably be more valuable then you realise,” another assured.
Unlock even more award-winning articles as The Sun launches brand new membership programme – Sun Club.