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On Shark Tank India Season 4, chef Gauri Kaushish, the founder of Confect, a brand that provides baking materials for cakes, including fondant and other consumable accessories, faced a tough time during her pitch. After all the grilling and cross-questioning she had to face by the ‘sharks’, an irate Gauri was seen telling Anupam Mittal not to give ‘befaltu’ advice. The chef eventually bagged a deal from Namita Thapar, who invested Rs 1 crore for 2 per cent equity and 2 per cent royalty. Now in an interview with SCREEN, Gauri has slammed Vineeta Singh and Anupam, stating that they just didn’t want to listen.
Sharing her experience, Gauri said, “It was one of a kind experience. Every entrepreneur must go through this journey with Shark Tank. It’s not about just being in the tank, but the entire process. I believe I have come out as a much better version of myself after this experience. It was great to meet other entrepreneurs. We usually get so isolated due to our work that we forget the outside world. Getting into this was one of the best decisions I made in my life.”
When asked about her furious response to the sharks, Gauri Kaushish said, “The duration of the pitch is much longer. It is very hard to pitch on Shark Tank. There is no laptop or papers you can refer to; everything has to be memorized. In the first 3 minutes in the tank, you have absolute freedom to talk, but post that it’s a frenzy. I felt it was a feeding frenzy because I was not able to complete a single sentence or put my point across before getting interrupted by the sharks. Honestly, that is one of my pet peeves. At some point, I just felt that they were not listening but just putting forward their narrative or little understanding of the industry. I felt this was a platform where there should have been mutual respect, but sometimes when you just speak for the sake of speaking it’s unnecessary and needed to be called out.”
She added, “If they had focused on what I was saying, they would have understood everything. Namita Thapar was the only one who was listening. Everybody else was talking. It went on for about 45 minutes and what you saw was a very small portion. The back-and-forth banter went on for a good time, but we didn’t move past that topic. After that, no matter how cool, calm, and composed I wanted to be, I just let it out.”
Gauri Kaushish further shared that the ‘sharks’ were ‘a little dismissive’ and ‘not interested in her business.’ She said, “Speaking from my experience, I felt they were not interested in the business or it was a commodity or a category that didn’t intrigue them. They were a little dismissive. They wanted to say something for the heck of saying it. They didn’t give me a chance to put forward any valid points. In the 20-minute episode, not a single number other than my turnover was discussed. We just kept discussing India vs US business. One of the most admirable qualities of any entrepreneur is the ability to change. But I was very surprised to get criticized for it. I took that a little personally. Right from the time I entered the tank, Vineeta just went after me. When I showed the cake and said it was a disaster, she said, ‘Theek toh hai.’ I was like are you for real. I was just not understanding how they were not seeing what I was seeing. Similarly, when Anupam said it was my nature to do something different every few years, he gave it a completely different connotation. He found a hook and went with it.”
“It’s a booming industry, and is relative, but they did not get the narrative. They were completely impatient. I got cut off so many times. At least 2-3 dozen times, I was cut off mid-sentence. They got to me by the end of the pitch,” Gauri added.
Praising Namita who agreed to invest in her company, Gauri Kaushish said, “The team was very surprised because no one knew that Namita baked. Honestly, she was the only ‘shark’ I had my eye on. I was not looking at getting a multiple shark deal. I just wanted one person who would get the business. Getting an investor is very critical. A five-shark or three-shark deal might look glamorous, but I went in very clear that she was the only person I wanted to work with. I was asked who I wanted, and I picked her because I didn’t think anyone else would understand my business as well as she did.”
Sharing that Namita has been in touch with her ever since the deal was locked, Gauri added, “We have been in touch since the episode aired. She has been incredible as a mentor and investor. Three days after I came back to Delhi, I got a call from her office. Just now she talked to me on WhatsApp.”
Talking about the impact on the brand after the Shark Tank India 4 episode aired, Gauri Kaushish pointed out that there has been growth. She said, “Response has been positive. We have had a huge traction on our website, both good and bad. The visibility has been incredible. People from across the globe have reached out, wanting to buy the product. It’s very nascent, and I am also wrapping my head around it.”
Lastly, Gauri shared that negative feedback or critical scrutiny doesn’t affect her anymore. “My brand is me, and I am not insecure. The good, bad, or ugly always comes with everything you do. In the tank, I said I started this brand on Facebook. I am used to good and bad reviews, angry customers, public bashing, and trolls. I have seen it all, and all publicity is good in a way. How you handle it defines you as a person. Namita called me honest, and I have never been afraid of owning my truth. I would have thought about being judged when I shared my story about getting married in Vegas, but I didn’t.”
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