A Squamish mom and former international tax consultant turned toy distributor will be on the hit Canadian TV pitch-show Dragons’ Den this January.
Monika Rogers recently filmed the episode in which she pitched her product called Squap, which is a new catch and throw game invented in Switzerland by her brother, Urs Robustelli.
She can’t reveal how she did on the show, until it airs in the New Year, but she does say it “went well.”
“Basically the idea was to make a toy that gets the kids out to play,” she said.
Even before she auditioned to be on the show, the toy had been enough of a success that Rogers left her career as a tax consultant to work full-time to distribute it in North America.
In Europe, more than 1 million Squaps have already sold, according to Rogers.
The attraction of the toy, which consists of two round mitt-like plastic catchers and a plastic ping-pong-sized ball, is that it is for everyone, from children to teens to adults including seniors.
“It is so easy to throw because it is really simply opening your hand, and quite often, for example, we have kids with disabilities and they can actually catch and you see this light go on in their eyes – they never caught a ball before,” Rogers said.
Rogers said the experience of auditioning and getting on Dragons’ Den was more pleasant than she expected. She auditioned in Vancouver and then got a call to say she had made the show and would be presenting on set in Toronto in front of the judges, all Canadian entrepreneurs who invest in pitches they think are viable.
Rogers took four children onstage with her to demonstrate the toy, while her daughter Alia, 5, watched with anticipation from backstage.
“[The Dragons] are all very nice and the producers in the background were all very helpful and even trained the pitch with me,” she said, adding that in the weeks leading up to the on-air presentation, a producer would call and go through questions to expect and do dry runs of Rogers’ planned pitch over the phone.
(It also may have helped that the notoriously cranky Dragon, Kevin O’Leary, was no longer with the show when she appeared.)
Roger’s advice for other wannabe pitchers to the Den is to prepare well.
“Prepare for the audition like you would for the show. Know your numbers. You cannot go there with just an idea. You should have some sales and you should have some idea where you want to go and what you want to do with the money,” she said.
While Rogers is not allowed to even hint at whether she got a deal, she did say her family and friends will be having a big viewing party to watch her episode.
Roger’s Dragons’ Den episode will air on CBC on Jan. 14 at 8 p.m. PST.
Squap is sold in Squamish at Toy Corral at On The Farm. According to Rogers, it is one of that store’s best sellers and for every 12 sets the store sells, Squap will donate one set to the Squamish charity Community Christmas Care.
Go to squamishchief.com to check out a video about Squap’s development.
