´óÏó´«Ã½

Do you remember the haggling scene in the Monty Python film Life of Brian?

Brian is trying to escape the attention of the Roman guards in a bazaar and spots a trader selling false beards. He quickly hands over the required 20 shekels to buy one, only to find the indignant seller telling him that he's meant to negotiate a better price. "We're supposed to haggle" the vendor says. So Brian inevitably gets caught up in a few minutes of pointless bargaining to satisfy the trader's sense of ritual.

Evan will write weekly updates of Den activity throughout the 2009 series.

Well I thought of that scene watching Paul Ward's encounter with the Dragons in this week's programme.

The Dragons were royally fed up with Paul as he simply refused to adopt the Den ritual of haggling. He made them an offer and he stuck to it. There was no real negotiation at all.

It seems there is an unwritten rule of the Den: it's the Dragons who are allowed to be stubborn, not the entrepreneurs. Dragons rarely haggle: they usually make an offer and expect it to be treated as a take-it-or-leave-it opportunity.

But they clearly don't like it when someone else comes in and does the same thing. The Dragons expect entrepreneurs to be flexible. Paul's obstinacy breeched the Dragons' sense of fair play.

So why have things evolved this way?

You might think it's just that the Dragons are innately tougher than the entrepreneurs. Or even more unreasonable. But I don't think so.

It's that the Dragons have a huge advantage over the entrepreneurs. They have the time and exposure in the Den to get a reputation for being tough and inflexible.

For example, Deborah can say "I don't negotiate" to an entrepreneur and it is very believable because we've all seen her on TV many times in the Den and she never negotiates. Hence, she is at an advantage in the haggling. The entrepreneurs know Deborah won't move, so they know they have to budge if there is to be a deal.

Having a reputation for toughness can be a huge advantage in life, because it scares most people away from confrontation. You usually don't need to fight, if everybody assumes you are going to win.

So it is with the Dragons, the Den and the reputations they have acquired for being immoveable. It makes sense for the Dragons to be inflexible in the Den; it builds up their reputation and makes negotiation far easier for them over time.

Sometimes it even pays them to let their inflexibility drive a good deal away, simply to show everybody how tough they are.

But the entrepreneurs have no such chance to appear tough. They come into the Den with no known background at all. If they say "I don't negotiate", the Dragons will generally not believe them. And the entrepreneurs can't afford to walk away in order to show how tough they are, as they only get one shot in the Den anyway.

So the Dragons repeated and public encounters in the Den allow them to create an intimidating reputation. Which is why it is quite satisfying to sometimes see an entrepreneur stand up to it.

Paul Ward played it tough, implying the other shareholders in the company hadn't given him permission to offer more equity.

So the Den suddenly had an immoveable entrepreneur against the irresistible force of the Dragons.

Of course, there was one inevitable outcome: Paul left with nothing. The Dragons were exhibiting barely restrained anger by the time he walked down the stairs.

Should he ever want money from a Dragon again, Paul would probably be best advised to wear a false beard himself.

Last updated: 12 August 2009