Shark Tank India 4: Ritesh Agarwal gets into a debate with Anupam Mittal after the former offers investment to a social media startup; says 'Aap ne deal toh diya nahi....'

The latest episode of Shark Tank India season 4 started with with a platform Medial, founded by four young entrepreneurs. Designed as an alternative social media space, it specifically caters to the dynamic world of start-ups. Aishwarya Raj Pandey, Harsh Dwivedi, Niket Raj Dwivedi and Prateek Kaien, the founders shared that Medial is a professional social media platform for young professionals. It offers professional advice and validate ideas and users can interact anonymously or with real identity on the platform. The platform also provides compiled updates on Startups, Tech and others from news engine. Medial has 75,000 plus users on the platform. Their ask is Rs 50 lakhs for 1 percent of Equity.
After the founders finished their pitch, Kunal Bahl called Medial 'feature factory'. He accused the makers of lifting features from different social media platforms. "Jahan jahan koi accha feature dekha, thoda sa Twitter bhi bana diya, thoda sa Google News bhi bana diya, thoda sa aapne LinkedIn bhi bana diya, thoda sa aapne Github bhi bana diya, thoda sa aapne Kickstarter bhi bana diya. Because joh Engineering mindset se founders aate hain na unko lagta hai ye bhi accha hai ye bhi accha hai. Kitna accha hoga agar hum ye saare features ek he product mein daal dein. So the usage will be the cumulative of all these products. But it doesn't happen this way because then you are not able to make a proper positioning of your product in an user's mind."
Ritesh Agarwal inquired about the platform's power users, to which one of the founders responded by highlighting a steady growth in user engagement, primarily driven by paid user acquisitions. Anupam Mittal interrupted them and said, "Aap agar incentivize karoge na logon ko, referrals lane ke liye, 1.2 kya, aap uske bhi agey pahonch jaoge. Aap baat ghumaiye maat, don't switch the narrative (If you start incentivizing people to bring in referrals, not just 1.2, you'll go way beyond that. Don't twist your words)."
Anupam further cross questions the founders about Medial and it's strength. As the founder continues explaining, Kunal Bahl cuts in, saying, "If the answer is no, just say no." Meanwhile, as the pitchers discuss their retention rate, Amit Mittal appears visibly disinterested.
They went on to share that they initially launched a section where budding entrepreneurs could pitch their ideas, receiving an overwhelming response from users. Hearing this, Kunal Bahl suggested, "Yahi kar lo phir. India ka Product Hunt ban jao (Then just focus on this—become India's Product Hunt)." He then elaborated on how new social media platforms differentiate themselves from existing ones.
The pitchers explained that they are currently experimenting with various features on the platform and are still in the testing phase. They added that once they identify the right metric, they will commit to it. They also mentioned that they had successfully raised funds last year.
After hearing their numbers and statistics for previous years, Anupam questioned them, saying, "Bhai, aap kar kya rahe ho yaar? Mere ko toh kuch samajh he nahi aaraha. Honestly, this feels like a bit of a joke. Business nahi hai, traction nahi hai, micro-use case nahi hai, power use case nahi hai, atomic network nahi hai. Abhi ye joh social networks ki template hai na how to build them aapko toh wohi nahi pata hai. (There’s no business, no solid product, no traction, and no strong use case). You’re trying to be LinkedIn, Twitter, and everything else at the same time. Main do-teen cheez poochta hoon aapse jawan dena, kyunki main joh bhi poochta hoon ghuma dete ho aap. Aur aap tukka maar rahe ho ke kahin se aapko funding mil jaaye. Because I'm not even clear why you've come here."
He further asks them about their purpose of being on the show. Hearing their answer he gets frustrated and he stated that they are on the show for marketing. He also highlights that their problem is market fit. Other Sharks also don't look convinced and Kunal Bahl says, "Mujhe lagta hai aapko product bananna kuch hai aur ban kuch aur raha hai. Bahot founders ke saath hota hai, shayad early days mein mere saath bhi hua hai. Focus on what is working and grow that."
Namita, Kunal, Anupam give them their feedback and they back out. Ritesh on the other hand offers them a deal with a few conditions. He offers them Rs 50 lakhs for 2.5 percent Equity. His condition offer is that Medial will have to position as the 'Startup showcase App'. During Aman's turn, he questions founders intention of changing their dream product for money or fund.
Anupam slams the founders and says, "Bhai aapne apna product bhi aggregate karke banaya aur aap product roadmap bhi sabka advice leke aggregate karke bana rahe hain. I don't think you can build anything my friend." Aman agrees with Anupam on his views. He also backsout. The founders accept Ritesh's offer and as the Shark signs the cheque, he gets into a debate with Anupam Mittal over the investment. Anupam questions the founders about their intentions and Ritesh suggest him to let him offer the cheque. He says, "Main ek baat cheque de deta hoon phir aap question kar lo, aap ne deal diya nahi unko."
Anupama retaliates, "This is not the event that had happened that I could ask them the question. Would it make sense if I'd asked them in the beginning."
Ignoring Anupam's question, Ritesh and the founders pose for photos. Ritesh even says, "Humare tank waalon ko sabko leke aayenge hum." Aman responds, "Nahi bhai main nahi aaunga." Ritesh taunts, "Ye startup nahi hai, joh aate hain unko hum leke aayenge." Aman says, "Nahi bhai hum bhi startup hain." Despite Anupam’s criticism, Ritesh chose to ignore his concerns, congratulated the founders, and wished them success.
In his interaction, Anupam says that he doesn't think the founders can win as they lack having a winners approach. He mentions that winners listen to everyone but they are not so quick to change their models and also they don't agree to everyone.