Shark Tank India 3 is once again in the news after a pitcher came forward to show how her pitch had been used as a PR move and that Peyush Bansal, one of the judges at the show was the worst among all the judges.
Saumya Mishra, the founder of beauty and skincare startup Avataar Skincare Technologies came to Shark Tank India’s third season to give a pitch, however, her experience was extremely unpleasant with most of the judges giving very negative feedback to her.
Anupam Mittal said to her “Thodi si arrogance nazar aa rhi hai” while Vineeta Singh reportedly did not like a comment Saumya made about her clients and Peyush Bansal called Mishra out for getting defensive over the judges’ remarks.
The entire experience got so bad Mishra ended up in tears while on stage and Bansal went up to console her, a gesture that earned him praise from the audience. However, Mishra alleges that it was all for show and that her actual experience was much worse than what was shown.
What Did The Shark Tank India Pitcher Say?
Saumya Mishra in an exclusive interview with Times Of India revealed how everything had been taken out of context in the edited version and she was being used as a PR move by Bansal to better his own image.
She explained that the term ‘ladki’ that the Bansal supposedly took offence to had not been used in the way the episode made it out to be and that she was just using the phrases her client had used.
Mishra, speaking with TOI said “Whenever I tried to explain something, they were catching certain words and hammering them. Peyush used the word ‘ladki’, I never said that, you can see the episode and unedited version. All I said was that ‘client ko lagta hai jo bhi ladki mera kare woh trained ho.’ I always referred to our therapists as therapists, I was just putting the client’s version and it was just the phrase. Peyush just hung on to it and I think it was a very smart attempt to build his own PR.”
She also commented while in the episode Bansal consoled her, according to her this was a strategic move to better his own image.
Mishra stated how “In the episode, it seems like Peyush was very sweet as he came and consoled me but he was the worst of all. When I put my point of view and they saw that I was completely broken down.
Just to bolden their image, he comes and says ‘main toh aapko feedback de raha tha’ and all of that. But all that Peyush was doing all this while was to build his own brand at the cost of my image.”
Read More: Shark Tank India Season 1 Startups Secure 6x Greater Deals From Outside Investors Than On Show
Mittal had called her ‘arrogant’ when she did not appreciate being compared with other brands and Mishra tried to explain that “All the points that I told about the machine technology, the way we control the process, the way we utilize tech and AI, I was told that ‘yeh toh koi bhi kar lega’, ‘ismein toh koi bhi differentiation nahi hai’ and that went on for a good 30-40 mins. I was alone and I was trying to convey my point but it wasn’t been taken. There was a lot of pushback from all 5 of the sharks.”
She explained how after an hour into the pitch she had given up because she could the Sharks were not understanding her vision and how her words were being twisted into something she did not mean and hammering her with it.
She also said how “It all became about my character” and that “I was reduced to someone who was arrogant and who downgrades people who can’t speak a particular language or who doesn’t respect their employee.”
Mishra further commented on the judges saying “Even when Anupam said ‘thoda arrogance dikh raha hai aap mein’ media took it in a different light, in fact, Anupam was the most sane person. Vineeta also said a lot that didn’t come in the episode. For 10 mins she kept on and on to belittle.
She stated that I was playing personas and all, wherein that was a part of my pitch and all those characters were inspired from Bollywood, I didn’t target anyone or mock them. Just because, they weren’t having any counter about my business, they kept harping on my personality and I got really affected because of that.”
She did have good things to say for Anupam and Aman Gupta, clarifying that she didn’t cry because of Anupam, since it was only he and Aman who were actually asking about her vision and business whereas Bansal and Vineeta were not letting her speak.
She added “I would never like to meet Vineeta and Peyush after all of this. I had such a harrowing experience with them.”
She commented on how it felt more like a Roadies audition saying “I think all the Sharks now want to become like Ashneer. They want to be rude, one of them has an exponential following and publicity than the others… If you want to run Roadies, then bring in fake founders, you will find such people or tell them what they are signing up for. One shouldn’t degrade someone so much just for the TRP.”
Image Credits: Google Images
Feature image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: Moneycontrol, The Indian Express, Times of India
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This post is tagged under: Peyush Bansal, Shark Tank India, Shark Tank India 3, Shark Tank India 3 Peyush Bansal, Shark Tank India 3 pitcher, Shark Tank India judge, Shark Tank India Peyush Bansal, Shark Tank India Pitch, Shark Tank India 3 Saumya Mishra, Saumya Mishra interview, Saumya Mishra avataar skincare
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