$1Mfor 10%
Protein Candy
Valued at $10M
The pitch
Erin Bury and Kevin Oulds from Toronto, ON, pitched Willful in Season 16, Episode 7, asking the Dragons for $500K for 10% of the company.
- Asked for$500K for 10%
- Valuation$5Mimplied by the ask
- OutcomeDealwith Michele Romanow
- Final deal$500K for 9%valued at $5.56M
Offers in the Den
| Dragon | Offer | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Vincenzo Guzzo | Out - cap table was too complicated | Out |
| Wes Hall | Out - concerned about dilution and a crowded boardroom | Out |
| Manjit Minhas | Out - did not see a quick path to returning capital | Out |
| Michele Romanow | $500,000 for 10% equity, later revised to 7% equity plus 2% advisory shares | Accepted |
| Arlene Dickinson | Out - felt the valuation was too aggressive | Out |
Erin Bury and Kevin Oulds of Toronto asked for $500,000 for 5% equity in Willful, an online platform that lets Canadians create legal wills from home by answering guided questions, with documents drafted in partnership with estate law firms in each province. The company launched in 2017, had 24,000 customers and another 20,000 who had signed up but not finished, and grew from $115,000 in sales in its first period to $383,000 in 2019 and $1.2 million in 2020. The founders had raised $1.6 million to date, including a $1.1 million seed round valuing the company at $6 million, and own 48% of the company with about 35 people on the cap table.
Vincenzo Guzzo went out over the complicated cap table, Wes Hall over dilution concerns in a crowded market, Manjit Minhas over slow expected returns, and Arlene Dickinson over an aggressive valuation. Michele Romanow offered $500,000 for 10% equity, and after negotiation the deal was struck at 7% core equity plus 2% advisory shares, which the founders accepted.
Pitch details from CBC’s Dragons’ Den pitch page.
Willful today
- StatusIn businessLast checked September 2026
Willful, an online will-creation platform, closed its deal with Michele Romanow, who has helped with digital marketing and appeared in ad campaigns. Monthly revenue grew from about $2,000 to $350,000 a month, the company has done seven figures in annual revenue, and it now has tens of thousands of customers and employees across multiple time zones, as shown in a season 17 update.