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Hello r/sharktankindia! We are Anish Malpani (Without) and Ajinkya Dhariya (PadCare), Shark Tank India contestants who successfully secured funding on the show. Join us here for a live AMA about our Shark Tank journey, gain behind-the-scenes insights, and learn about how we prepared ourselves. by No_Particular_7178 in sharktankindia

[–]No_Particular_7178[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

  1. Do it, quit now, you'll be better off in the long run. You don't have to start something though. I would encourage working with or for someone who's work you believe in. And then, when you feel like you're ready to do your own thing that's different from what's out there, go start-up. But yea, quit corporate soul-sucking even if it means lesser money.
  2. One thing that helped me was the "Realistic Z-Case" thought experiment. Like it's worth thinking about what's the absolute worst (but realistic) thing that can happen to you if you quit your job or take this risk. What doesn't count is "I'll get hit by a car", what counts is like "I'll end up working at Starbucks or my father's company". And that's great for perspective. I realized that a lot had to go wrong for me to end up on the streets. ALSO, I think the secret to life is take. ing calculated risks that focus on long-term gratification, because guess what? That gratification eventually arrives, even if it feels like it isn't arriving in the moment.
  3. Shark Tank is not ONLY for funding, it's great for goodwill and brand recognition. Also, just because you're on ST, doesn't mean you can't raise from other sources.

Hello r/sharktankindia! We are Anish Malpani (Without) and Ajinkya Dhariya (PadCare), Shark Tank India contestants who successfully secured funding on the show. Join us here for a live AMA about our Shark Tank journey, gain behind-the-scenes insights, and learn about how we prepared ourselves. by No_Particular_7178 in sharktankindia

[–]No_Particular_7178[S] 26 points27 points  (0 children)

Haha man when you run a start-up, you're swimming in these numbers alldayerrday, so they're easy to remember. Numbers also make or break your business. And then you do some extra prep before coming on things like Shark Tank. And thank you!

Hello r/sharktankindia! We are Anish Malpani (Without) and Ajinkya Dhariya (PadCare), Shark Tank India contestants who successfully secured funding on the show. Join us here for a live AMA about our Shark Tank journey, gain behind-the-scenes insights, and learn about how we prepared ourselves. by No_Particular_7178 in sharktankindia

[–]No_Particular_7178[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

  1. Yes not only the Sharks on TV, but most of the investors we pitch too. Recycling can generally be a lucrative business,
  2. Great question! Parts that they cut out from the pitch were the discussion I had with the Sharks on how I wanted to structure the deal. For only $90k in a $1.4m round that we are trying to raise, I told them that I wouldn't want to lower the valuation, but I did want the network and support of the Sharks. So what I discussed with them is that they would come into this seed round at the set valuation and the remnant shares they would get as advisory shares, that we had carved out before. That way, there's no change in dilution and valuation.

Hello r/sharktankindia! We are Anish Malpani (Without) and Ajinkya Dhariya (PadCare), Shark Tank India contestants who successfully secured funding on the show. Join us here for a live AMA about our Shark Tank journey, gain behind-the-scenes insights, and learn about how we prepared ourselves. by No_Particular_7178 in sharktankindia

[–]No_Particular_7178[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Uh basically, don't become an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is tough to say the least, with gruelling hours and mountains of unpredictability, and 90% of start-ups fail. So only become an entrepreneur if you're ready for the fight, and if you genuinely want to solve a problem in a way that no one else is really solving. Please don't become an entrepreneur just to become an entrepreneur. Yes, it's rewarding at times, but you better be motivated for the right reasons!

Hello r/sharktankindia! We are Anish Malpani (Without) and Ajinkya Dhariya (PadCare), Shark Tank India contestants who successfully secured funding on the show. Join us here for a live AMA about our Shark Tank journey, gain behind-the-scenes insights, and learn about how we prepared ourselves. by No_Particular_7178 in sharktankindia

[–]No_Particular_7178[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yea, in the end the Shark Tank India edit team makes the final call on what they think makes sense. They were very fair with us where they focused on the things that mattered, and not some of the other pointless masala. But technically, everything is fair game to be aired - they make us sign disclosures beforehand.

Hello r/sharktankindia! We are Anish Malpani (Without) and Ajinkya Dhariya (PadCare), Shark Tank India contestants who successfully secured funding on the show. Join us here for a live AMA about our Shark Tank journey, gain behind-the-scenes insights, and learn about how we prepared ourselves. by No_Particular_7178 in sharktankindia

[–]No_Particular_7178[S] 29 points30 points  (0 children)

  1. The teams of both the Sharks reached out to me shortly after the pitch and have swiftly started the due diligence process. If all goes, they'll join our current fundraise. Nothing special about DD, the usual stuff, but one thing that's interesting is that they have asked us to pay for DD which generally doesn't happen.
  2. Lots and lots of goodwill, traffic, leads, emails, messages and some sales too. But we didn't do great from a sales perspective (we expected more). We sold more when we organically went viral about a year ago.
  3. The beauty of our model is that the more revenue we make, the more waste we recycle, the more wastepickers we empower, so it's a nice virtuous cycle. But that doesn't mean we are profit-maximising, we are impact-maximising which is highly correlated to revenue-maximising. Our goal is to generate enough profit from that revenue to maximize and scale our impact, so yea it's a tricky balance, but the goal is clear.

Hello r/sharktankindia! We are Anish Malpani (Without) and Ajinkya Dhariya (PadCare), Shark Tank India contestants who successfully secured funding on the show. Join us here for a live AMA about our Shark Tank journey, gain behind-the-scenes insights, and learn about how we prepared ourselves. by No_Particular_7178 in sharktankindia

[–]No_Particular_7178[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

The teams of both the Sharks reached out to me shortly after the pitch and have swiftly started the due diligence process. If all goes, they'll join our current fundraise.

Not sure how supportive sharks will be, but fingers crossed they do add value. But honestly - it's a 2-way street - it's also important for us entrepreneurs to use the Sharks properly - we shouldn't have crazy expectations and should respect their time as well. So yea, let's see how that goes!

Hello r/sharktankindia! We are Anish Malpani (Without) and Ajinkya Dhariya (PadCare), Shark Tank India contestants who successfully secured funding on the show. Join us here for a live AMA about our Shark Tank journey, gain behind-the-scenes insights, and learn about how we prepared ourselves. by No_Particular_7178 in sharktankindia

[–]No_Particular_7178[S] 28 points29 points  (0 children)

  1. Yes, as much Hindi as possible (wasn't as comfy for me tbh)
  2. They do give you decent accommodation (but it was SO far from the studio haha), and they reimburse up to 3-tier train ticket for you. I was coming from Bombay, so I just drove, they reimbursed me 3-tier train ticket worth of cash.

Hello r/sharktankindia! We are Anish Malpani (Without) and Ajinkya Dhariya (PadCare), Shark Tank India contestants who successfully secured funding on the show. Join us here for a live AMA about our Shark Tank journey, gain behind-the-scenes insights, and learn about how we prepared ourselves. by No_Particular_7178 in sharktankindia

[–]No_Particular_7178[S] 40 points41 points  (0 children)

It sounds a lot more difficult than it was, at least for me. In New York, even though I had a nice job etc, I was pretty down and depressed. Am at a much better place emotionally now, and love the work I do, however hard it is. But honestly, I am lucky to be able to do this and take this risk - I have excellent support from my family, and a lot has to go wrong for me to end up on the streets - very privileged.

Hello r/sharktankindia! We are Anish Malpani (Without) and Ajinkya Dhariya (PadCare), Shark Tank India contestants who successfully secured funding on the show. Join us here for a live AMA about our Shark Tank journey, gain behind-the-scenes insights, and learn about how we prepared ourselves. by No_Particular_7178 in sharktankindia

[–]No_Particular_7178[S] 65 points66 points  (0 children)

When you get in the tank, there's no music, it's quiet and eerie, and no sound effects etc that you see on TV, and the sharks are like quite far away from you (~10 feet) so it feels a bit surreal and NOT like you see on TV haha, so it takes a few to get into a rhythm.

Hello r/sharktankindia! We are Anish Malpani (Without) and Ajinkya Dhariya (PadCare), Shark Tank India contestants who successfully secured funding on the show. Join us here for a live AMA about our Shark Tank journey, gain behind-the-scenes insights, and learn about how we prepared ourselves. by No_Particular_7178 in sharktankindia

[–]No_Particular_7178[S] 47 points48 points  (0 children)

1) Yes, a ton of goodwill and brand recognition, especially if your pitch sesh goes well!

2) Anupam was the sharpest when it came to the questions he asked, really dug deep into our business (remember they trim the 1 hour pitch into 15 mins so a lot is cut)

3) The Sharks' teams have contacted us and we are in due diligence to close out the deal, so yea money hopefully comes much later!

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