Ashneer Grover, one of the ‘sharks’ on the reality show Shark Tank India, in his own blunt manner told an entrepreneur that he isn’t cut out for business, and should probably consider getting a job somewhere. He said this after admitting that the entrepreneur’s pitch was one that he hadn’t heard before.
In a recent episode of Shark Tank India, an entrepreneur pitched his idea for a platform that connects students who deserve scholarships to organisations offering them. Aman Gupta, the co-founder of boAt, said that the idea was impressive. The entrepreneur was asking for Rs 50 lakh in investment, in exchange of 7.5% equity, which put his company’s valuation at Rs 6.67 crore.
Ashneer Grover, the co-founder of BharatPe, said that he’d never been pitched an idea like this before, but after listening to the entrepreneur’s speech, said that it had all gone downhill the moment he began talking. The entrepreneur had spoken about having to drop out of college, and not getting an approval for his college loan, and was midway through a statement about feeling family pressure about what he was doing with his life when Ashneer interrupted him.
“Yaar main do shabdon mein bol deta hoon, tere se naa ho payega… Pehle apne baare mein toh soch. Apni problem nahi solve kar paa raha, durson ki kya karega? Mereko lagta hai, bhai tu pehle naukri dhoond. Tereko pehle samajhna padega ke dhanda hota kaise hai. Unicorn banne ke liye kood gaya tu, nahi ho payega terese. Chhod de isko, apna bhi time waste kar raha hai (I’ll explain it to you simply, you can’t do it… First, think about solving your own problems before you go around trying to solve others’. I think you should just find a job. You need to understand how business works. You want to be a unicorn in the market, but you just aren’t cut out for this. Leave it, you’re wasting your time.)”
The entrepreneur walked away empty handed, after the rest of the ‘sharks’ also declined to invest in his company. Although, they weren’t as blunt in their dismissal.