Outsourcery Chief Piers Linney Joins The Team On Dragons’ Den

Chief executive of cloud provider Outsourcery Piers Linney is to join other entrepreneurs for the next series of BBC2’s Dragons’ Den.

Linney will join Duncan Bannatyne, Peter Jones and Deborah Meaden for the 11^th series. He replaces Theo Pathitis, who said he would be leaving the show last month, and interior designer Kelly Hoppen will join him in place of Hilary Devey.

Switching channels

Linney has run Manchester-based Outsourcery since March 2007. The company has a turnover of around £10 million and 120 staff. It is a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner with a total of seven competencies of which four are gold and three silver. He, alongside co-chief Simon Newton, led a management buy-out from previous owner Dixons.

The Outsourcery chief started out as a solicitor, specialising in private equity, before branching out as an investment banker and venture capital fund manager. Linney also sits on the governance board at the Cloud Industry Forum.

In 2008, Linney was part of a government initiative, dubbed Reach, to encourage young black people to achieve academic and career success.

Linney is no stranger to television, appearing on Channel 4 series Secret Millionaire during which he spent time working with prisoners at a Young Offenders Institution, one of whom is now employed by his company.

“I am excited to have the opportunity to join Dragons’ Den and once again support entrepreneurs both financially and through my extensive network. I also think I can widen the appeal of the Den to information economy entrepreneurs, as they are key to the future success of the UK economy,” he said.

Linney is not the first dragon to be involved in the channel. Peter Jones founded mobility and comms distributor Data Select in the late 1990s and is a major investor in Expansys.