A bargains expert who appeared on Dragons' Den with his freebie website now has a business worth £1million - despite not finalising a deal with one of the famous tycoons.
Deepak Tailor, 33, from London, started LatestFreeStuff.co.uk from his bedroom nine years ago in 2012 after graduating from university, with the aim of helping other money-conscious shoppers.
The business soon snowballed as thousands of people flocked to find freebies and, going from strength-to-strength, the entrepreneur was looking for a way to accelerate its growth.
Fast forward four years, and a successful application to appear on Dragons' Den saw Deepak standing in front of Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Touka Suleyman, Nick Jenkins and Sarah Willingham, pitching for an investment of £50,000 for a 10% stake in his business.
After securing offers from Sarah and Touka, it was a deal with multi-millionaire businesswoman Deborah that saw Deepak shake hands based on the exact terms he asked for back in 2016.
But what viewers didn’t see, is that the deal didn’t actually end up being finalised after the show following what Deepak called “due diligence”.
However, that hasn’t stopped LatestFreeStuff.co.uk from flourishing and is now valued at an estimated £1million.
Speaking to The Mirror, Deepak said: “Dragons' Den was the scariest thing I've ever done.
“The prospect of speaking on TV is one of the hardest things I could potentially contemplate and this show really puts you front and centre of the TV cameras.
“Sometimes you can even be standing for up to two hours whilst you are pitching your business. So I can see why past contestants can really struggle under intense pressure.
“Luckily for me, the pitch went well and the dragons loved the business.
“It would have been great if we could have got the investment to go through because we would have grown even faster than we already did following the Dragons' Den appearance but it was not to be in our case.”
Despite the deal not working out for Deepak, his website now attracts over one million people every month and has over 500,000 likes on Facebook.
The savvy spender, who also co-runs another deals website LatestDeals.co.uk, said he set up LatestFreeStuff.co.uk to give other bargain hunters a platform to see all the current freebies in one place.
The website works by listing the all ways you can get free stuff - including Amazon vouchers, designer perfume and even top gadgets like iPhones.
For example, it’ll round up all the companies that are looking for product testers or are giving away free samples, as well as apps and website where you can earn money or vouchers by filling in surveys or giving your opinion.
Deepak estimates around 95% of the offers are completely free with the exception of a few partners that charge for postage.
He said: “We've been growing quickly over the last few years as the demand increases for our platforms. We've been valued at upwards of £1million.
“I noticed that people were struggling to find genuine freebies and free sample from brands in the UK.
“To find these offers people had to signup to multiple newsletter subscriptions, download lots of app and join all the companies social media channels.
“But people were also scared of being scammed. I knew there was a better way so I created a genuine platform where we work with the brands.
“On a daily basis, I compiled the top freebies of the day from the best companies in the UK so it's simple and easy for people to claim the best freebies.”
Speaking about the future of his business, Deepak says more companies are starting to offer free samples to try and attract new customers - which he anticipates will in turn mean more traffic to his website.
He also has plans to launch the company in the USA and Canada.
Deepak said: “I see the company continuing to grow. In recent years there has been a growing trend in companies using try before they buy as a marketing strategy.
“Over 80% of consumers are more likely to buy a product in the future if they have tried a sample in the past.
“My site has grown off the back of this growing demand for consumers to try new products.”
Deepak's top 5 tips for finding freebies
- Create a second email address to use when applying for freebies. Companies that send out freebies tend to send lots of emails. You can set up new email addresses at Gmail.com or Outlook.com and use only that email address for claiming freebies and samples.
- Download the LatestFreeStuff.co.uk mobile app and sign up to our email newsletter to hear about new offers as they can run out really quickly.
- Apply for freebies as soon as you can. The quicker you are, the better your chances. Popular freebies tend to be snapped up pretty fast.
- Make sure you follow the instructions of each freebie offer carefully. Fill in all the details they need - including making sure you have the correct postal address. You don't want your freebies accidentally going to the wrong place.
- Make sure you use the "Autofill" feature on your internet browser when you are applying for multiple freebies. This button can be so helpful by filling in all your details quickly saving you lots of time!
