Entrepreneur Jeevika Tyagi, co-founder and CEO of athleisure (athletic and leisure clothing) startup Aastey, has hit back at Shark Tank India season three judge Namita Thapar for her remarks about the brand spending money on marketing on the show’s latest episode.
In Shark Tank India episode, Jeevika appeared with her co-founder Kanupriya Mundhra. On the episode, Vineeta Singh called the duo out and said startups which “easily” get funding lack “financial discipline”. When the judges asked the two founders about their bank balance, they were told it’s zero. Aman Gupta said, “To hum invest kisme kar rahe hai? Business kaha hai? Maal bhi bikk nahi raha (So, where will we invest, where is the business? Your products are also not selling)”. Vineeta had added, “Ye jo financial indiscipline aapne dikhaya hai, that is baffling me (The financial indiscipline that you have shown is baffling me)”.
Jeevika posted a clip from the episode, which begins by Namita Thapar saying, “You took Rs 10 cr from the investors and spent the amount primarily on marketing? I am out.” Jeevika then explained why the selective editing of the episode was dishonest as it painted the start up in a different light.
“Even though the episode is called ‘Celebrating Entrepreneurial breakthroughs’, the theme poster reads, ‘Is this financial indiscipline?’ I think Namita this is a very big ‘financial indiscipline’ that you could not understand a simple thing. If everyone is discussing about our inventory, why we are not selling our inventory– where did that come from?
“We spent the entire Rs 10 cr on marketing? Where did the money for our inventory come, where is the inventory stored, where is the money for the team, business operations– the entire part and its breakdown was edited out by Sony, what about that? I will keep giving you insights like these,” she says in the video.
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A post shared by Jeevika Tyagi (@jeevikatyagi)
Few days ago, Jeevika had penned a long post about her experience on Shark Tank India and had said she shot for the episode for two hours but wasn’t aware it would be “packaged into just a 10 minute episode.”
“Standing strong in front of the camera with my most vulnerable self. A new mom, a business, a flight that I had to take from Delhi because of some major family emergency leaving my kid behind. Not once, was I asked about me but was indirectly pushed to bring out my baggage. 🧳 I was pushed to give back, say something or at least shed a tear. Honestly, it was humiliating. I did shed tears deep inside. But in that moment, I was clear. This is not me.
“Bringing some drama so they choose to air us, is not me! We have nurtured and given everything too- including our personal finances, family commitments with pure hard work & honesty. I just didn’t want to use a PR machinery to talk about my family struggles. Anyways, that’s a personal choice. So just answering a very simple question. How was our ‘Shark Tank’ experience? Oh it was magical for the brand #aastey. 🤩🫰🏻 How was my personal experience? 😶 A choice all good #entrepreneurs know they don’t have! The brand & you become the same people, as you live it, day in & out. So I have no words to express my experience,” her long post read.
The co-founder also took another jibe at the banner of the episode–financial indiscipline–and said having worked with OTT, she loved the creative behind it. “It’s their job. They did their best. 🤩💯The responsibility for providing the content came on the sharks and us,” she concluded.
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