Vibhuti Arora, founder of House of Beauty, applied to be on Shark Tank India season 3 hoping to get the support of judge Namita Thapar who is the executive director of Emcure Pharmaceuticals. What happened at the popular business reality show, however, made her almost break down on the set and have a blackout.
At a recent podcast, Arora shared that the comments by Thapar and fellow "shark" and CEO of Sugar Cosmetics, Vineeta Singh made her want to rush out of the room.
“What was shown was still very nice, what actually happened was a lot worse. I could feel angst, Vineeta kept repeating the same thing 10 times, and she kept criticising my packaging, but they did not let me speak," she said. "I was there to get their help, as a bootstrapped entrepreneur. If I had had everything sorted already, why would I go to them for help? It was very difficult for me to control myself from crying at one point. I just wanted to run away from Shark Tank India. I didn’t want to cry on national television. Vineeta kept asking me what the differentiator in my products is.”
Arora added that experienced a blackout right after the stressful shoot.
"Initially, I thought I would manage to get funding from there. But later, I figured that I was not going to get anything out of this, I only had to keep defending myself. After the pitch, I had a blackout. I got anxious that time,” she said.
After the video and snippets from the episode on Shark Tank India were shared on social media, some users sided with Arora, but others pointed out that as a prospective investor, the "sharks" -- as the judges on the show are called -- were well within their rights to ask questions about the company and its service.
"Namita Thapar is an invester and what she said is completely true. I have been watching Shark Tank from season 1 and being investors they ask such kinds of questions to anyone," said one Instagram user. "This was just a general and valid question she asked to know her plan on this before investing," said another user.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
Find the best of Al News in one place, specially curated for you every weekend.
Stay on top of the latest tech trends and biggest startup news.