Mateina Yerba Mate at Dans l’oeil du Dragon on May 2022: Behind the scenes explained by co-founder
Elodie Simard, co-founder of Mateina, shares behind the scenes of Mateina's apparence on the show in May 2022 to pitch their line of Organic Yerba Mate Ready-to-drink Infusions and Organic Loose Leaf Yerba Mate.
Mateina is the Canadian leader in the yerba mate industry, disrupting the traditional energy drink market.
Dans L'oeil du Dragon is the Quebec adaptation of the hit international show Dragon's Den, where entrepreneurs pitch their business plans in front of 5 Dragons.
***
It's 6:00 a.m. The big day has arrived, we are officially stepping out of our comfort zone like never before. We've been thinking about this moment for 3 years and it's finally happening now! Our yerba mate company on television at the renown TV show Dans l'oeil du Dragon!
We repeated our pitch +200 times in the last few weeks. We feel ready, we are confident, but the stress that something unexpected arises during recording is still there.
We arrive in the famous brown tower of Radio-Canada in Montreal, we are greeted by the production team who tells us that we have to be patient since we don’t know when our turn to go on set will be. We will learn later that we will be the last ones to pitch on that day, which means we’ll have to manage our stress for more than 12 hours!
For our presentation booth, we decided to bring a wooden cabinet as well as a Mateina fridge to display our ready-to-drink collection. Not everything always goes as planned: when we start filling up our Mateina fridge with our products, we realize that we are missing our Hibiscus & Berries flavor. So to add on top of our stress, we have to find a way to get this flavor delivered to us as soon as possible! Thanks to Fred, member of our Familia, for saving us! He made it downtown right before we got on set!
It's time for Nic and I to change and put on our best attire. Before the day of shooting, the production team advises us not to arrive with our outfits intended for the recording, to make sure not to get dirty before entering the set. Believe it or not, Nic managed to stain his shirt minutes before our turn! Thanks to Audrey – founder of Bego Vegan Label shoes who also pitched to the Dragons that day – who saved us with her hair dryer after washing the stain off with water!
The hours pass; we sing, we dance, we eat (we even have a drink in secret to lighten the atmosphere - we admit it!), we make a video to immortalize the moment and of course we continue to practice our pitch as if our life depended on it!
5:00 p.m.: our researcher comes to pick us up, IT’S FINALLY OUR TURN!
We walk towards the set, the cameras are on us, the tension rises! We breathe slowly and we remember that we are here for our mission: to share the balanced energy of YERBA MATE! Focusing on this thought brings us back to the present moment and makes us completely forget about the stress.
4-3-2-1...
We begin to descend the famous steps of the set and at this precise moment we have no idea of the repercussions that this experience will have on our company but one thing is certain, it is already engraved in our memories forever.
Can’t wait to watch the segment for the first time with ALL OF YOU, our familia, on Wednesday, May 18th at 8 p.m. on Radio-Canada. Join us on social media and let us know if you tune in!
Click here to watch the show live on Wednesday, May 18th (it’s free!)
Thanks for supporting us and being on our adventure!
- Elodie
Yerba mate passionate & co-founder of Mateina
