DrivenMedia gets £30,000 investment on Dragons’ Den

21-year-old entrepreneur Ed Holland was counting change collected by parking meters when he had the light bulb moment for DrivenMedia. Since then he’s gone from marvelling at blank truck trailers in a traffic jam to landing a £30,000 investment on Dragons’ Den.

“There were 100s of cars staring at the back of these trucks and no one was looking at this as an opportunity,” said Ed, who was shortlisted for The Pitch 2017.

The entrepreneur began taking down the phone numbers listed on the vehicles, which he started calling the next day. Six months later DrivenMedia – then called The Advert Man – landed its first deal.

Jenny Campbell made the investment for a 20% stake in the company on tonight’s episode of Dragons’ Den (February 11). The deal has since gone on to be completed.

How scary is that escalator?

Ed’s episode filmed six months ago.

“They invited me in to pitch in front of a camera first, which was quite freaky. Then I got invited to do the thing for real. It’s a long day. They pay for a hotel. You have to be at the studio for six thirty, you’re there until they’re done with you.

“You stay in groups of five-six entrepreneurs. They don’t know who’s going in first and neither do you. When you’re told you’re going in, you’re going in, there’s nothing you can do to delay it. It was nerve-wracking. It was down to the last Dragon, it was four out, one in and she made me an offer,” he remembers.

Ed says the equity amount was his upper limit and adds that Jenny’s been amazing since the deal happened. Speaking about the investment, Dragon and YourCash owner Jenny Campbell said Ed was “brimming with potential”.

“I’m confident with Ed under my wing, both he and his business will achieve success. I am excited to watch DrivenMedia grow from strength to strength and am delighted to be part of the journey ahead,” she added.

Along the way, Ed also learned from mentor Graham Mulholland, who helped him with sales and understanding who to target.

“My mentor came onboard around the five-to-six-month mark. I thought I was in trouble. I found out he wanted to help. He talked about structure and approach, which was really helpful,” said Ed.

At the moment, Ed is DrivenMedia’s sole employee. He hopes the investment will help build revenue and lead to the business hiring its first full-time member of staff, who will likely concentrate on sales.