Dragons' Den grants Haywards Heath father of two £60k

A Haywards Heath man scored £60,000 investment from a national serial investor and entrepreneur.
Stephen Holmes on Dragons' Den SUS-181228-122907001Stephen Holmes on Dragons' Den SUS-181228-122907001
Stephen Holmes on Dragons' Den SUS-181228-122907001

Stephen Holmes, a start-up publisher which creates personalised football comics, appeared in a recent edition of Dragons’ Den and received an investment from Peter Jones.

Stephen’s first venture into publishing was rather accidental.

Stephen Holmes SUS-181228-122857001Stephen Holmes SUS-181228-122857001
Stephen Holmes SUS-181228-122857001
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He used to make up bedtime stories for his two daughters, his eldest Madison, aged 7 at the time thought they should write the book.

This triggered Stephen’s imagination as to what he could do next. The idea of a personalised football book – SoccerStar - was born.

Mr Holmes said: “Our aim was to immerse the reader in the story – they are the goal scoring Hero starring for their favourite football team.

“Through technology we think we have achieved this, creating stunning images, such as their name featured on the back of the shirt, their name lit up on the stadium score board and making the newspaper headlines.

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“Their name also features throughout the storyline, making this a truly unique book.”

On his experience in the Den and receiving the rare accolade of all five Dragons making an offer.

He said: “What I didn’t realise is you are pitching for much longer than you see on TV. In my case for 70 minutes.

“It was an incredible experience and by the time Debbie suggested I went to the wall, I was so exhausted, all I could think about was how long should I stand here for, before turning back.”

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Stephen shared his plans for the future and explained that they are working hard on introducing new team members and new personalised options.

“It’s important to us to try and inspire and encourage children to read and we want to grow the brand worldwide.”

For more information visit his website at: www.soccerstar.bizco.uk