Shark Tank India 4: Vineeta Singh warns electric cycle pitchers about facing government-related hassles in their business model; they claim to have no losses yet
Shark Tank India's fourth season has already seen a number of dramatic pitches in less than a week, but there is always an opportunity for anticlimaxes. Zubair and Yameen, two young Kashmiri entrepreneurs , pitched their sustainable e-bike business Curve Electric to a panel of 'sharks' that comprised Anupam Mittal, Vineeta Singh, Aman Gupta, Peyush Bansal, and newcomer Kunal Bahl. While all of the 'sharks' were pleased by the entrepreneur's determination and ambition, they couldn't find clear evidence of their idea's scalability. Yameen and Zubair requested Rs 50 lakh in exchange for 5% interest in their company.
They stated that they now operate in Kashmir but intend to extend to numerous other alpine towns, including Shimla and Mussoorie. They also announced plans to expand into college campuses across the country, claiming that there are 1,400 such schools that they can acquire. The entrepreneurs stated that they designed their own bikes and required no app downloads or security payments from their consumers. Peyush was highly amazed by the entrepreneurs' capacity to resolve all onboarding issues that consumers may have.
However, Aman was curious if consumers had attempted to steal motorcycles because they did not have to make any payments in advance. Yameen said that in their two years of operation, there had been no thefts or damage to their motorcycles. They operate solely on faith and have discovered that clients are generally honest. This information caught all of the 'sharks' off guard. However, they all agreed that the notion lacked scalability.
Vineeta further explained, “There is a little complexity here. There is a lot of dependence on governments, and from what I’ve seen in all the other companies, the setting that you have to do with governments and local bodies, it becomes a make-or-break situation. Your expansion will not depend on your ambition, it will depend on where you get the local support.” Yameen nodded in agreement, stating that they have not yet experienced any losses and have already raised a round of financing, valuing their company at Rs 8.5 crore.
However, none of the 'sharks' could discover a reasonable way out of the dilemma. Aman stated that the market is now too tiny, while Kunal noted that difficulties will only worsen as they grow into additional cities. Each of them pulled out of the transaction, but Peyush sent the founders off on a high note. Addressing Yameen, he continued, "It's like gazing in the mirror; you're me. You're stating everything I would've said ten years ago. I haven't seen such a deep customer-focused passion on Shark Tank in four years. In the end, the two entrepreneurs left with no contract but plenty of well wishes.