During tonight’s episode of Dragons’ Den on CBC, Thanos Zikantas and Ron Dunn make a pitch for their relatively new company Buck a Video.
Buck a Video is a service that basically allows viewers to watch a 15 to 30 second preview of a featured video before the video is interrupted with a call to action banner that requests payment to continue watching. Video owners can set their price, but the typical ask runs between $1 and $5.
The Ask
Thanos Zikantas and Ron Dunn entered the Den looking for $100,000 in exchange for 15 per cent of their business.
It’s also important to note that Buck A Video is a relatively new startup. In fact, the company launched just 24 hours before the owners made their pitch in the Den. During that 24-hour period, the service generated $1,000 from 80 users.
Will a Dragon Bite, or simply send Thanos and Ron packing?
Here’s a hint. Since appearing in the Den, Buck a Video is now Excideo.
Excideo is described as a service that leverages online challenges to fundraise for a cause. Thanos Zikantas is listed as the founder and CEO. The “video inturruption technology” is gone, and the business model is now donation based. It looks like Ron is gone too.
A Closer Look
- You can also check out Excideo on Facebook and Twitter.
- Thanos Zikantas is also active on his personal social media accounts: Facebook and Twitter. His personal YouTube channel is still available, but hasn’t had a new video posted for about a year.
- Ron Dunn is also active on Facebook, where he lists himself as CEO/Executive Director at The Downtown Mission.
Back in 2012, Thanos appeared on Startup Canada to talk about 3 Gyros, his Windsor Ont. based company that at the time produced salad dressings.
Catch new episodes of Dragons’ Den every Wednesday night at 8 p.m. (8:30 NT) on CBC.
Image via CBC/Screengrab
