Armed with an acoustic guitar and a dream, Vancouver scene mainstay Dan Mangan bravely ventured forth into the belly of the beast on last night's (November 6) episode of Dragons' Den alongside business partner Laura Simpson.
They brought their DIY touring company Side Door to the entrepreneurial reality show's dungeons, having co-founded the startup in 2017 and it having become an epicentre for lockdown-era livestream concerts in 2020.
Mangan and Simpson's pitch was likewise a great success, with Dragon Arlene Dickinson offering them $500,000 in a convertible note. Mangan shared the news on TikTok, in a video that sees him both watching the offer happen on the episode in real-time and also giving a quick explainer about Side Door before revealing that — drumroll, please — he and Simpson agreed to make a deal with Dickinson.
The company seeks to allow musicians and property owners to collaboratively turn anywhere into a live performance space. "It's all based on the idea that we can democratize and decentralize the live entertainment industry, such that artists who are not famous can still make a living doing what they love," the singer-songwriter said in the video.
With the raging pandemic, inflation and health struggles, touring is in an incredibly precarious state. Some are even predicting that smaller-scale tours won't be able to persist much longer, so the investment in Side Door truly couldn't come at a better time.
Watch the clip below.
They brought their DIY touring company Side Door to the entrepreneurial reality show's dungeons, having co-founded the startup in 2017 and it having become an epicentre for lockdown-era livestream concerts in 2020.
Mangan and Simpson's pitch was likewise a great success, with Dragon Arlene Dickinson offering them $500,000 in a convertible note. Mangan shared the news on TikTok, in a video that sees him both watching the offer happen on the episode in real-time and also giving a quick explainer about Side Door before revealing that — drumroll, please — he and Simpson agreed to make a deal with Dickinson.
The company seeks to allow musicians and property owners to collaboratively turn anywhere into a live performance space. "It's all based on the idea that we can democratize and decentralize the live entertainment industry, such that artists who are not famous can still make a living doing what they love," the singer-songwriter said in the video.
With the raging pandemic, inflation and health struggles, touring is in an incredibly precarious state. Some are even predicting that smaller-scale tours won't be able to persist much longer, so the investment in Side Door truly couldn't come at a better time.
Watch the clip below.
It's been a big couple of weeks for Mangan, who released his new album Being Somewhere on October 28. In celebration, Exclaim! had him rank his five best songs.
