TITLE:
Long-Term Success of Televised Business Ideas: Evidence from Finnish Dragons’ Den
AUTHORS:
Erkki K. Laitinen
KEYWORDS:
Televised Pitch, Dragons’ Den, Finnish Firms, Long-Term Success, Regression Analysis
JOURNAL NAME:
Theoretical Economics Letters,
Vol.16 No.3,
June
4,
2026
ABSTRACT: This study investigates the determinants of long-term (up to ten years) venture success in the Dragons’ Den context using regression analysis on a sample of 46 Finnish firms. The results indicate that success is multidimensional and nonlinear. Business idea readiness emerges as the most robust predictor across models followed by the contribution of female team members and the requested investment amount. The logarithmic-linear specification outperforms the linear model, suggesting that nonlinear transformations improve explanatory power. Negative second-order communalities indicate overlapping explanatory mechanisms. Overall, the findings emphasize the importance of venture readiness, investment amount, and team gender structure supporting the use of nonlinear and interaction-based approaches in entrepreneurship research.