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You fielded your unique idea of umbrella vending machines to the panel of entrepreneurs – or ‘Dragons’ – on the BBC show Dragon’s Den in the hope of getting investment. How did you get on?

Charles: On the day, very well; they made an offer of investment. However, about four months later the deal fell away. Yet as soon as the programme went on air we were inundated with offers anyway, on much better terms than what the ‘Dragons’ had offered.

Are you still looking for investment?

Charles: Well, just earlier this week we closed on some more investment and asset finance facilities. We’re pretty much done now: in terms of what we’d sell, we have enough money to cover the business for the next three years. Now it is a question of getting as many machines out as we can, in accordance with our financial model. Then we want to look for more opportunities, which I think we will get when we put the machines out there.

Did a lot of investment come through your ‘ad-van’ campaign?

Charles: Yes – it was very effective. It was certainly very different. We got a write-up in the Times, in City AM and in the square-mile papers.

It is very difficult when you’re a start-up company to go down the traditional route of bank finance; it is difficult to find the capital you need. So we put these advert-vans out into the square mile and people working in the banks came forward to offer capital. We’re lucky – some of the banks also came forward and said they’d offer us funding as well.

So suddenly everyone wanted a piece…

Charles: I think getting in front of investors is the difficult thing. One good thing about Dragon’s Den is that it really does give you exposure; no one would have heard of our business otherwise. It’s a shame you have to do these things to get public exposure, but that is the way it is: survival of the fittest.

How did you come with the idea?

Charles: It was a long time ago now – about three or four years ago. I was on a train that stopped three or four stops away from where I lived. It was the last train back to my house so I had to walk the rest of the way, in the rain. If I could have bought an umbrella I would have been fine; as it was I got soaked. It really just grew from that.

After that it took a long time to get things going, as I was working full-time in the City. After leaving that job I decided to go full-time, and that’s when it developed into a proper business rather than just being an idea.

The business has only properly got going this year. Last year we started putting machines out there, and the beginning of this year we started to push the roll-outs. And that’s what people don’t see: that it’s not an overnight thing – it does take a lot of time.

You’ve obviously obtained a lot of capital to take Umbrolly to the next level, but what was the initial outlay to get it up-and-running?

Charles: Going round to have meetings with people and show them your ideas – that’s pretty cheap to do. But when you actually want to set about designing a prototype machine and start buying umbrellas in bulk, it does get pretty costly. Start-up costs were probably around £100k. That’s obviously not all in one go, but over the course of a year or so.

And where did the initial investment come from?

Charles: Personal savings, loans from friends, loans from family and small loans from banks.

Has it been more costly than you envisioned?

Charles: Definitely!

How many people do you work with?

Charles: At the moment there are three of us: me, a sales director and a finance director.

Do they have a share of the company?

Charles: Yes – it’s the best way to incentivise people, so yes they do.

What are the benefits of being your own boss?

Charles: You get to decide what you do with your own time. I think – strange as it may seem – I enjoy the pressure because it is what spurs me on and is what drives the business. As soon as you start to feel comfortable the business will slow down.

I think being in control of the future of the business is good, and your own future success is influenced by this.

What about the worst bits?

Charles: Having to work so many hours. I am practically working seven days a week.

It’s like a lifestyle decision in many respects; it’s not nine to five and then you go home. That is probably the worst of it. Other than that I am pretty happy!

How long do you anticipate it being before you can slow down and start having days off again?

Charles: In about the next couple of months. I’d say by Christmas I would be expecting to be pretty much working standard hours. We’re really looking to outsource parts of the business so we should have less responsibility.

I’m guessing you leave these vending machines in train stations. What other places have you been putting them?

Charles: Shopping centres, bars and pubs, and hotel chains.

Have you thought much about what you want to achieve? Where the business might be in five or 10 years?

Charles: We’re pretty focused. We have three and five year plans we are sticking to. We expect to have just fewer than 2,000 machines in the UK within the next two to three years. At that time some of the investors will be looking for some kind of an exit.

I think once we have got those 2,000 locations, we would look at diversifying into other products or using the machines for other things.

Any advice for entrepreneurs who are coming into the business world a bit green?

Charles: Like I said earlier, expect to work two or three times more than you would probably imagine. And also, expect things to take a bit longer. I think it is really important to put three, six and nine month plans down, with specific goals to achieve and time periods to achieve them in. Otherwise things to start to drag on and days become weeks and months.