Kanika Tekriwal battled cancer at 22, set up Rs 420-cr ‘Uber for skies’, says she came ‘unprepared’ to Shark Tank India

 

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Also Read: Shark Tank judge invested Rs 5,600 at 21, 10 years later she holds a net worth of Rs 420 cr

Recalling her very first day on Shark Tank India 5, Kanika said, “I didn’t know what I signed up for. I came very unprepared. I am not used to talking in Hindi, and this is primarily a Hindi show, so it took me some time to translate what was going on (in the Tank) in my head, but by then the offers were gone, and the pitch was about to end. That was my initial experience. My first pitch was the worst pitch ever. I think the producer must be thinking why did they bring me on board. I didn’t even open my mouth. By the time I would think of something to say, the pitch was finished. We have human computers like Vineeta and Anupam. By the time I would write the numbers, they would already have processed them. So, I learnt on the tank as we went ahead.”

‘I have been a bit of a misfit all my life…’

At the age of 21, a young girl decided to step into a very niche market. She invested Rs 5600, only to see it grow into hundreds of crores. Facing doubts from investors to being asked, ‘Tumhaari shaadi karaadi to kya hoga’, Kanika went on to build something big. Looking back at her entrepreneurial journey, Kaniks shared the approach she will have in the tank and said, “I always go by instinct, and I think crazy entrepreneurs make things that don’t work, work. So it’s always been about whether the entrepreneur seems fine, so I go ahead.”

She further added, “I started working in an industry where everyone said it had no market size, who would use it? When I went to big funds, they told me, ‘Are you crazy? What’s the market size?’ I don’t think I have gone by any trend, which is how regular investing works; I have been a bit of a misfit all my life. I like to go down the path not taken, of course, I wouldn’t do things that are borderline illegal, so I fit in at least somewhere.”

Battling cancer inspired Kanika Tekriwal’s entrepreneurial journey

Kanika was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of cancer, when she was 22. But what was the biggest challenge of her life also helped her strong enough to face anything. “Cancer inspired JetSetGo’s manifestation,” she earlier told Rediff. “Cancer made me a strong person ready to face any challenge. My brief yet very real brush with the concept of mortality led me to the idea that this life, that we are so miraculously granted, is to be used for dreaming bigger and achieving more. I spent my eight months of treatment analysing, planning, and structuring my vision, and I made it happen.”

Kanika Tekriwal’s success story

From the age of 4, Kanika’s fascination with planes began. The girl who once aspired to become a pilot didn’t give up on her dreams to work in the aviation sector despite her family rejecting her dream. At the age of 21, in 2014, Kanika brought her revolutionary idea into reality and started JetSetGo – India’s first transparent marketplace for private aviation. By putting in an initial investment of Rs 5600, Kanika tried to gather capital by raising funds, but many doors were shut in her face. Having gone through her share of ups and downs, today Kanika has built a company that has handled over 100,000 passengers, operated more than 6,000 flights, and manages one of India’s largest fleets of private jets, with nine private planes and two helicopters.

 

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Kanika’s net worth is estimated at over Rs 420 crore, and she was earlier listed among the youngest richest women on the Hurun Rich List. Her company, JetSetGo, has handled over 100,000 passengers and operated more than 6,000 flights, managing one of India’s largest fleets of private jets, with nine private planes and two helicopters under its wing.

Kanika Tekriwal will be seen as a judge on Shark Tank India 5, the show streams on Sony TV and Sony Liv from tonight at 8 pm from Monday to Friday.