Long time Grand Forks resident enters the Dragons' Den and lives to tell the tale
By Mona Mattei
When a person gets the call to film for the Dragons’ Den TV show, it is unheard of to refuse. So when long-time Grand Forks resident Gary Gilbert got the opportunity to pitch his invention to the Den, he jumped.
The opportunity turned into a nerve-wracking, intimidating experience travelling to Toronto, Ontario to film in front of the Dragons. Gilbert’s history as a performer paid off as he stayed cool while the Dragons grilled him on his product.
Although he didn’t succeed in signing a deal with the Dragon’s his segment pitching his invention, the Night Beacon Safety device, will be airing on Wednesday, Nov. 28 when he hopes the publicity will pay off in bringing attention to his new product.
“They said that they felt I just needed to get more orders and that you don’t need our money right now,” Gilbert said. “It was a good experience. I didn’t really want a deal, I wanted their marketing expertise to get the product out there. I feel lucky that I got the chance.”
Gilbert, now living in Sechelt, is well-known in the Kootenay / Boundary regions for 35 years as musician Dr. Fun, and as a favourite school bus driver. When he moved to the Sunshine Coast he picked up a job driving for the regional bus service, winding his way along the curvy highways of the coast. Since he was the new kid on the block, Gilbert ended up with a lot of night shifts.
Imagine a dark highway in the pouring rain, straining your eyes to see if there’s someone waiting at the next stop, and then slamming on the brakes when you finally notice that there is indeed someone there. Gilbert just couldn’t help but think that there had to be a better way.
“The beacon is designed to signal approaching buses during the hours of darkness in poorly or unlit rural areas. When I’m out there driving and I’m missing people, I’m straining to see and I’m stressed because most of our stops are in the middle of nowhere and they’re in the pitch dark,” Gilbert explained. “So I started working on a prototype beacon.”
Gilbert took his invention to his manager and they agreed to give it a trial run in a few locations. Now the regional transit system has 50 units in place and it has revolutionized night service, says Gilbert.
“It’s been great! You look over to where the stop is, in the past you could drive by it and there’d be somebody doing jumping jacks right next to the bus shelter and you couldn’t see them until you were halfway past them,” said Gilbert. “But now over a kilometer away you can see the light jump out at you and you can make a nice gradual stop.”
The new beacons were working so well, people suggested that Gilbert expand his reach and promote the beacons around the country. Surprisingly there are a more than a few people in the Sunshine Coast area who have been on the Dragon’s Den, and one in particular helped promote Gilbert to the Den producers.
“I was invited to come and pitch. They don’t have the actual dragons in auditions, they have directors and producers,” Gilbert explained. “But you have to treat them like they are the dragons. They have to see some value in your product, if they do you might get a call. They film about 250, and they only air about 75 but they audition a lot more than that.”
Gilbert got the call after auditioning twice – he was accepted in the first round but couldn’t attend for personal reasons so the second time he jumped on board.
While there are other similar bus stop beacon products on the market, Gilbert made it clear that his is just the better product.
“When they (the Sunshine Coast district) tried a couple of the others at over $1000 a piece, they’re big shiny metal objects with plastic and glass and they’re vandal magnets, they couldn’t keep them in place,” said Gilbert. “So they phased them out when my lights came along. They’ve had no problems since mine are installed because they’re low-tech, low-maintenance, bullet proof, and built like a Sherman Tank.”
So the next stop was the Den to help boost his budding business. After arriving in Toronto, he was taken to the studio for preparation. Working with his segment producer, he toured the studio, had make-up done, and was wired up with a microphone only to sit and wait until his turn.
Gilbert knew he had to have something unique for the Dragons so he created a funny skit involving a cardboard bus. He won’t be sure until the segment airs just how the skit went, but the cardboard bus effect was definitely not what he expected.
“I think they got the serious content but couldn’t conceive of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with the driver not being able to see you, they just didn’t get it,” commented Gilbert on the Dragons. “We joked around about it a bit. One Dragon, Bruce, got out of his seat and came right down to where I was because they were all ganging up on me, and he says, “didn’t you hear what he said, you’re just not listening, I don’t think you’ve even been on a bus!””
Despite what might possibly be a somewhat humbling TV appearance, Gilbert feels lucky that he had the chance and is hoping to ultimately reach some transit managers who will see the pitch and want to know more about the product.
To learn more about the night beacon check out Gilbert’s website: www.thenightbeacon.com
Tune in to the night beacon segment of Dragons’ Den on CBC at 8:00 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 28.
