ICC Young Leaders Forum recently hosted entrepreneur and investor Ashneer Grover for a talk session on his journey so far at Hyatt Regency Kolkata. The start-up expert was there to talk to the young entrepreneurs of the Young Leaders Forum about business building, cracking a deal with an investor, his general attitude towards building big businesses, the success mantra and moving on in life. Sprinkled with humour and candour, the former shark of Shark Tank India fame made his talk session an entertaining evening for the members while inspiring them by sharing snippets from his own journey in the entrepreneurial world. Excerpts:
Thoughts on Calcutta
I have no connection to Calcutta. I came here two or three times earlier. The first time I came here there was a dharna. I remember that. It is so different from Delhi. There is so much to see but people from the city can’t say. They only suggest Park Street but so much more can be explored in the city. Whenever we think of business, Calcutta doesn’t come to our mind. From an outsider’s perspective, Calcutta comes to mind later. That’s what happened when we launched the QR code (BharatPe) in various cities too. The problem is the city is too intellectual!
Stepping Stones to BharatPe
At Kotak, I got very bored. There’s nothing much to do in a bank. The height of unemployment is banks. I worked in 12 different sectors. But it is brokerage at the end of the day. Then I tried MNC. I joined Grofers out of fun. Then BharatPe happened. I was in finance for too long. Cards don’t work everywhere. If a customer is standing in front of me and I say the card machine is not working, then they give me cash. In India, retail doesn’t have a margin. If there is no payment margin and people can pay without extra money being deducted it would work. That’s how the whole idea of BharatPe came to me. In Paytm, people had to keep their money. Bit scaling and all I knew. The business was growing too fast. I generally enter such sectors where if you don’t grow fast you die. You have to grow like a shark. Paytm was a 16 billion company already. I raised two crores and 18 core valuation. The fear of competition was too much. PhonePe was backed by Flipkart, which was backed by Walmart, Paytm by Alibaba and Google Pay by Google. The top three payment companies. I couldn’t compare with them in capital. My idea was I will grow when they sleep. When they wake up, they can’t kill me. I launched new products every few months. Three years went by in a blur.
The Investor’s ‘No’ in an Entrepreneur’s Journey
They are only saying no and that is no big deal. One of my investors told me that I will die in two months. So, I asked him what will he do if I were alive in the third month. He told me to come and take the cheque. He was an investor from abroad. When I went in the third month, he didn’t know what to say. He told me I will put in 100 million dollars and you can put any valuation till three billion. He didn’t even ask me how much I needed. His assistant thought his boss became mad. Before that, he told me no five times.
Shark Tank Journey and the Investor’s Lens
They told me they will take me to TV and I told them okay. I like fame. I am not reluctantly famous, I am blatantly famous. (Laughs) It looked all glamorous but it was very labour-intensive. If you go on TV either your true personality comes out or you fail…. Someone had pointed out that there is only one true shark there and that is that ‘fat’ guy…I just remembered the word ‘fat’ and lost 12kg! Yes, the TRP has fallen but I don’t take pleasure in others’ failure. I don’t waste time on that. As an investor, we put money behind a person not in the business. The business may change in the next six months but the person’s passion should remain the same.
The ‘Move On’ Attitude
I would have made that three million 30 million. But if someone thinks they can run it better, that’s okay. I could either stay at home and cry or can say chuck it, I will make another one. I am generally like that. I want to move on to the next thing. I am busy with my work in my new company and don’t have time to think about what they are doing.
Family Business and Start-Up
I have seen the family business part of life as well. Fundamentally there is a difference and it is important to acknowledge that difference. At the end of the day, if you can make money from customers, not investors, that is great. I respect family businesses and the way they work.
Pictures: B Halder
