Revelstoke entrepreneur pitches social media air service on CBC Dragon’s Den show

Revelstoke resident Jean-Marc LaFlamme travelled to Toronto in late May to appear on the popular CBC TV show Dragon’s Den. He went as part of a team pitching for funding for Jump On! Flyaways, a company that puts excess passenger airplane stock to use by crowdsourcing customers for charter flights.

(Author’s note: I did a story about Jump On’s plans to bring the air service to Revelstoke in the story, Will social media air service take off in Revelstoke? in October of 2013. For background, see that story. Also, a disclosure: Jean-Marc LaFlamme is a member of the Revelstoke Coworking collective, of which the Revelstoke Mountaineer is also a member.)

During Bike to Work Week in Revelstoke, I sat down with LaFlamme on Revelstoke Coworking’s outdoor bike station to talk about the Dragon’s Den experience, where our conversation led from one thing to another.

Dragon’s Den taping

Jean-Marc, who handles web marketing and business development for the Calgary-based company, travelled to CBC studios in Toronto with company CEO Roger Jewett and marketing coordinator Shawn Jewett, where they taped a show.

From left: LaFlamme with Jump On CEO Roger Jewett, marketing coordinator Shawn Jewett along with an actor hired for the pitch. Photo: Contributed by Jean-Marc LaFlamme

“We were asked to come for a while now,” LaFlamme explained. “We decided we’d like to experience it. It’s the exposure you [get] from CBC on national television.”

LaFlamme described the day. They headed to a big TV studio. The producers quizzed them on their presentations and collected non-disclosure agreements. They sat around the green room with a whole bunch of driven, intense entrepreneurs there to fulfill their prime directive. Big piles of fake prop cash were placed on coffee tables in the room to chum the atmosphere. LaFlamme and his team finally got their slot at the end of a long day where many segments were taped. Then they got their shot.

“We were at the end of four weeks that they shoot. Their first one is at like 6 a.m. We were shot at 1 p.m. In the last minute before we were going to go on … they changed our pitch quite a bit,” LaFlamme said.

He can’t tell me what happened — the team had to sign a non-disclosure agreement. The episodes that were taped in late May will air in the fall.

He did say they film a lot more than just the short segments that appear on the show. LaFlamme estimates they were before the dragons for about 45 minutes — which will be cut down to just a few by airtime.

“It’s not the version that the business owner wants to present, it’s the version CBC wants to present for reality TV,” LaFlamme said.

Jump On! Flyaways uses underutilized commercial airplanes to create special charter flights, which they then promote on their website and through a social media network. The planes only fly if enough people sign up online to make the flight economically viable. Theoretically, the company is able to offer cheap flights because they don’t take the losses on empty seats like airlines do.

The content of a swag bag provided to guests on the CBC Dragon’s Den show. Photo: contributed by Jean-Marc LaFlamme

LaFlamme explained the company has recently pivoted towards offering more special occasions flights. For example, he shows me a plane full of red jersey-festooned Calgary Flames fans flying to Vancouver for their recent first-round playoff series.

Pivot to SeedUps Canada

Which brings us to LaFlamme’s next pitch. Jean-Marc is the web marketing and business development head for SeedUps Canada, an “equity crowdfunding” business also based in Calgary.

The company seeks to be the Kickstarter of raising seed business capital in Canada by connecting investors and entrepreneurs online.

“Except you get shares in the business not just the product,” LaFlamme explains.

Individuals can invest in a company online and they retain a stake in the company. SeedUps differentiates itself from the stock markets because it’s closer to the venture capital side of things, allowing you to get in on the ground floor on new ideas — and a big part of it is an easier Internet interface that’s plugged into the online world.

Currently, SeedUps Canada is operating on a limited scale in some provinces. The SeedUps Canada business model quickly runs into regulatory roadblocks because capital markets are heavily regulated, for better and for worse.

Always a proselytizer for the power of the Internet to bring transformative change to society, LaFlamme is quick to contrast the Dragon’s Den pitch for Jump On! Flyaways with the SeedUps Canada model.

“The truth is rich people aren’t in control in the world. TV is old school,” he says. He’s more excited about the future of crowdfunding capital than begging for funding from wealthy investors who strong-arm you out of the best part of your business.

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LaFlamme stuck to his deal not to disclose details about the taping. It’s not even certain their pitch will air; a lot ends up on the cutting room floor.

“We shall see what happens,” LaFlamme said.