Exclusive | Shark Tank India’s Mohit Yadav says investors rejected him, mortgaged house for Rs 1 cr, earned it back 2955 times: ‘Maturity came late for me’ 

Mohit Yadav found inspiration in Shark Tank during his struggle

Recalling how Shark Tank helped him during his struggling phase, Mohit shared, “As a founder, I grew up watching Shark Tank. My first start-up was in 2010, when Shark Tank US had begun. When you have those low moments, you need inspiration and motivation; you find that in real stories from people around you. When you see someone hustling, going through a tough time, it helps you go through that phase. As a founder, Shark Tank has helped me a lot in navigating my own lows and taking inspiration from other founders.”

Also Read: Shark Tank India’s Mohit Yadav bounced back after two failed ventures, mortgaged house to build a Rs 2,955 crore brand

 

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Mohit also reacted to being compared with Eternal’s founder Deepinder Goyal who owns Zomato and Blinkit. “I am humbled to know that people are comparing me with some good names. Every individual is different. I am glad people like me. And if they put a name with the likes of Deepinder, it’s an honour,” he said.

Mohit on mortgaging his house to start Minimalist

In the first episode of Shark Tank India 5, Mohit Yadav shared his story with another founder, where he revealed he mortgaged his house for Rs 1 crore to raise funds for The Minimalist. Revisiting that moment and his decision, Mohit said, “In 2008-2009, when I started my first venture in apparel (Scopial Fashion), we were just out of college, had very little understanding of what a start-up is, how to run a business, the decisions we took then were largely about staying with our family. The startup was a way to enable that, so both Rahul and I started it. However, during that phase, I made a ton of mistakes and learned a lot of things. Later, when Minimalist was about to start, both Rahul and I felt we had spent decent time in our own start-up, in different companies, and probably what we felt we missed earlier, we had those skills now. It was also a time when I wanted to take one more chance on myself. I have been a guy who always felt like doing something, if it doesn’t work out, it’s fine, rather than living with the regret, think what if I had done that.”

He further added, “Of course, you need capital, and for our initial kickstart, we had to mortgage our house and gain some capital. It was a tough time, knowing that your family had put in a lot of faith and trust in you. If things didn’t work out, we were putting everyone’s life at risk. But at the end of the day, you need to back yourself, and even if the chances of a startup that succeeds are less than 10 percent, believing in what you do makes it work. If it didn’t work, I would have taken it as an experience, go back, earn, and repay the debt, and figure something out. It’s like a chaos we have to live with. I could see the Mohit of 2008-2010 in that founder, and just wanted to help. I got a little emotional around that time.”

 

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Mohit recalled facing rejections from multiple investors

Having two failed startups, Mohit and Rahul were always very determined to make The Minimalist a success story. But when that journey began, they faced a lot of troubles. Recalling how they faced rejections from investors, Mohit said, “When Minimalist started, we knew from day one that the brand’s value was more important than just the product. That was a turning point for the brand. Whenever you start a new category, there are a lot of questions in people’s minds. In 2021, we might have pitched to multiple investors, half of them said that they couldn’t even pronounce half of the names, and said that most people in India wouldn’t even understand that. They said they didn’t see it as a large-scale business. Others were not sure if India would move from natural to chemical-based products; every founder goes through their set of rejections and then proves themselves. Everything is an exception till it becomes a norm.”

With their share of ups and downs, Mohit and Rahul sold 90 percent of their stakes to Hindustan Unilever at a valuation of Rs 2955 crores in 2025. Bringing the brand to this stage has not been an easy feat for Mohit, even until last year. Talking about the challenges they face as founders, the Shark Tank India judge says, “If you look at the last 5 years, it might look like a very happy story, but not every day is the same. You have challenges in solving the supply change, trying to figure out product market trends, and there would be months where your business is not growing much. In 2021, we would have done Rs 100 cr, last year we did Rs 500 cr, so there was a rapid rise, but it was not like the growth happened day over day or month over month. We grew for a quarter, then there was a lull, in that your complacency for people change. Managing a team of 10-15 people to now 900 is very different. Every day, there is a problem that you have to solve. I was lucky to have Rahul, my co-founder, who would support me in my bad phase, and I would do the same.”

“But one thing that changed our approach from 2010 was when our first start-up wasn’t working out, we were not mature enough to understand that it was a problem of the start-up and not us as a person. I was taking a lot of those things very personally. I would think if things didn’t work out, I failed, and if I changed myself, I will pivot, so what message will I pass on to people that my strategy was wrong? With maturity, you become somewhat more humble and understand the mistakes you made, and you become brave enough to let your ego go away. That came very late for me; I wish I had gotten that maturity and courage earlier to accept my mistake,” Mohit added.

 

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Mohit on his Shark Tank India 5 experience

While Mohit has not joined the latest season to invest in and mentor some budding entrepreneurs, he is glad to have a friend like Kunal Bahl around. Talking about his experience on the show, Mohit Yadav says, “It was good to have Kunal in the tank. We met in 2011, even before Shark Tank. Namita and I were in touch, so some faces helped, and it gave me some context. One piece of advice all of them gave me was, you can’t be someone else on the show; being authentic is the best way to take it forward.”

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“My first day in the tank was pretty good. It was fun. I met some amazing founders, especially The Croffle Guys. Their positive, fun vibe rubbed off on all of us. The entire crew made me feel so comfortable that I didn’t realize it was my first day,” he added.

Before signing off, Mohit also discussed whether there is a certain cap they are given from the makers on the number of investments, or if there is an amount they decide on to invest. Mohit said, “There is no mandate on the money or limit of investments from the Shark Tank India team, for me its like, if I like a venture, it has enough skin in the game for me and the growth is mutual, money is secondary, especially at this stage in my life. I went with an open mind, rather than wondering about the capital, I am taking one pitch at a time, if it has value, we can go forward.”

Shark Tank India 5 streams on Sony TV and SonyLiv every Monday to Friday at 10 pm.