“How to Prepare for Shark Tank Rounds”
Yes, this is the question we get asked the most. While there’s no sure-shot formula here are a few things that helped us prepare.
1. BE YOURSELF:
My wife, Stuti Sharma and I are the co-founders and our kids Shaurya and Sanskriti have chimed in from day one. After every investor meet, we had a frank conversation that usually revolved around “aapne yeh nahi bola, is baat pe yeh bolna chahiye tha, aise nahi bolna etc. etc. And we made changes and improved our pitches but still got nowhere.Lesson – in our Delhi audition, we were definitely excited and nervous and both of us had our usual bonhomie and behaved as if we were just having a conversation while being recorded.
When we met the team in Mumbai, the first thing they told us was “BE YOURSELF”. “We have seen the Delhi auditions and just have a conversation, pull each other’s leg, and explain Pink Woolf’s concept” they continued.
2. PREPARE, PREPARE, PREPARE:
I have been fortunate to work with Pramod Bhasin and Tiger Tyagarajan, 2 ITES luminaries and I can tell you that the amount of preparation they did was uncanny.
We prepared our pitch in front of video lights and recorded each part. Then examine them, criticise, and improve. And kept doing it till we could say our part with the utmost confidence, humility, and effectiveness. We are talking about 100+ videos…only for the audition round. Take a look at the video snippet.
Then get your numbers right, and the business, and the performance, and the ask…
The point is you’ve got to spend time to perfect each & everything. You may not get it right but the more you prepare, the better chances you have.
3. CREATE A COMPELLING STORYLINE:
We are born and brought up thinking that girls and boys have different skin types and that girls need more pampering than boys. While the girls rejoice with multiple outfits and skin/ hair products, the boys are left to figure out what to use or HOW to shave and hence just tumble along. When Shaurya turned 16, we made a video on How to Shave as most fathers never teach their sons how to shave. Even I learnt how to shave by stealing my father’s razor!
Teaching kids the right way to shave, and use skincare products is as much important as teaching them values, tradition, and culture.
What helped us was that our story is true and drawn from real-life experiences, so we didn’t have a script.
Stay tuned for more. We are now past the disappointment of our episode not being aired, but we have a lifetime of memories & lessons that we will share. Our strength is YOU – our customer who has steadfastly supported us. You are our hashtagshark.
Shark Tank India Pink Woolf Nitin Thakur Dhruv Munjal
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