Hairdresser's brush with success - FT.com Shaun Pulfrey, 51, launched his Tangle Teezer detangling hairbrush in late 2007, having been turned down for an investment by the panel on BBC2"s Dragons" Den. Today, his company's turnover is £8.5m, with total sales of six million hairbrushes in more than 60 countries. The Tangle Teezer won the company the Queen's Award for Enterprise in Innovation in 2012. Shaun Pulfrey CV Born: Grimsby, 1961? Education: Matthew Humberstone comprehensive school, Cleethorpes Career: Worked for a local hairdresser before training as colourist at Vidal Sassoon in 1982. He went on to work for them in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and Boston before leaving to launch the Tangle Teezer Lives: South London. He is single Other interests: Supports breast cancer charities It did not totally surprise me that I am running my own company. I had no aspirations to own a salon but once I had the idea for the product and began the research I was driven to make it a reality. Until then I had always wanted to be the best colourist possible. During our financial year ending in March 2011 we generated sales of £2.2m. The previous year it was £813,000. I was aware of the money but I always look at the number of products. We could not slow down. It is like a beast that you have got to feed. You have got to keep up with it, especially as we had managed to get our tooling capacity up. All I wanted to do was to increase our distribution. In the next five years we want to achieve a turnover of £50m per annum. How did you fund your invention? Largely by working as a hair colourist. In order to find £98,000 I basically did not go out, I did not buy any new clothes and I did not go on holiday for three years. When I needed more money it came from remortgaging my two-bedroom flat in Brixton, which gave me £25,000, six months" capital that was make or break. I worked four days in the salon and the rest of the time I was doing Tangle Teezer. The research and development seemed to go on forever. It is to share my good fortune - empowering staff, encouraging them to develop as the company grows at such a rapid rate, to travel and see different countries and cultures. The reason I am selling well in Brazil is that the distributors there are so enthusiastic. They get as passionate about the product as I do. I am also driven, and constantly looking to develop and grow the brand. What did you ask for on Dragons" Den? I pitched for £80,000 in return for 15 per cent of the company. I realised after a very short time that they were not interested. They just did not get it, though my product was visual and I could show viewers it worked. Peter Jones said it was a hair-brained idea! It was interesting because I already had a route to market, and the way I looked at the Dragons is that they were a pleasant distraction. They now regard Tangle Teezer as the idea that got away. What was the most challenging period of your career? After doing almost everything on my own, it was finding people around me from 2008 onwards to come and take the business further. We now have 15 staff in the office. I had to trust them to do the job. We are quite a varied bunch, including a chief operating officer, a sales team, in-house marketing/media team, two accountants, a lawyer, and four logistics people. How much did it cost to take out patents worldwide? We put about £20,000 into the patents and intellectual property when we had not even sold one single product. It was very risky. The patent and IP fees have to be constantly renewed. We spent £200,000 last year enforcing our intellectual property rights. What is your basic business philosophy? To be honest it was to develop products to solve the problem of tangled hair. We put the technology into the hairbrush, the teeth design allows it to flex over tangles. It was a commitment to the customer. Have Facebook and Twitter been a strong boost to sales? Massively. While we focused on advertising in the trade press, nearly all our sales have been through print and social media. That's how we have become global within five years. We had Victoria Beckham tweet about us, and Emma Watson and Cara Delevingne praised it in magazines and on podcasts. For the first two years it was like a runaway train, trying to keep a grip on managing the supply to meet the ever-growing demand. It was the mothers of young daughters with tangled hair who kick-started our sales, then the product appealed to hair salons and teenage girls, and even men. Interest from China came through a blog nearly three years ago. A famous Chinese model and make-up artist bought a Tangle Teezer in Boots and tweeted about it. Then distributors in Shanghai approached us. I want to carry on because I owe it to those around me, for them to enjoy the success as well. There are still lots more things for me to do. In about five years" time it will be in the interests of the business for me to sell it. Then I would like to ask all my close friends to join me in sailing around the world. When you get to a certain level and the company starts turning over so much money, you do get advice from the banks. I took out a private pension when I was 48 because I simply did not have the spare cash to put aside before then. I pay in the maximum possible, and I would like to think that when the business is sold the proceeds will be part of my pension pot. I support breast cancer charities both as a company and an individual, as my mother was diagnosed with cancer when I started the business. Mum has survived and now I can treat her to anything she wants. One of our Compact Stylers we made specially to support breast cancer care, with 20 per cent of the retail price going to charity. I have bought myself some nice Bottega Veneta "man bags." I spent £2,200 on the last one. I have bought a lovely three-bedroom house with a garden, which I never thought I would have in London. My latest indulgence is an Audi R8 Spider with a V10 engine. The recession did not affect us, though it was just kicking in when I quit my job in London and launched the Tangle Teezer in October 2007. I was ready and everything was in place. It was then or never. At the outset my limited company paid me £549 a month, which had to cover the mortgage and everything else. By the end of year two I was earning more than I had earned as a colourist. In a recession people spend their money cautiously. One American woman said the product looked like it cost 20 cents but it gave a $20 benefit. The Original hairbrushes retail at £10.20.