Willful

Wellington entrepreneurs reap success after Dragons’ Den appearance

Erin Bury and Kevin Oulds have seen their online will business, Willful, nearly triple its monthly sales after an appearance on the CBC show Dragons’ Den at the end of last year. They launched their company in October 2017 after spending a couple of years developing the concept and the product. The idea started after Kevin’s uncle passed away in 2015. Although he had a will, there were a number of unanswered questions, such as funeral arrangements or life insurance coverage. “Kevin and his family felt like they were scrambling at a time when they should have been grieving, and that was the initial catalyst,” said Erin. Sometime later, Kevin had a medical condition that required him to be hospitalized for seven days. “I was thinking if something happens to me now, I’m going to put my family, particularly Erin, through the exact same thing as my uncle. Conversations had come up, but there was nothing official, and I learned that it’s really hard to talk about death, so I said people should be able to do this online, in a nicer, easier way,” said Kevin.

For many people, making a will and dealing with an end of life plan are things that tend to get put off. “They don’t like to talk about it, and it’s very expensive, and there are a lot of unknowns,” said Erin. The couple figured that an online will service would be a great business venture. “People want something trustworthy, affordable and convenient, so education is a huge aspect of this, taking out all of the jargon and simplifying it,” she added. They partnered with a law firm to draft all of the legal templates and built their online will service in a consumer-centred way. “We feel the fact that we’re not lawyers is what’s helped us to be successful, because we’re coming at it from the voice of our consumers,” said Erin, who compares the product to something like Turbo-Tax, where you don’t need to be a tax expert to use it. The business got off to a great start, and friends encouraged them to apply to be on Dragons’ Den. It took Kevin and Erin three and a half years after launching their company to be confident they had what it took to enter the Dragons’ den. “We felt at that point we had enough traction, we had good numbers and we could go on and be proud of the stats that we had,” said Kevin. “We wanted to be sure our business economics were at the right place where we can prove our numbers and valuation are where they are.” They applied in February 2021, and spent the next several months preparing for their appearance on the show. “As soon as we learned we’d be on the show, we started practising. We’d go for walks around Wellington and just do our pitch back and forth, months in advance. We wrote down 20 or 30 questions that might be asked, and we knew who would answer what,” said Kevin. “When we got there we were not only confident in that initial pitch, but as they peppered us with questions, there was nothing unexpected.” The show was filmed in June 2021, when Erin was pregnant, and aired last December. The couple asked for $500,000 for a five per cent stake in the company. Michele Romanow made that offer for seven per cent, plus advisory shares, and the final deal was inked relatively close to those numbers.

The couple now run their business fully remotely from Wellington and have employees from coast to coast. They have partnered with CIBC and Allstate Insurance. And they have a brand new business partner in their daughter, Amelia. Their online will service is a less expensive and more convenient option than using a lawyer to prepare a will. “We do compete with lawyers, but what we are really competing with is complacency, people that think they can just put it off until tomorrow. There’s not always a sense of urgency, so we compete with that attitude ‘It’s on the to-do list, so I don’t need to do it today,’ and that’s why things like being on Dragons’ Den can really help to educate people about the importance of it, and what happens if you should die without a will, and why you should get it done now,” said Erin. Covid-19 has been a bit of a gamechanger in that digital wills are becoming legally acceptable, as is online signing and witnessing.

Kevin and Erin are scheduled to appear on a follow-up segment of Dragons’ Den airing on September 22 at 8 p.m. “This one is way less stressful,” said Erin. “It’s just a ‘where are they now’ segment. It’s two or three minutes in length. The exciting thing is the crew came to our home in Wellington and they filmed us with Amelia.” Details about Willful’s services can be found at willful.co.