Here’s a post Dragons’ Den interview with David Sheridan of www.shipmytribike.ie
A new Irish company established to take the hassle out of transporting triathletes’ bikes to races abroad has put in a storming performance on the hit RTE TV show Dragons’ Den.
The company, www.shipmytribike.ie, was on the programme on Sunday night and caused what was effectively a bidding war between a number of the dragons who wanted to fund it for an equity stake.
The man behind the new firm, David Sheridan went into the den looking for €40,000 for a 25 per cent stake in his business but emerged with €50,000 for the same portion.
The successful outcome followed a relaxed and confident pitch that resulted in two of the dragons – pharmacy chain owner Ramona Nicholas and technology tycoon Barry O’Sullivan – going head to head to get involved with the business.
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In the end, Sheridan opted to accept O’Sullivan’s offer. It gave him €50,000 for investment in the firm but crucially also won him a new partner he believes can help the company to rapidly achieve its potential.
The size of the investment also values the company, which only began operating last October, at €200,000. That’s pretty healthy considering 26-year-old Sheridan has developed the concept while working full time as a leisure centre manager in his native Longford.
A former international swimmer and a graduate of the Bsc Sports Management course in UCD, Sheridan told stickybottle he is planning to leave his job in the next fortnight to focus full time on the Ship My Tribike venture.
“It was only when I did my first Ironman, in Austria last year, that I realized how much hassle it was to transport your bike from A to B and back again,” he said.
“You have to take it apart, take off the saddle and handlebars, and put it in a bike box for the plane and then assemble it all again at the other end. And you do the same thing on the return journey. And then you’re faced with either getting taxis with the bike box once you get to your destination or even hiring a car to move it around.”
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The new company simply offers bike transportation to take the hassle out of the hands of the athlete. It currently has pick up points – at designated bike shops - in Ireland and the UK where a bike can be dropped off for collection.
The wheels are taken off and then the frame and wheels are fixed into a customised racking system in the back of one of the company’s vans or trucks.
The vehicle is then driven onto the car ferry and goes across to mainland Europe before delivering the bikes to the city or town hosting the triathlon where they are collected by the athletes.
Bikes are dropped off in Ireland or the UK up to nine days before an event and can be collected at the foreign destination up to three days before a race.
“People like to check out the course on the bike well in advance, and they also want to make sure it’s all working OK so I think you need that period before the race where we can have your bike available to you,” Sheridan said.
Once an event is over, the bikes are all collected at a drop off point the following day and transported back to Ireland or the UK. They are left for collection by the athlete at the same spot they were initially picked up from.
Currently Sheridan has drop off/collection points in four Irish locations; Dublin, Mullingar, Limerick and Galway. When he has packed the bikes from Ireland into one of the vehicles, the driver then goes to the UK and collects more bikes destined for the same event.
There are currently three drop off/collection points in the UK; Birmingham, Manchester and London. And by next year the number of collection/drop off points will have doubled to 14 for Ireland and he UK combined.
As well as catering for the triathlon market, Sheridan said the company is offering the same service for cyclists traveling abroad for cycling holidays and training camps or those traveling to foreign sportives.
His first cycling trip is in May when he is transporting bikes for Youghal CC for a cycling trip by the club to the south of France.
“Most flights will only take six bikes and at a real push they will take 10, so if you’re a big group you’re looking at booking a number of flights and splitting up the group into several flights just to make sure they have the room for the bikes,” he said.
A bike is transported to a mainland European destination for €175. The price can vary if the group is large enough to bring about economies of scale that would allow for discounting. The company is targeting an annual turnover of €250,000 by 2015.
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