actress balika vadhu Neha Marda recently appeared in Shark Tank India 5 along with his brother Sumit Marda, presenting their brand Phitku. Phitku is a deodorant stick made from refined alum, and came about as an idea after Neha struggled with body odor following her pregnancy. In the tank, Neha, Sumit and their partner Rahul asked for an investment of Rs 1.8 crore for 1 per cent equity. While they got this deal, it came with the condition of paying triple royalties, which is Rs 5.4 crore, to Aman Gupta and Anupam Mittal. Now, in an exclusive interview with SCREEN, Neha and Sumit expressed their disappointment over their edited proposal and also reflected on this decision to pay royalties.
Talking about her experience with Shark Tank India, Neha said, “It was like turning 10th board and 12th board exam at the same time. I have received money from many producers, but I have never pitched my business to investors.” Sumit added, “I have pitched to several investors in the past, but it was different here. Just by talking to investors, the entire ecosystem changes; There is makeup, lights and five sharks shoot questions at you simultaneously, and as you finish answering one, the next arrives. “I have received money from many investors, but this was different.”
On Amit Jain instructing them for showing inflated income
During the presentation, Amit Jain was seen irritated after learning that the founders revealed profitable revenue with GST added in the valuation. Upon hearing this, he became irritated and asked if they were doing it just to increase his rating. Talking about Amit’s reactions, Sumit said, “It’s the normal way we use to present, where we share the gross figures first and then share the net income. Amit had some confusion whether GST is added to the gross income or not, which we clarified during the presentation and he was convinced. But of course, the format of the show is such that our 90-120 minute discussion is shown in 20 minutes, and the editing happens in such a way that it creates curiosity.”
Expressing disappointment over the edited episode of Shark Tank India, Neha Marda said, “The episode felt like a daily soap opera broadcast that I could tune into. We were in the tank for almost two hours, and what you saw was 17 to 20 minutes. So even though this incident seems so big that the Sharks raised so many questions, there was never that much discussion. The part where they understood was not aired.” Sumit also added, “This was the first time I experienced how music and editing can make a big difference in a soap. When we watched the episode, we also thought, ohh, what will happen next?”
Neha continued, “Right before the ad came out, we felt like we weren’t going to get the deal, and I was wondering what happened, because we didn’t feel that way for a moment. We thought from the beginning that we were going to get the deal.” Sumit added: “Amit’s questions were genuine, and if two top Sharks invested in the business, of course it was made clear why they invested. But yes, it was over-dramatized which was not the case.”
‘The business has multiplied by five’
Sharing his views on whether paying triple royalties was a fair demand from Anupam and Aman, Sumit said, “Different people see it differently. Our negotiations lasted between 15 and 20 minutes. That’s not shown; it was one of the longest negotiations we had. We wanted the Sharks on board to help us take the brand to the next level. We wanted people who have done successful businesses, so we considered the royalties as a consultancy fee. And since we are extremely profitable, giving royalties is not such a big task “Pain as a donation of equity. 1 percent of that amount is worth more than a few million rupees in cash. We are giving it as consulting fees to the Sharks so that we are very clear about what we were doing.
Sharing how his business grew 5x immediately after the episode, Sumit said, “Before Shark Tank India, we were doing business of Rs 7 lakhs per day, which is around Rs 2.1 crore gross per month. Right now, we are doing Rs 35 lakhs per day, so the growth is 5 times. But we are seeing this as an immediate effect of Shark Tank India. How many days will it last? We don’t know. But the challenge is to continue like this for a long time. “We always knew there would be a 3-5x increase after the show, but it’s important how we take advantage of that and get the maximum benefit. We are also going to close a fund worth 2 or 3 million, so many things are working for us.”
Sumit also shared how Aman and Anupam have been constantly in touch with them. While they are yet to meet Aman, their meeting with Anupam is scheduled for Bombay next week.
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Before signing off, Neha also shared that switching from acting to entrepreneurship was easy. She shared, “It was not an easy decision to make, being an entrepreneur was not my vision. This was not my plan, I never wanted to be an actor, and suddenly God made acting my career. When I started acting, I was 17, I did not know how to act as a lead heroine, eventually I learned, and today I have 27 best actress awards. Also with business, I am learning every day. I have not completely moved away from the industry, I have always been an actor. This is just a part of life.”