Shark Tank India: Anupam Mittal claims founders back out ’90 percent of the times’ after making deals because of ‘lack of integrity’

Anupam Mittal and Vineeta Singh shed light on some loopholes in the show, particularly founders backing out of deals made on the show for the sake of getting aired.

By: Entertainment Desk

Chennai | December 18, 2024 08:26 PM IST

3 min read

Anupam Mittal in a still from Shark Tank India.

Shark Tank India Season 4 is set to premiere in January 2025, and ahead of its release, the ‘Sharks’ have been busy with promotions. During a recent interaction, Anupam Mittal and Vineeta Singh shed light on some loopholes in the show, particularly founders backing out of deals made on the show for the sake of getting some promotional air time, and how deals made on the show differ from those negotiated in the real world.

In a conversation with Humans of Bombay, Anupam Mittal discussed how a significant percentage of deals finalised on the show don’t materialise because of founders reneging on their commitments or attempting to restructure the deal. He explained, “A good percentage of the companies don’t get funded and the reason is that 90 percent of the times founders back out or they want to change the structure of the deal. It’s a big no-no for me. It’s a bad precedent to set. They will think that they will accept whatever on the show but they can renegotiate later. That is a problem.”

Vineeta Singh further explained that while deals on Shark Tank might not always be founder-friendly, entrepreneurs should consider the unique advantage of securing an investor within an hour—a process that typically takes 6-7 weeks with angel investors conducting due diligence before finalising a deal.

She 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. We are also operating on a very tight timeline. We also compensate the extra risk that we carry. The deal on Shark Tank may not be as founder friendly as they would get outside because we are compensating for the time crunch at that point. This is why founders should respect that deal because the decision was made within one hour is never going to be the same when a person takes 6 weeks.”

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Anupam also highlighted a recurring issue where some founders approach the show with the intent of securing airtime rather than genuinely following through on deals. “It has happened on the tank when a founder told another founder to take the deal and figure out things later. That shows lack of integrity,” he said. Vineeta added, “The irony is that if you got offered a deal, whether you accept it or not, the probability of going on air is similar. So they don’t need to accept the offer that they have no intention to follow through.”

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