Shark Tank India pitcher calls his co-founder a ‘toxic person’, Vineeta Singh says she’d never hire a graduate from their educational platform

Shark Tank India 4: Three young entrepreneurs with dreams of securing an all-shark deal were heartbroken when Anupam Mittal and Vineeta Singh gave them a reality check.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | Updated: March 12, 2025 12:57 PM IST

3 min read

Vineeta Singh on Shark Tank India 4.

Three young founders pitched their sales education platform Hive School on the latest episode of Shark Tank India, which is currently airing its fourth season. The founders said that they want to teach young professionals the art of sales, and will provide job-ready personnel by the end of their course. They asked for Rs 60 lakh in exchange of 5% equity, valuing their business at Rs 12 crore. They said that they have only been operational for less than half a year, and have earned around Rs 45 lakh in revenue. They also claimed that none of the individuals who’ve graduated from their programme has quit the job they got after it.

The founders said that they aim to fill a huge gap in the market with their platform, which they compared to UpGrad. The CEO, Nikhil, said claimed that this was the first time in the history of Shark Tank that a college was being pitched. But his presentation was filled with hyperbole. One of his co-founders described him as a ‘toxic person to work with’, while the third co-founder said that Nikhil actually locks them in a room. “When we were launching the platform, we were locked in one room for 15 days,” he said, while Nikhil wondered why they would say this about him on national television.

Also read – Anupam Mittal tells broke Shark Tank India pitcher he’s ‘out of touch with reality’, Aman Gupta compares him to Will Smith in Pursuit of Happyness: ‘Get a job’

Aman Gupta wanted to know why practical experience isn’t a part of their curriculum, and Nikhil seemed to improvise an answer on the spot, which left Aman dissatisfied. Vineeta Singh agreed. She said, “When I was starting out, the first shock that I got was when I would cold call people. They would yell at me. It was insulting. But it was an experience. I wouldn’t want to hire kids who have no practical experience in sales. I don’t want to listen to a strategy, I want to see sales.” Anupam Mittal told the founders that they can’t teach people sales because they barely have any sales experience themselves.

Kunal Bahl felt that the founders shouldn’t chase funding at all. “Funding will give you pleasure, but building a profitable business will give you happiness,” he said, telling them that it is too early to invest in their business because its efficacy hasn’t yet been proven. Peyush Bansal thought that it’s too early as well. For the third time on the episode, a group of founders left empty handed.

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