“The Lion’s Den”
Why Maschmeyer pulls out the checkbook
Carsten Maschmeyer in “The Lion’s Den”.
© RTL / Bernd-Michael Maurer
Carsten Maschmeyer has had a check with him for two seasons, which he can fill out if necessary and hand over without a deal. Now it was time.
A new way of perceiving music, breakfast with the dog, an e-scooter for jogging and a healthy three-minute terrine are the subject of the sixth episode of “Die Höhle der Löwen” (Mondays, 8:15 p.m., VOX, also at RTL+). The most emotional, however, is a pitch that is not about big money.
Stefan Stube (45), Frederik Podzuweit (40) and Stefan Mittnik (66) want to make music haptically perceptible. The deep tones are translated into strong vibrations that arrive via pads on the neck and chest muscles. The target group for the “deep.one” device is the deaf, movie buffs or gamers. The practical test convinces the lions almost continuously. Carsten Maschmeyer (63): “It’s like watching, suddenly from 2D to 3D. I feel music now and not just hear it.” Ralf Dümmel (55): “You really are in such a tunnel.” Nico Rosberg (36) does a little dance right away. Only Georg Kofler (65) is surprised: “I’m very impressed that you’re all so flashed. I’m not.” Nevertheless, he gets infected by the enthusiasm of the others and, after a moment’s thought, jumps up: “You know what, we’ll do it!” Judith Williams (50) reminds him with a laugh: “Wait a minute, you have to ask if they want that too!” But the negotiations are quickly completed: Kofler gets 25 percent of the company shares for 200,000 euros.
Dagmar Wöhrl tries dog food
Stevi Page (44) is an absolute dog person and warns the lions directly: “If I start right now, there may be an outcry through the nation.” She wants to do more with her Dalmatian bitch Schnücks besides going for walks and sleeping – like eating. She invented a breakfast for dogs called dog jam. There is a gluten-free dog bread mix in a jar, an instant dog coffee made from meaty bone meal and pumpkin, and four types of jam. For 20 percent she wants 60,000 euros to dare the leap onto the market. Understandably, the tasting of the dog food hardly finds any buyers – only Dagmar “intrepid” Wöhrl (68) even tries the bratwurst jelly. “She actually eats it!” Kofler marvels. “It tastes like normal meat,” is her conclusion. Page explains that she wants to sell emotions with her product, of course. However, that is the problem for some. Kofler: “I have a problem with the fact that this humanization of the animal is getting out of hand.” Dümmel and Wöhrl see the competitive market as a problem – Stevi and Schnücks don’t get a deal.
The lawyer Katharina Bisset (37) and her colleague Michael Lanzinger (39) as well as the technicians Philipp Omenitsch (30) and Thomas Schreiber (31) want to legally fight online hate. Bisset explains that this often fails because of problems with the evidence. Screenshots often lack data and context, and the comment can be removed again. Their “Netzbeweis” software now secures evidence online so that it can be enforced in court. To do this, the person concerned only has to insert a link on the website. This is free for the user, lawyers pay five euros per proof.
No investment case, but…
A good thing, everyone agrees – but not an “investment case”, everyone agrees on that too. The founders want to continue doing their jobs, and they have no ambitions to make big money with their product. Sales targets, forecast, best case scenario? “Our focus is to help people, not to become the big checkers,” Bisset said. For a moment it looks like there won’t be a deal. Carsten Maschmeyer, however, finds the idea “mega rewarding” – and does something that has never been on the show. “Nils and I are now doing something we’ve never done before. We’ll give you a check for 90,000 euros for the 15 percent you wanted.” Without having signed or clarified anything, he hands the check over to the founders. Rosberg also responds to this gesture: “I’ll offer you another 10,000 to round off the 100,000, without percentages.” The founders are at a loss for words and have tears in their eyes. Maschmeyer then reveals that he has had the checkbook with him for two seasons. “At some point the situation will come…”, he would have thought.
The passionate athlete Oguzhan Albayrak (44) invented “uready”, a kind of tricycle for running. The jogger leans on the handlebars with his forearms and should be able to run faster and with less strain on the joints. The device can also be used as an e-scooter. Nils Glagau (46) and Rosberg try it out in the parking lot. Rosberg is enthusiastic about the e-scooter function and leans into the curves. “But he’s not afraid of speed,” marvels Williams. Dümmel: “No, he used to be faster.” While Rosberg was having fun, the test run for Glagau was a resounding no: “I felt like I was in a walker, I would never do that.” The other lions are not willing to invest 200,000 euros either. “It’s hard for me to say that this will be the new trend,” says Rosberg. After all, the founder will think about it for a long time: “You mustn’t forget when Mr. Rosberg was there and was happy like a child.”
Battle for the healthy five-minute terrine
Former business administration master’s student Torsten Schuh (30) has come up with something new for the supermarket: “Hans Ranke”. Inspired by the fairy tale “Hans and the Beanstalk”, the flexitarian would like to make legumes such as red lentils or chickpeas easier to eat. His solution is a superfood ready meal with a particularly high proportion of vegetable proteins, dried vegetables and spices. It only takes hot water and three minutes to prepare – a healthy five-minute terrine, so to speak. The sample convinces Dümmel and Glagau, who try to outbid each other: for the 75,000 euros they don’t even want the 20 percent offered, but only ten percent until they get the product in 4,000 stores. After a short deliberation, the founder decides on Dümmel, who jumps up jubilantly. Glagau shows itself to be a good loser and wishes: “Good growth!”