Tea-glass washer to flour mill biz, distinctive pitches on Shark Tank India Season 2

How has Season 2 been for you by way of offers?

I’ve invested in much more startups. And I’ve carried out a whole lot of solo offers, thrilling offers within the B2C house, within the tech house. Overall, for those who take a look at Shark Tank India season 2, whereas startup investing has dropped 60-70% globally and in India, it doesn’t really feel that manner in season 2.

Overall, what number of offers occurred this season, in comparison with final season?

We have seen greater than double the offers from what had been struck final season. It is at a worldwide scale. It can compete with US Shark Tank and quantity per funding can be a lot greater. If you watch Shark Tank India Season 2, you’ll not really feel that there’s any winter for startup funding. There has been a lot greater conversion, better-prepared founders, healthful pitches, lot of fights for offers, lot of competitors.

The variety of startups you had invested in up till finish of final season was 220. After the top of Season 2, what number of startups have you ever ever invested in?

I’m not simply investing by way of Shark Tank India. I’m additionally investing outdoors Shark Tank. So, for those who ask me what number of firms I’ve invested in, after all lots of them have shut down, lots of them I’ve exited. But general, I’ve invested in someplace between 260 to 270 startups, on a cumulative foundation.

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Any startups that took you without warning this season?

So, there are a few 18-year-old boys, who’re constructing a worldwide model from India. Not simply Bollywood, however Hollywood celebrities are flaunting their merchandise. I used to be simply blown away. The firm known as Zillionaire. Hollywood celebs are placing their merchandise on Insta, even Bollywood A-listers.

There is one girl, constructing a enterprise known as Sharma Ji Ka Aata. You can discover Aata Chakki (flour mill) in each nukkad (road nook), however who would have thought that such a enterprise will come on Shark Tank India for funding. And there’s an inspiring and shifting story behind this founder, on how after she obtained separated from her husband, how she supported her household by way of full poverty, to now constructing a enterprise to assist her household.

Then there was one other story that blew me. After Season 1, I used to be fairly impressed by how the startup ecosystem was going to the following stage. But in terms of enterprise capital (VC) funding, individuals who have already got the entry to proper networks, who come from IIT/IIM backgrounds, good backgrounds, who can package deal their propositions and inform a narrative, are those who principally get VC funding. But most of India just isn’t like that. Most of India doesn’t even know how one can write a marketing strategy.

So, how can these folks go to the following stage? How can they get a begin? You can solely get VC funding, after you have a begin.

So, we envisioned one thing known as dreamdeal.me on Instagram. We mentioned let’s take away all of the obstacles of startup funding. All it’s good to do is make a 30-second reel and ship it to us. All you must inform me is what you need to do, why you need to do it and the way will use the cash. And we will provide you with a grant with none fairness to construct a proof of idea, so that you simply get a begin. The first step is crucial in a thousand-mile journey.

So, we gave grants to 3 firms. Incredibly, after I was sitting on the units of Shark Tank India, I see this firm known as Mahantam. When I had given grant to this firm, they’d not even given a reputation to the corporate.

So, I noticed this identify Mahantam and this tea glass washer. He has constructed this machine for lakhs of tea-sellers in India as a result of they do it so unhygienically or should spend cash on paper glass. So, this was a private grant I had given to them and this man got here to the present.

He is a 20-year-old boy, who comes from a village of three,000 folks, in Gujarat. He is doing this along with his brother. How are they going to make a marketing strategy? But he also can establish issues as a result of they expertise it themselves. He noticed downside with this tea vendor that he was not washing his tea glass, as a result of it was too costly. But who was going to provide him funding to unravel this downside? He couldn’t even make a prototype of the washer. He got here to Shark Tank Season 2 and I used to be blown away. I used to be shaking after I noticed this man. And whether or not he obtained the funding or not, or how and the way a lot he obtained — For that, you’d have to see Shark Tank India.

But the truth that he obtained right here signifies that we’d have carried out one thing proper. And this grant was given three-four months again. I had no concept that he would really make it to Shark Tank India.

What standards are used on Shark Tank to shortlist the startups that get to make their pitches?

They take a look at the concept, its potential, the market, the founder, the aim. They consider that if the founder has potential, the enterprise has potential, then they will probably get funding from Sharks like us.

Have you exited from any startup invested on Shark Tank?

No, it’s too early to exit.

How are you monitoring these investments?

We keep an MIS (Management Information System). We have a crew that appears at it. If they (the startup founders) need assistance, we attain out. I discuss to them on WhatsApp Video or Zoom or generally they arrive to the workplace. We filmed a few them as nicely once they got here to workplace and put them on my YouTube channel. So, monitoring is just MIS, however assistance is as and once they want it.

Are you in a position to divide your time between so many startups?

Certainly, it’s stretching us all bit. Many of the businesses that make investments outdoors Shark Tank India should not early-stage companies like those that are available in Shark Tank India. Also, the founders you’re investing in outdoors Shark Tank India are completely different from the founders you’re investing on Shark Tank India.

People approaching Shark Tank India want extra handholding. Because a whole lot of instances, they’re relations which have come collectively to run a enterprise, mom and little one, sister and brother. These folks don’t sometimes get funding from outdoors. They have simply began their enterprise.

They don’t perceive the language of startup, what’s Ebitda (earnings earlier than curiosity, tax, depreciation and amortization), go-to-market technique, and so forth. They perceive dhandha (enterprise), however don’t know how one can scale it.

So, clearly, it will take lot extra handholding and time from us. And we now have all needed to stretch.

We nonetheless proceed to run our personal firms. We run our firms and we come right here (Shark Tank India units) on weekends. Now, after we return, we’ll run our firms within the week. And we’ll mentor these folks on the weekends. So, clearly, it will take lot extra time and lot of sacrifice from our households. Forget us. For us, it’s an adrenalin rush, it’s giving again, but it surely takes away lot of our household time. It is a sacrifice from our relations additionally.

But we’re doing this as a result of we predict the nation wants it. Why ought to solely a privileged set of individuals get funding? This present has given a raise to India’s entrepreneurial spirit. So, we really feel it’s our obligation. In Spider-Man film, there’s a well-known dialogue –with nice energy, comes nice accountability. I say with nice privilege, comes nice accountability.

So, how do you determine in terms of investing with a co-shark. Do you’ll have a set of parameters?

Woh aankhon, aankhon mein baat hoti hain (laughs). We try to make eye contact first to gauge one another’s curiosity.

Who is your favorite co-shark to take a position with?

My favorite shark to take a position with is myself. I love to do solo offers. I don’t care about offers being accepted or not accepted. I take a look at how I could make my returns. I take a look at how I could make an affect for the nation, world, for the founder. If I see that factor is coming by way of that I could make my a reimbursement and extra, and we will create an affect, then I’m going in. I don’t care who’s coming in. And then if anyone desires to hitch, whoever it’s, if they convey complementary strengths, then I’m okay with it. If not, then I say no, I need to do it on my own.

Your offers have principally been solo?

No, however a whole lot of them have been solo.

Last season, goal addressable market (TAM) of a enterprise was a significant criterion so that you can determine whether or not to put money into a startup or not. Were there any pitches, the place you had been keen to compromise on TAM?

There had been a couple of offers. I will provide you with one story. This little lady in her 20s had misplaced her father. She, alongside along with her father, was engaged on this gadget for impaired mobility, for handicapped folks. They had spent years on creating the gadget and he all of the sudden handed away. Now, she is the one bread-winner.

Now, that market just isn’t that giant in India. So, how do you justify. Either you go world, otherwise you provide you with extra bio-medical gadgets, that aren’t nearly mobility. So, at that time, one has to ask the query – Is this founder actually price taking a guess on? Because there are a whole lot of firms, the place there was no market dimension actually once they began.

When Google began, there was no market dimension, when Facebook began, there was no market dimension. When Shaadi.com began, there was no market dimension. They needed to create the market. So, generally, once you see a founder, who looks as if they will go the gap, 5-10-20 years, then the guess is on the founder, they’ll create the market. So, whereas I feel small markets are very unforgiving, massive markets are very forgiving; generally, you must take bets on market creation and the power of the founder.

What have been a few of your different learnings?

The different leaning is that Indian founders should not simply constructing for India, they’re constructing for the world. Earlier, my valuation standards had been very targeted on India. Now, it’s changing into very evident that a whole lot of confidence has are available in amongst Indian founders. I feel Shark Tank season 1 had a task to play in that. And the evolution of the ecosystem has a task to play in that. The Indian youth should not afraid of something. Now, lots of people are coming to construct companies for the world. Like I gave you the instance of Zillionaire. That’s a worldwide story in my opinion. Mahantam — the tea glass washing enterprise — is an Indian story.

Sharma Ji Ka Aata is once more an Indian story. But there are sufficient world tales that I’m seeing. So, I’m altering my lens slightly bit and saying if not in India, or along with India, can we take a look at the market globally? So, that modifications the factors or the lens a bit.

The different studying is on product-market match. Maybe final yr, I used to be searching for little extra proof of product-market match. This yr, I’ve realized that these founders approaching Shark Tank are very completely different than what we’re used to outdoors of Shark Tank. For instance, there was a woman that got here final yr, she was making an organization of soaps. Not lotions, which is the place the market has gone.

She was making mithai-shaped soaps, chocolate-shaped soaps. Everybody thought, together with me, that this appears odd, what concerning the market dimension, and so forth. Who desires to purchase mithai-shaped cleaning soap? And for those who purchase it, why will anybody use it, as a result of then the form would go away.

But there was one thing concerning the house and the founder that I assumed was very attention-grabbing as a result of I felt that the physique and bathtub market was nonetheless not tapped in India. Beauty phase was going loopy, however no one had cracked this phase. And I assumed that this lady was coachable and could possibly be mentored. Instead of creating simply these fancy-shaped soaps, we will direct her to bathtub and physique kind of market.

I ended up proudly owning a 3rd of the corporate. Because it’s good to personal a few of these firms to that extent, if you wish to give that type of time. But in lower than a yr, she has gone to ten-times gross sales, when all people else in Shark Tank thought that this was an absurd concept, I invested.

She is now doing a number of crores a yr and would in all probability open a retailer subsequent yr. So, our go-to-market technique turns into these fancy-shaped soaps, the place folks say have you ever seen this ice-cream formed cleaning soap, however when you go, you should purchase physique lotion, you should purchase physique wash. So, I feel she has obtained a really distinctive proposition by way of go-to-market technique after which creating loyalty to different merchandise. So, I feel it’s going be very thrilling.

So far, which has been your profitable investments from Shark Tank India’s final season?

We don’t know that, until we exit. Let us simply use development as a parameter. There is Saas Bar. The different is Skippy, which was an all-shark deal, which I led. There is Hair Originals, which I and Peyush (Bansal) did. They have simply raised one million {dollars}. More than a crore a month by way of revenues. So, I feel by way of development, by way of capital-raising, these are among the firms. Yarn Bazaar is one other firm which is making a B2B market for yarn and textiles. Lot of VCs have gotten enthusiastic about them. They have additionally grown dramatically from final yr.

Were there any offers this season that you simply got here fairly shut, however missed out on?

Quite a couple of really, I don’t bear in mind. But I made gives of upto ₹10 crore, individually, with out different sharks. But generally, due to chemistry, dynamics, your provide doesn’t get accepted. That is okay. I search for nice investments, nice founders. I don’t care whether or not my provide will get accepted or not. I consider I’ll earn a living and if the founder has a narrative that deserves backing and we will create an affect, I’m going out and make a suggestion, whether or not it’s a mortgage or with fairness.

Is there any risk that in future, the place even viewers watching Shark Tank India from their properties, will be capable to take part within the offers?

So, even Shark Tank India has an idea known as ‘Be a Home Shark’, which is only a recreation proper now. But similar to KBC developed, to then enable viewers to play alongside and earn a living, I feel there might be an evolution. We don’t know as but. There are rules within the nation, you possibly can’t simply take cash from common individual. So, I feel we’ll go step-by-step. This is just Season 2. The authorities can be very startup pleasant. So, I’m positive they may even assist if we will determine the dangers. There are conversations, however these are very early conversations. We should consider so many issues, rules, the federal government, folks’s cash, and so forth. These are high-risk investments, not for the faint-hearted.

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