Shark Tank India’s investors have promised participants crores of rupees, yet the majority of the transactions fail to materialise once the show ends. In a recent interview, Namita Thapar, one of the sharks’ on the Sony LIV show, revealed that when they begin their “due diligence,” they discover a “lack of integrity” on the side of entrepreneurs, who sometimes “ghost” investors after their agreement is presented on television.
During an interview with YouTube channel Finance with Sharan, Namita stated that the audience is “clueless” about what occurs beyond the tank and that they must understand why many agreements fail. Many people are unaware of the number of investments. Due diligence reveals a lack of honesty on the part of the founders. Many founders have ghosted me. “There are many founders whose numbers, when we do the due diligence, are completely off, not just marginally, but significantly off,” she explained.
Namita Thapar added that on a lot of occasions, business owners later reveal that they have multiple companies and are not interested in merging them for the deal to go through. “So what people don’t realise is that they see us giving these offers and then they say ‘you did not do the deal’ but what they don’t realise is that there are a lot of integrity issues, which is why the count goes down substantially. I think this is one thing that whoever is following Shark Tank must be aware of, that there is a margin between what’s revealed at the tank and what really comes out in the due diligence,” she added.
Vineeta Singh stated that when a business presentation is aired on television, the founders may receive better offers from other investors, which they prefer to accept. “Once they air, they receive better deals outdoors, so they choose to stick with those. I appreciate an entrepreneur’s motivation to optimise for valuation, which may feel unjust, but it is necessary. Vineeta responded, “That’s the rule of the game.”
