Anupam Mittal, Vineeta Singh’s BIG claim about founders ahead of Shark Tank 4: ‘90% of the times they back out’

Ahead of Shark Tank Season 4, Anupam Mittal and Vineeta Singh have pointed issues with founders who come on the show to pitch their business.

While speaking to Humans of Bombay, Anupam pointed out that a significant number of deals discussed on Shark Tank never actually come to reality as 90 per cent of the time, founders either back out or attempt to renegotiate the terms of the deal. 

Though Vineeta Singh did point out that offers made on the show might not always be favourable to founders, she added that one benefit the founders get is that in just one hour, they secure a deal which might otherwise take four to six weeks outside the show with angel investors.

Mittal told Humans of Bombay, “A good percentage of the companies don’t get funded, and the reason is that 90 per cent of the time, founders back out or they want to change the structure of the deal.” 

He said, “It’s a big no-no for me. It’s a bad precedent to set.”

He added that the issue is when founders believe they can accept any deal on the show and then attempt to change the terms later.

Adding to this, Vineeta Singh said, “For a cheque to come from an angel investor, it is multiple meetings, probably 4-6 weeks in most cases. That 4-6 weeks is getting condensed to an hour on Shark Tank.”

She said, “We are also operating on a very tight timeline. We also compensate for the extra risk that we carry.”

However, she did agree that “the deal on Shark Tank may not be as founder-friendly,” but she added, “We are compensating for the time crunch at that point. This is why founders should respect that deal; the decision was made within one hour. It is never going to be the same when a person takes 6 weeks.”

Shark Tank Season 4

This season, the panel of Sharks includes Anupam Mittal, founder and CEO, People Group Shaadi.com; Aman Gupta, co-founder and CMO, boAt Lifestyle; Namita Thapar, Executive Director, Emcure Pharmaceuticals; Ritesh Agarwal, founder and Group CEO, OYO; Peyush Bansal, co-founder and CEO, Lenskart; Vineeta Singh, co-founder and CEO, SUGAR Cosmetics; Azhar Iqubal, co-founder and Chairman, Inshorts; and Varun Dua, founder and CEO, ACKO; along with new shark Kunal Bahl, co-founder, Snapdeal and Titan Capital.