TORONTO — It’s obvious that most of the entrepreneur wannabes that go on CBC’s hit show Dragon’s Den know that they don’t have a hope in hell in getting a deal done.

The folks who peddle boring board games, toilet enhancements, and the endless array of useless “green friendly” trinkets surely just want to get on TV.

Well, this past season two transport-related products not only got valuable airtime and boosted their exposure, but also mightily impressed the notoriously stingy Dragons.

The young Bryan McCrea, Channing McCorriston and Evan Willoughby of Saskatoon-based 3twenty Solutions were among the few entrepreneurs to get capital from a Dragon — and keep it after the dust from due diligence settled.

Their product is basically a used steel shipping container customized into a flexible, mobile home or office for workers in the oil patch, mining and other severe service fields.

The trio created the container for the Idea Challenge at the University of Saskatchewan. Using McCorriston’s family trucking terminal as a staging ground, they used their $30,00 in prize winnings to perfect the concept.

3twenty Solutions’ container living idea is aimed
at the industrial transport, severe service market

In the Den, valuation is everything. And the trio were rewarded for their sanguine business plan by oil-and-gas millionaire and philanthropist Brett Wilson, whose offer of $120,000 for a quarter equity topped the offer by the entertainingly curmudgeon Kevin O’Leary, who wanted half the company for around the same money.

Naturally the young men went with Wilson’s offer, which unlike most deals on the show, didn’t fall apart when the lawyers took a look.

“It was actually painless,” McCrea tells Today’s Trucking. “Brett is a part owner of 3twenty Solutions. He adds a lot of value because of his experience in the oil and gas industry.”

While the container living idea isn’t new, 3twenty Solutions stands out because it’s aimed at the industrial sector and is a far more durable, easily transportable, mold-resistant alternative to traditional wood-framed containers.

“We eventually had to come to the conclusion to drop residential and go solely industrial. The industrial market definitely pulled us that way,” says McCorriston.

Depending on how they’re customized, the containers sell for anywhere between $15,000 and $60,000.

For now, the company is focusing on Saskatchewan, which on its own has a demand for about 20,000 beds. Asked how big the North American market could be, the young McCrea gives a veteran answer: “Enough to keep us happy for a very long time.”

All WOUND UP

George Schmidt and Laurie Johnson also walked away from the Den with a royalty deal from marketing guru Arlene Dickinson.

Unfortunately, even though there was excitement about the product from Dickinson and Brett Wilson, they were notified after a few months that the deal wouldn’t happen after all.

On A Roll: A low-cost alternative to
expensive, auto wind-up systems

No worries, though. Schmidt’s Mag-Roll-Up — a handy adapter that quickly attaches to a flatbed’s winch and accommodates a hand-held drill for fast, easy windup of loose straps — was seen on the show by another company that intends to pick up where Dickinson left off.

Johnson says a deal with a “heavy duty parts” distributor is very close and hopefully the product will “be on shelves very soon.”

Schmidt is a working truck driver. He invented the device after thinking about it while on the road. “If you want to save time and money you start thinking, and this is what I came up with,” says Schmidt. “After you unload, you have 20 straps laying on the ground. They have to be rolled up by hand, which puts a lot of pressure on the arms and shoulders.”

Johnson says this is a low-cost alternative to much more expensive, automatic wind-up systems. Plus — since it just consists of a winch attachment and a small, 12-volt cordless drill — it’s portable from truck to truck.

Asked if the product comes at a good time considering Canada’s aging driver force, Schmidt, in his thick German accent, answers like he’s been in marketing all his life:

“The time for the product was right 30 years ago and it’ll be right in another 30 years. Sure, age make a difference, but what we’re talking about here is fatigue and time which [affects] everyone.”