Doug Richard was the American entrepreneur on the original British Dragon's Den panel.
Richard, an American-born entrepreneur and angel investor, joined the initial five-investor lineup when the BBC series began in 2005. The other original Dragons were Peter Jones, Duncan Bannatyne, Rachel Elnaugh and Theo Paphitis.
Before becoming a television investor, Richard was associated with technology entrepreneurship and startup investment. His background helped give the first panel a mixture of retail, property, technology and business experience.
A common mix-up is to identify James Caan as an original Dragon. Caan joined later, replacing Rachel Elnaugh in the panel. Richard also left the programme after its first series, so he is less associated with the long-running lineup than several later Dragons.