approach,” Wilson says, explaining that if you have 30 investments, five to 10 of them should make enough to cover off the losses of the ones that don’t do well.


CARRIE KELLY The Pipeline


A new season of Dragons’ Den is now airing and multi-millionaire Brett Wilson is once again willing to cough up cash to those he believes have what it takes to turn their dream into reality.


One of the founding partners of Calgary’s FirstEnergy Capital, Wilson has seen his notoriety skyrocket since the show came on the air.


“With that comes the opportunity to celebrate entrepreneurship. This show has taken the country by storm,” he says.


The format sees aspiring entrepreneurs pitch business concepts to five judges. Wilson is one such judge who makes a decision to either reject the proposal or provide financial backing.


Filming of the 20 episodes of Season 5 has wrapped up and millions of dollars in deals have been inked.


Dragons' Den taped 264 pitches in 19 days over a period of about five weeks, with Wilson and the other Dragons often working 14-hour days.


All the money up for grabs comes from the Dragons' own pockets and Wilson says he invests in people more than products.


However, the Dragons don’t have the luxury of time — deals have to be decided very quickly.


“It is intellectually exhausting. We have to be sharp because we’re going to be investing our own money,” Wilson says.


Saying yes to investing large sums of money doesn’t scare him.


“I’m not afraid of being wrong. I’ve been right more than I’ve been wrong, but I have been wrong before. But I believe you take the portfolio


10 WESTERN CANADIAN PIPELINE | FALL 2010


He now has a hand in a number of diverse businesses thanks to his experience on Dragons' Den. For example, he said yes to Regina resident Rachel Mielke’s jewelry line, which did a million dollars in wholesale business last year.


Wilson advises those wanting to start their own business to be prepared.


“I encourage students of all ages to consider studying three things,” he says. “The first thing is marketing. Marketing helps differentiate you; it helps your company and helps your division. I also believe you can study entrepreneurship — the history of it. It doesn’t matter if you can make something, if you can’t sell it. The third thing is to study philanthropy.”


Wilson looks at charitable giving not as an obligation, but an opportunity.


A prostate cancer survivor, he recently contributed $5 million toward the Southern Alberta Institute of Urology, Calgary’s newest health care facility and Canada’s most comprehensive urology centre.


He has lived in Calgary for many years now, after moving from Saskatchewan to get an engineering job.


As a young engineer, he worked at Imperial Oil before enrolling in the University of Calgary’s master of business administration program.


Along with three partners, he eventually started FirstCapital Energy, which has brokered thousands of energy company financings and mergers and acquisitions. He retired from FirstEnergy in 2007 and remains a shareholder.


He is now the chairman of his own private merchant bank in Calgary, called Prairie Merchant.


Dragons’ Den airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on CBC.


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