Shark Tank India 2: Entrepreneur Ajinkya Dhariya on getting a blank cheque offer from Peyush Bansal
26-year-old entrepreneur Ajinkya Dhariya created quite a buzz with his pitch in Shark Tank India 2. The founder of the sanitary napkin disposer impressed the Sharks with his visionary ideas which resulted in offers that were more than he asked for. In an interview with ETimes TV Ajinkya talked about how he felt with all the Sharks fighting to get his deal.
He shared, “We are riding on the wave of excitement as well as a responsibility because we took a step to break the taboo around menstrual hygiene management in both ways. It’s an exciting time for any kind of start-up. It is a good time for social entrepreneurship startups like us.”
When asked what was going on in his mind when the Sharks were fighting for the deal, he replied, “Being frank, the intent behind going on the Shark Tank was very clear for me. We wanted to convey our vision to the world. The sudden excitement that started coming from the Sharks, Peyush giving a blank cheque… the show is not about the numbers, it is of the belief of the system in our work. I was a little bit blank for a couple of seconds when I saw the Sharks fighting among themselves.”
Talking about the selection procedure for the show, he said, “Overall, the process was very smooth. I applied in the month of May (2022) and then we had a first interview round. There was another screening in person with the team. We had 30 mins and within that, we had to pitch what we were doing. The initial 3 mins are very important to make the perfect pitch. The remaining 27 minutes are QnA. It can extend and that’s the time we get to interact with the Sharks. The excitement is hidden in those 30 minutes. Behind the scenes, there was a preparation about how we want to position our products, how we should pitch, the key parameters we have to mention. IIM Bangalore’s NSRCEL team also helped us to refine what we guys are doing. We had a couple of days stay for the shoot and the entire process was very comfortable.”
When asked about the challenges he faced while setting up his start-up, he replied, “Challenges varied on the stages that we were on. The first major challenge starts with the founder’s mentality, our own psychology. To come out of our comfort zone and believe in what we are doing. The second problem we faced was during market research. I interacted with over 2000 women to talk about the issues they were facing and not everyone opened up. The third challenge was getting the right team. And I was lucky to find a team, that pushed me beyond my boundaries. In a nutshell, we faced different challenges at different stages.”
He added, “Post Shark Tank shoot we have been growing almost 1.5X to 2X. From a 16 members team, we are now 42 members across India. We have our set up in Pune, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Chennai. We are prepared in terms of inventory. I never imagined I would get this type of response from the market. We got massive website hits.”
For the unversed, Ajinkya got four deals of Rs 1 crore for 4% equity from four sharks including Peyush Bansal, Namita Thapar, Vineeta Singh, and Anupam Mittal.