Photo: Contributed - CBC

A Kelowna company is doing just fine after missing out on a deal on CBC's Dragon's Den.

Matthew Longman and Sheri McDowell, owners of Aquassure, pitched their walk-in bath tub concept, looking for $320,000 in exchange for a 30 per cent share in the company.

The whole process took about a year. Longman said they went through auditions in February of last year and taped the show in May.

It finally aired Wednesday evening. And, while they didn't get a deal, Longman said the exposure has been great.

"It's been busy," said Longman the day after the show aired.

"We've had calls from Ontario and Vancouver. We had people come in from Vernon, and we've had requests from people who want to carry our product."

Was he disappointed to walk away empty handed?

"Actually, no. What's happened in the meantime, we've been working with the largest manufacturer of walk-in tubs based in the U.S.

"We are in the process of prototyping all new models with them. They want to adapt our sliding door technology for their walk-in tubs."

He said with the licensing agreement they are working on, it's going to be worth more than what they would have got through Dragon's Den.

Pitches are typically longer than the five or 10 minutes that are shown. Longman said he didn't know how the final edits would work out until the program aired.

Overall, he was pleased with the way they came across. However, the ending was something he didn't know was coming.

"Where it ended with Michelle (Romanow) pretending to get stuck in the tub, they did it for a joke," said Longman.

"Prior to get getting in, Joe Mimran actually got in the tub and did a really good demo and gave us a glowing report about how easy it was to get in and out. I wish they had shown that instead."

All in all, Longman was pleased with the experience.

"It was good exposure. It's raised people's awareness and it's forced us to fine-tune our website and marketing, and how we get our information out there. It was a good kick in the pants to get things moving."