Shark Tank- From Famous Shark Faces to Dark Side of Sharks- A Narrative Of Indian Startups!

The third season of Shark Tank India will air in the near future, and registrations began earlier last month. Shark Tank India’s judges have captured the viewers’ interest in the past two seasons by listening to the pitches of tiny entrepreneurs and agreeing to invest in select enterprises. However, in recent years, individuals have questioned the Shark Tank’s integrity. Remember when a LinkedIn user said that most judges of the Shark Tank are ‘drowning in big losses’?

Since its debut in 2020, Shark Tank India has had its fair share of controversy. Some claimed the show was scripted, others accused the Sharks of failing to provide promised funds, while former Shark Ashneer Grover chastised the other Sharks.

Mr Anupan Mittal, one of the sharks of the Shark Tank, recently took to social media to share his views and assert all the allegations to be baseless. His post read, “First it was ‘Sharks do not invest their own money,’ then ‘Oh, the show is scripted,’ and then ‘Sharks only fund profitable companies,”. Recognising a pre-determined, ill-intentioned narrative with no facts or sources to back up the allegations is not difficult. It’s no wonder, therefore, that another bogus issue is circulating. Again, there is no data and no authentic names. Just finger-pointing, with an angry and irrelevant commentator thrown in for more tantrums and TRPs.”

His post further read, “Most of the businesses on the Tank are very early stage,”. Many are sole proprietorships that must first be incorporated as corporations. The founders have never seen an SHA and cannot access any numbers. Many of these difficulties are handled by the individual Shark’s team. As a result, depending on the Company’s and the founders’ preparedness, deal completion might take 3 to 6 months.

Sometimes transactions fail because the founder changes their mind, the firm fails legal, financial, and/or tax scrutiny, or the founders fail to satisfy the commitments agreed to when accepting a “conditional deal.” This is the nature of business, for better or worse. Some founders prefer to renegotiate or bargain-hunt, which can potentially cause a delay in completion. Personally, he does not advocate it, but he is always open to developing win-win frameworks, as many of his investee sharks do.

At a larger level, Shark Tank has been a major factor in democratising Indian business, with 200,000 entries, 388 pitches (50% women), and 200 bids for 150 crores. So, suppose anyone is going to criticise it. In that case, Mr Mittal suggests they do it with statistics and precision rather than broad anecdotes and ‘expert’ comments that make for sensational headlines but are either incorrect or inaccurate. Here is an open invitation to any founders who may have made such claims (questionable because Sharks don’t have true names). Mr Mittal assures to correct the situation if the pitchers have been pissed off. 

The aura of Shark Tank and its contribution to Start-ups.

Upon reading all this, it seems that the Shark Tank was a turning point for many investors, and hence all these allegations against them are irrelevant. In some cases, it is true also. Recall the pitch of ‘Flatheads Founder’. Although the IIT-IIM graduate sobbed on national television, his entrepreneurial spirit did not. Regardless of what happened on the show, the entrepreneur resolved to work on his firm and make it a success. After the episode aired, the brand received an enormous response from people across the country, from selling out all units in India to creating an impact in the United States and the United Arab Emirates.

So yes, there is no doubt that the show proved to be a break for many businesses, but that doesn’t mean that the show is not scripted or that everything fair is running on the show. To get the hint, recall the pitch by the founders of the cosmetic brand ‘Recode’. Despite good remarks and customer acquisition, the sharks invest in the brand as ‘they do not believe in investing in their friend’s competitor’ (as it was a direct competitor to Vineeta’s Sugar Cosmetics)! It sounds like the sharks are forming a cartel and not allowing the competitors to enter the race. 

Along with that, there is no doubt that Shark Tank has individually benefitted the Sharks rather than benefitting the founders. All the Sharks are now famous names in the Television domain, which I guess is completely fine. Because now, they are getting their heroes and heroines, not someone who is just acting to be successful, rather, people are appraising sharks who have built renowned and remarkable businesses. So from that point, it is justified to appreciate the Sharks’ efforts. 

However, at the same time, it is also important to conduct proper practices so that no other founder should feel cheated or betrayed because of cartelisation or delayed funding. Hope this reality show works to remain real, unlike the ones that once started as music competitions and now streaming as daily soap dramas of judges crying and whatnot! You know the name, I guess!