Boat suspends marketing for 3 months when Shark Tank airs: Co-founder Aman Gupta

Aman Gupta, co-founder and CMO of Boat

Aman Gupta, co-founder and chief marketing officer (CMO) of Boat, the audio and wearables company, said his company suspends all marketing activities during the three months when Shark Tank is broadcast, underscoring the popularity that startups get from the Indian reality show.

The move is of significance because marketing spends and promotional activities together are among the top line item expenses for several startups and companies typically cut back on advertisements when they need to reduce expenses. The move typically results in lower revenues.

“On a personal note, I love that people know and want to take pictures with me…for Boat there is so much free promotion when Shark Tank is aired that we stop spending on marketing for about three months,” Gupta said while speaking at the Walmart Converge event last week.

Gupta’s comments come at a time when several founders of smaller startups, who have previously pitched on the show, have alleged that sharks (investors) have only used the show/platform to build a personal brand and to market their own startups, instead of honouring deals as promised.

To be sure, a few founders who pitched on the show have also admitted they appeared only for free marketing and most participants had seen an immediate 3-4X spike in business after Shark Tank was broadcast.

But several founders questioned the purpose of Shark Tank India because they did not receive the money that was promised to them on air. Aman Gupta had honoured 12 of the 28 deals that he had committed to which translates to an investment rate of 43 percent.

Having honoured 13 of the 22 deals she had committed to, Namita Thapar from Emcure had topped the list while Anupam Mittal from Shaadi.com was at the bottom of the list after he only funded seven companies after promising funds to 24 companies.

Inspired from the American show, Shark Tank is an Indian reality show where small businesses pitch to founders of large new-age companies hoping to raise money and be mentored by them as they plan to scale their businesses.

Peyush Bansal, co-founder, Lenskart, Aman Gupta, co-founder, Boat, Namita Thapar, executive director, Emcure Pharmaceuticals, Vineeta Singh, co-founder, SUGAR Cosmetics and Amit Jain, co-founder of CarDekho are a few sharks/investors who appeared on Shark Tank season two.

The show, which is now preparing for its third edition, also had Mamaearth’s Ghazal Alagh and former BharatPe MD Ashneer Grover as sharks in the first season.

Boat’s Gupta said that Shark Tank had helped his business grow but it brings sharks, like himself, under the scanner and they are under increased scrutiny.

In what looked like a dig at former shark, Ashneer Grover, Gupta from Boat said “unless one doesn’t commit a fraud, Shark Tank will retain its sharks. Including me. Shark Tank is good for me, Boat and the country.”