Product Update
Is Story Terrace Still in Business? (2026 Update)
Is Story Terrace from Dragons’ Den still around in 2026? The deal it made, the dragons who invested, and where to buy Story Terrace today.
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StoryTerrace offers something unusual for the Den: not a product, but a service that turns someone's life story into a professionally written, bound book. The short answer to whether it is still in business is yes, and it has done considerably better since the episode than the deal it turned down would have delivered.
The Short Answer
StoryTerrace is still operating, still booking clients, and still matching people with professional writers to produce personal biographies. As a service business rather than a physical product, it has no Amazon presence, which is expected, and its own site remains the place to commission a book.
Founder Rutger Bruining has been open about the company's post-show trajectory, and by his own account it has substantially outgrown the numbers discussed on air.
The Pitch
StoryTerrace appeared in Series 17, Episode 10. Bruining and marketing director Theo Brainin asked for £90,000 in exchange for 5 percent of the business, pitching a network of professional writers, now numbering more than 600 globally, who interview clients and turn their life stories into a polished, bound biography.
It's a distinctive pitch for the Den, closer to a publishing and creative services business than a typical product or app, and it stood out enough to draw a serious offer. The company was founded back in 2015 and had already built out offices in Shoreditch and Los Angeles by the time it pitched, giving Bruining a genuinely international operation to point to rather than a single-market idea.
Asking for only 5 percent in exchange for £90,000 implies a fairly ambitious valuation for the business, which is itself a statement of confidence. Founders who ask for a small slice of equity relative to the cash are effectively telling the Dragons they believe the company is worth considerably more than the number on the whiteboard might suggest at first glance.
The Deal That Got Agreed, Then Declined
Tej Lalvani offered £90,000 for 5 percent, matching the original ask exactly, and Bruining agreed on camera. That is about as clean a studio outcome as a founder can hope for.
But when the two sides sat down afterwards to finalise the details, Bruining made the unusual call to walk away. He later described it publicly as a case where the process simply lost momentum and it felt better for both sides to move on, rather than any falling-out. It is a rare thing to see a founder decline a deal he shook on live, which makes this one of the more notable outcomes in the show's history.
Declining a deal after the handshake is different from a deal that quietly falls apart during due diligence. Bruining's own account frames it as a mutual, amicable decision rather than a collapse over terms or numbers, which is a distinction worth making since the two situations look identical from the outside but mean quite different things about how the relationship actually went.
What Happened Instead
The decision paid off. StoryTerrace went on to raise roughly fifteen times the amount it had asked for on the show, at a materially higher valuation than the one pitched in the Den. Bruining has spoken about the company reaching tens of millions of pounds in cumulative sales in the years following the episode.
It's a useful reminder that a completed on-air handshake and a good outcome for the founder are not always the same thing. Turning down £90,000 for 5 percent looked like a gamble in the room. In hindsight, it looks like the better trade, and Bruining has been candid in interviews since about just how much better it turned out to be.
A Lesson for Anyone Reading the Show as a Verdict
It is tempting to treat a Dragons' Den outcome, deal or no deal, as a verdict on whether a business idea is good. StoryTerrace is one of the clearest counterexamples in our index to that instinct. The company secured a deal on camera, arguably the best possible outcome as far as the show itself is concerned, and still concluded afterwards that walking away was the smarter move for the business long term.
For founders and for anyone researching the show's alumni, the real signal is rarely the studio handshake itself. It's what the company does with the exposure and the credibility afterwards, whether or not the investment ever actually closes.
Where Things Stand Now
StoryTerrace pitched in Series 17 for £90,000 and 5 percent, secured that exact deal on camera from Tej Lalvani, then declined it after filming and went on to raise far more money at a far higher valuation on its own.
The business is still operating today, still turning people's life stories into books through its global network of professional writers, and its own account of the numbers suggests walking away from the Den's offer was the right call.
Where to buy Story Terrace
Still selling as of 31 May 2026. Check today's price and availability.
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See the full Story Terrace deal breakdown and term sheet →
