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Kirty Datar, Co-Founder & Chairperson at Canebot, has a thrilling first-hand account of our journey at Shark Tank India. Read on!
Yes, you guessed it right, Milind Datar and I, the Founders of Canebot were one of the 198 finalists out of 62000 Applicants at a 0.3% success rate. A matter of great pride indeed, a reaffirmation that we are taking our venture on the right track.
There have been lot of speculations about Shark Tank India, whether it is scripted, manipulated and if it it worth participating in. Here’s are our take.
From the show, it’s pretty evident that the investment ticket size of the Sharks was nowhere close to the original Shark Tank USA Show. But hang on…you get to know that only after you reach their Mumbai Studio for the final shoot round.
The first question that came to our minds was, why the hell did they shortlist us if their ‘Recommended Ask’ i.e. Investment amount was less than 10% of our ‘Original Ask’? After all, we had mentioned the same ‘Original Ask’ at every stage right from the beginning of the selection process.
That’s the dilemma almost every Founder went through, so did we. But that’s when the Real Game begins!
If you succumb to the pressure or glamour or fear of not getting telecast, you end up giving a lot more equity for much lesser investment to the Sharks than you had ever imagined. On the show, we have seen a lot of the Founders giving almost 60-80% discounts on their desired Valuation. For Founders, it’s a Deal, but for the sharks, it’s a Steal! Whether you are buying a pair of branded jeans, or a Brand itself; if you manage to get a discount of over 50%, its surely a Steal.
Another option is that you decide not to undervalue your Company. If you don’t bring the valuation down, you don’t get a deal. If you don’t get a deal, the chances of your getting telecast are extremely slim (unless you were strongly criticised by the Sharks, leading to higher TRP).
But wait… all is not lost. You still get an opportunity to discuss your Business Model with 5 Super Successful Entrepreneurs for almost 60 minutes. Yes, that’s the average time spent by each venture inside the Tank.Our Sharks were Anupam Mittal, Vineeta Singh, Piyush Bansal, Ghazal Alagh and Namita Thapar. We certainly missed the expert advice from Ashneer Grover and Aman Gupta.
We got some really invaluable feedback and that helped us refine our Business Model, which otherwise would have taken us few years and few lakhs of cash burn to realise and realign ourselves. These insights leading to an accelerated growth…that’s surely a Steal for us as Founders.
In a few cases, the Founders got the deal at close-to-desired valuation, along with the expertise of sharks and the visibility on National Television, that’s a real Steal for Founders; though rare to find on this Show, but certainly, such possibilities too exist.
So guys, Deal or No Deal, it’s still a Steal!
I’ll end this piece on our Shark Tank experience with a note to all the female entrepreneurs (or aspiring entrepreneurs reading this): Every women has entrepreneurial abilities. Managing a home is no different from managing an enterprise. But what most of us lack is that awareness and confidence. It’s important to take that leap of faith towards your calling!
Top image is a screen grab from the show, provided by the author
Kirty is Co-Founder & Chairperson at Canebot, a brand of Canectar Foods Pvt. Ltd. She began her Entrepreneurial Journey with her husband in 2012. Together they carved a niche in the field of Fresh read more...
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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