Lions den celebrates its anniversary: ​​what you need to know about 100 episodes of Gründershow

You can think of “The Lion’s Den” great, you can think of it as stupid. You can also ignore them. But one thing is certain: the show in which founders advertise their ideas in front of prominent investors is already a piece of TV history. For seven years and ten seasons, an audience of millions has been following which interesting, useful, absurd or even completely irrelevant products and business models are on offer this time. And whether it comes to a big, emotionally staged deal or whether the dream of investing money is bursting, of course also accompanied by dramatic music.

This Monday, Löwensender Vox is broadcasting the 100th episode of the founding show. More than 500 start-ups have so far presented themselves in the cave with very different levels of success. Some founders later became millionaires, others went bankrupt or didn’t even make it to register a company. The youngest founder on the show was just 17, the oldest 83 years old. Some start-ups competed with star power – remember the appearances of handball world champion Johannes Bitter, swimming world record holder Markus Deibler or TV celebrity Giulia Siegel. Others brought real animals – mosquitoes, rats, cats, dogs, horses, even a cow – into the TV studio.

Not only about the founders, but also about the quality of the program itself, there have been divided views over the years: In 2015 “The Lion’s Cave” was nominated for the Grimme Prize, in 2016 it won the German TV Prize in the category “Best Factual Entertainment” . The consumer advice center NRW, on the other hand, criticized it in 2018 as an advertising program for sometimes overpriced products of questionable quality.

How it all started

Even fans from the very beginning may have to dig deep into their memories to remember how it all began. On August 19, 2014, Vox broadcast the very first episode “Die Höhle der Löwen”, a German version of the successful British format “Dragon’s Den”. The premiere episode was about car claws, chilli sauces, natural cosmetics made from cow’s milk and a heated anti-mite mattress – the same mix of topics of delicious, practical and total nonsense that can still be admired today.

Not much has remained from the first occupation of the Löwenstühle, who “invest their own money”, as was always emphasized in the opening credits. Only beauty expert Judith Williams is still there from the great lions. The other investors who got involved in the TV experiment at the start were tech guru Frank Thelen, event entrepreneur Jochen Schweizer, travel veteran Vural Öger and entrepreneur Lencke Wischhusen. Wischhusen stopped after two seasons to devote herself to her political career with the FDP. Even Öger, who filed for personal bankruptcy a little later, got out after two seasons. For voucher sellers Schweizer it was over after three seasons, Thelen lasted until season 7.

Deal or no-deal?

Since the start of the lion show, viewers who are completely untainted from a business perspective have also been amazed to learn the little 1×1 of the startup world. You will learn what makes a good pitch, which numbers are important for a business plan or what a convertible loan should be. After a few episodes of getting used to the wages, even ordinary employees without any ambition to set up a business go down to vocabulary like cash flow, working capital or break-even like nothing. The merit of the show is that it brings the audience closer not only to products, but also to the world of the founders – from the down-to-earth tinkerer to the blender with world conquest fantasies.

Criticism of the program first arose when the public realized that many of the deals closed in front of the TV cameras did not come off afterwards. After all, the founders don’t just win a sum of money like at a game show, but the investors buy into their company. Due diligence is the next expert word in this context: This is the name given to the detailed legal and numerical examination of a company before the deal is finalized by a notary. And that’s where it always fails.

“Known from ‘The Lion’s Den'”

In season three, the hitherto largely unknown Hamburg entrepreneur Ralf Dümmel joined the show as an investor. He made the colorful start-up party what the “den of the lions” is today: a perfectly oiled marketing machine for the products of the start-ups. Dümmel not only closes more deals than all the other lions. Thanks to his excellent contacts in the retail trade, the discount professional ensures that each of his “Den of the Lions” products can be bought everywhere immediately after the appearance has been broadcast. A concept that other investors are now also using. “Known from ‘Die Höhle der Löwen'” becomes an irresistible marketing label – whether the product is really good is sometimes of secondary importance.

Dümmel alone has made more than 120 investments in the 80 episodes that he is already part of – and brought more than 300 products onto the market with his Löwen holdings. Most of them are cheap mainstream goods for the household that everyone can use somehow or at least like to try out. One of Dümmel’s biggest bestsellers is the drain fairy, a stopper for the bathroom that has been sold 1.8 million times. Rokitta’s rust scare for the dishwasher even went over the counter five million times – and founder Oliver Rokitta’s marriage proposal in the show made the amalgamation of kitsch and commerce perfect.

But not everything Dümmel touched turned gold. The biggest PR failure turned out to be his involvement in the Pinky Gloves tampon glove, which was so heavily criticized online that the founders immediately crushed the product.

Finally, Ralf Dümmel’s lion career had a very special punch line in store. The serial dealmaker can buy himself and his company DS products from the Social Chain AG of Georg Kofler, who is also sitting as a lion in the show. The purchase price for Dümmel’s shelf empire: a mere 220 million euros.

Lions and their egos

The Löwenstuhl not only gave Ralf Dümmel’s résumé a remarkable kick. Other investors were also able to revive their careers or polish their image by participating in the show. Ex-Prosieben boss Kofler, for example, a very big media maker at the turn of the millennium and then pretty much disappeared from the scene, is now back as a wide-legged investor. Billionaire Carsten Maschmeyer, Leo since season 3, leaves all unpleasant questions about damaged AWD investors behind and presents himself in his second life as a mentor for a new generation of young entrepreneurs. Most recently, ex-Formula 1 world champion Nico Rosberg found a nice subsequent job after retiring as a racing driver at DHDL.

Often the alpha lions with their crashing egos provide the highest entertainment value anyway. Above all, it is legendary how badly Frank Thelen and Jochen Schweizer could smell each other on the set during their three seasons together. In his autobiography, Thelen even accused Schweizer of having his studio chair built higher in order to satisfy his ego. Schweizer tried it again in 2019 with his own job casting show, but it failed just as much as Maschmeyer’s attempt at a new start-up show with him as the only investor.

The show must go on

So now the lions are allowed into the cage for the 100th time. At least since “Die Höhle der Löwen” comes around the corner with not just one, but two seasons a year, the shine has decreased a bit and a certain oversaturation has set in. The ratings no longer reach the peak values ​​of previous years, when in some cases well over three million viewers per episode tuned in. Currently it is mostly around two million viewers.

But that is still far too good to give the lions their bread of grace. Season 11 is already in the making, like the broadcaster star confirmed: In spring 2022 it will continue with episode 101.