Anupam Mittal is a household name now, thanks to the three years that he has spent hosting the popular reality television series Shark Tank India. Companies offer him equity for nothing in return now, but there was a time when he struggled like everybody else. Appearing on the Barbershop podcast, Anupam recalled how he got his start as an entrepreneur, and how he went from living in a cramped apartment in Mumbai to becoming a multi-millionaire in his 20s.
Anupam said that his father made his fortune in the textiles business, but there was a time when they weren’t very well off. “We wouldn’t realise it as kids, but 20 of us were living in a 1000 square foot house at the time. People were sleeping on the dining table, under the dining table. But as kids, you don’t think of that. You enjoy having so many kids around,” he said.
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But in time, his father prospered, and Anupam went to the US for studies. He couldn’t find a job there though, and decided not to tell his parents because they’d command him to return to India. “Now the situation was such that I had no money, and if I asked them for money they say, ‘Where’s your salary?’ I had no money. It was the first time I experienced hunger. This is something everybody should do in live once, because experiencing hunger teaches you a lot. There was a time when I didn’t eat for two-three days, because I couldn’t eat. How long could friends help? They would’ve helped, but you also feel bad after a while… Credit cards are maxed out, everything is finished. It wasn’t like I was out on the streets, but I did experience some level of lack of resources,” he said.
But things turned around for Anupam, and soon, he founds himself living the kind of life he’d only seen in the movies. “I became a multi-millionaire in my early 20s. It was crazy, I’d never imagined it. I’d ordered a sports car, we used to party in stadiums, our corporate parties would be on cruise ships. It was next level,” he said. Anupam made his name as an entrepreneur after leaving his job in the US, and experienced a new level of fame after joining Shark Tank India as a judge. He now puts himself through voluntary fasts for 24 hours.
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