"Didn't change much": Shark Tank India alumni on life post-show

For several brands that appeared on the latest season of Shark Tank India, life after their episode aired has been far from rosy.

With Shark Tank India producer Sony Pictures Networks India serving legal notices and striking down ads that used snippets from the episodes, many brands say their appearance has hurt sales.

"We had to recreate our ads and our ad strategy after Sony force-stopped those ads. I believe I did sharp brand marketing at Shark Tank India—imagine what happens when they take that away from you," said Kanikka Dewanii, Founder of body and skin care products, Mintree, at Brands of India 2024, YourStory's flagship D2C summit.

Organic diaper maker Allter's Surbhi Bafna, when asked whether her brand got a buzz she saw after her episode aired, said, "What buzz?".

"Our episode was aired towards the fag end of the season, and we had to stop all our ads within 15 days after the season ended."

However, featuring on Shark Tank India helped her get noticed by distributors and retailers. Bafna noted that after being featured on TV, distributors and retailers who had, at one point, refused to acknowledge or work with her company, now thought of Allter as a credible brand.

"Sales in our category is a long-term game and that didn't change much after the episode, but we generated trust and respect from trade and distributors, which has been important," she added.

Mintree's Dewanii, too, got on the good side of distributors, saying they started seeing potential in her brand after her episode aired.

For jewellery brand Quirksmith Co-founder Pragya Batra, who sells only through her website and social media, Shark Tank India enabled her to protect her topline.

Batra recalled that she halted advertisements for a month after the episode aired due to an increase in traffic from her social media and website. However, she noted that this increased attention did not convert into meaningful sales.

"The spike didn't make a difference to us," she added.

Clothing and accessories startup Turms Founder Surender S Rajpurohi noted that after the episode featuring his startup aired, the website did see a lot of traction and sales ballooned, but only for certain SKUs (stock-keeping units). He had also anticipated a spike in demand post the episodes after discussions with fellow founders and had braced for managing secondary tasks like packaging and tagging.

"We were ready with a lot of pre-buzz material with influencers as well and they also had content ready to go after the airing, so we were able to leverage the momentum quite well," he added.

All four founders concurred that while the funding they were offered was not meant for growth, the expertise and the learning from the sharks have proven to be an invaluable asset.

"After the episode, boAt Lifestyle's Aman Gupta gave us a long list of things he wanted us to do before we could set up another meeting with him, and that sort of knowledge only comes with having built something of your own," Bafna said.

(The copy was updated to correct an error)