Hair Syrup
In January 2025, Lucie Macleod pitched Hair Syrup on Dragon's Den.
She asked for £190K for 3% equity.
All six Dragons passed.
One made an offer so awkward that the others called it out before he walked it back.
She walked out empty-handed.
Then things got interesting.
Sales spiked 66% after the episode.
70,000 new followers flooded in.
Her profile hit 22 million views.
Her content about the rejection went viral everywhere.
She changed her bio to:
"Rejected by the Dragons, LOVED by TikTok."
She was already crushing it.
TikTok Shop was already driving half her revenue before she ever walked into that room.
Here's how she built it:
1) She weaponized the rejection
Most founders would've quietly moved on.
She did the opposite and leaned straight into it.
The "underdog rejected by wealthy investors" story hit perfectly with TikTok's audience.
They care about authenticity, not polish.
That rejection became her best marketing asset.
2) She cracked the live commerce code
One 10-hour live session.
1,900 orders processed.
Not views or likes, but actual sales.
She figured out how to turn marathon streams into a repeatable system.
Daily lives with real-time demos and genuine conversations that convert scrollers into customers.
3) She validated product-market fit first
Her rosemary hair oil hit 600K views organically while she was still mixing batches at university.
It was proof that the product worked visually on TikTok and people actually wanted it.
She built everything around what her audience was already telling her they cared about.
4) TikTok Shop was the foundation, not a side-channel
She didn't build a traditional brand first and tack TikTok Shop on later.
Hair Syrup was born on TikTok.
Over 400K followers now.
Daily content with regular lives.
5) The rejection accelerated everything
Dragon's Den momentum pushed her expansion plans forward.
She's announced launches in the US and Australia.
Getting rejected didn't slow her down.
It sped everything up.
Hair Syrup proves TikTok Shop can be your primary channel if you show up daily, go live consistently, and build for the platform's audience from the start.
If you have any questions about the TikTok shop, reply to this email and I’ll be happy to help!
Ashley Wright
Founder & CEO @ Social Tale