Enter another great connection – Magnus Smyth at Glasgow-based manufacturer, Tots Bots, which also manufactures its own baby products. “Magnus was the fourth manufacturer we’d gone to,” says Ms Wilson. “We met him and clicked. He immediately got what we were talking about.”  The pair took their innovation to BBC’s Dragons’ Den in March 2014 but failed to win backing. However, thanks to word of mouth and their persistent search for investors, news of the product had got around.  The day after being rejected on the Den, the phone rang. It was Tom Joules, owner of the Joules clothing company, which has a children’s range and supplies retailers such as John Lewis.  “He said he loved the concept and wanted to work with us,” says Ms Wilson. So in October last year the two companies launched a collaborative range, integrating the Joules prints into Cheeky Chompers teether bibs and their second product, the Comfortchew, a teether and comforter which attaches to a car seat, pushchair, baby’s wrist or a dummy.  Since then, Cheeky Chompers has also launched Chewy the teething hippo and the Cheeky Blanket, which is attachable so it does not fall off and also has hand and foot pouches.  Despite the scepticism of the Dragons (Duncan Bannatyne said that he would eat 100 of their teethers and bibs without salt if they hit their targets), Cheeky Chompers recorded turnover of £158,928 in its first year. More than 550,000 product items and 18 full-time staff later, and the company has 31 distributors around the world and a presence in retailers from Nordstrom in the US to M&S in the UK.  Getting stuck in: Cheeky Chompers are now sold over all the world Photo: Recounter  Ms Wilson says: “The good thing about the baby industry is that it has lots of connections. We have manufacturing contacts but there is also an incredible network of mums and bloggers.”  Social media have been instrumental in the company’s success, she says. “Facebook has been amazing for us. Every day we get between five and 10 photos of babies wearing our products.”  Business is booming but Ms Wilson and Ms Livingstone are still busy parents with small children. “Amy and I are doing it every hour every day,” says Ms Wilson. Good communication was key because “we work from home late into the night and also in the office and we travel a lot”.  The company also uses monitoring tools to stay on top of the demographics of its customers and their social media and internet usage.  Digital presence has been crucial to its success. When Cheeky Chompers was the only Scottish company in a section of a business contest, Ms Wilson says, sales shot up, thanks to the digital connections created from it.  Similarly, when they were on Dragons’ Den, their website received 30,000 hits and interest from 10 investors. “Never underestimate the power of going on TV,” she adds. “I don’t think we thought we’d grow as quickly as we did,” Ms Wilson says when she is asked about the company’s growth plans, “but now we want Cheeky Chompers to be the brand people go to for intuitive baby products.  “We spend a lot of time developing the product and we get so much positive feedback.” And their biggest fans can be found in unexpected places: “Our second-biggest market is Thailand because there’s a pretty big pop star over there whose baby wears our brand.”  Visit the Telegraph's Celebrating Connections hub to read practical advice on how to connect your business with the like-minded organisations and support networks that help you grow. Plus, don't forget to register your interest in the five unique Telegraph and BT networking events taking place across the country.  And see how BT is helping businesses like yours connect by visiting bt.com/seewhathappens
After two new mothers were rejected on Dragons&rsquo; Den, a new and unexpected collaboration was a welcome surprise, reports Hazel Davis