SealStop is one of the finalists that will be taking to the BETA International Seminar Theatre stage, sponsored by Helmet Connect, this weekend. Sharing their business idea in front of David Mitson, Joanna Jensen, and Michael Darley, SealStop will be pitching for the opportunity to win up to £250,000 investment in the brand.
The live final will take place at 3.45pm on Sunday 27th September where SealStop will compete against three other businesses. Here’s a bit more about the brand. Over to Belle…
Can you tell us what business/opportunity you submitted a pitch for?
I am pitching SealStop, a British manufacturing company creating simple water saving solutions.
Our flagship product, SealStop, is a multi award winning device that automatically stops the flow of water when your bucket or container is full, giving you the freedom to walk away from the hose without wasting water or time.
Was there a moment that inspired the creation of your business/product?
Yes, the daily frustration of trying to race my bucket filling while making haynets. Usually I lost and ended up flooding the yard, or even worse, the stable!
I just wanted a solution to this problem. There wasn’t one on the market that did what I needed it to do, so I went ahead and made one.
What makes you and your business different from others out there?
I think a big part of it is that SealStop came from a genuine everyday problem that we had ourselves.
We’re not a huge company with a massive R&D budget. We’re a family business based on our smallholding in East Yorkshire. Jason is a farrier and I spent 11 years working as a Diagnostic Radiographer in the NHS before taking the leap into SealStop full time.
We designed it here, we assemble it here and the product is manufactured in Yorkshire. We’ve built the business from the ground up, listening to our customers and developing products around real problems people have with water.
We just don’t overcomplicate things.
What’s been the biggest high point in your business so far?
Dragons’ Den and The One Show!
Can you believe that after only a year in business we were asked to appear on the BBC? It was such a surreal and incredible experience and so much fun.
And Deborah Meaden now has SealStops and is officially part of my water saving community, which still makes me smile!
How did you feel when you were told you’d made it through to the live pitch?
My first thought was, “This is awesome!” followed quite quickly by the realisation that I now have to write an unforgettable pitch!
BETA International has been a really important part of our journey, so being selected for Mustangs’ Corral feels particularly special. I love pitching SealStop because I genuinely believe in what we’re building, so I’m really excited to get up there and tell the Mustangs where we want to take it next.
What do you want the Mustangs and potential investment to help you achieve?
We’ve proved there is a market for SealStop. The next challenge is turning what we’ve built into a much bigger, scalable business.
Investment would help us accelerate new product development, increase manufacturing capacity, grow our team and take SealStop further into UK and international markets.
We’re already developing new versions of the technology, including products for low pressure rainwater systems and a larger agricultural application. Ultimately, we don’t want SealStop to be one product. We want to build a family of simple water saving products that solve everyday problems.
The Mustangs also bring something just as valuable as investment, which is experience. We’ve bootstrapped SealStop and learnt an enormous amount by doing, sometimes the hard way! Having people around us who have successfully scaled businesses could help us make better decisions as we move into this next stage.
As a young business, what’s something you know now you wish you knew when you started?
That everything takes longer and costs more than you think it will!
I also wish I’d known that you don’t have to have everything figured out before you start. I spent a lot of time worrying that I didn’t know enough about manufacturing, engineering, retail or running a product business.
The truth is you learn an enormous amount by actually doing it. Ask questions, find people who know more than you and don’t be embarrassed about saying, “I have absolutely no idea what that means.”
I still say that fairly regularly!
What advice would you give any others looking to start a business?
If you genuinely believe you’ve found a problem worth solving, start.
It probably won’t happen as quickly as you want it to and there will be plenty of moments when you question what on earth you’re doing. You’ll make mistakes, change direction and learn things you never expected to need to know.
But don’t wait until everything is perfect because it never will be.
And surround yourself with good people. Some of the biggest steps forward for SealStop have come from asking for help, talking to customers and meeting people who have opened doors or shared their experience with us.
A little bit of dogged determination and insanity helps too!
Where can people find out more about you online/social?
You can find us online at sealstop.co.uk.
Instagram: @sealstopltd
TikTok: @sealstopltd
Facebook: @sealstopltd
LinkedIn: Belle Richardson
We share plenty of the real behind the scenes journey too, from prototypes and new products to trade shows, awards and us packing orders on the farm!