Pulkit Ahuja, founder and CEO, Proxgy spoke to The Daily Guardian about his Shark Tank India experience, plans to allocate the funds received and expansion plans.
Q: How do you look back at your Shark Tank India journey?
Well, the entire journey was an enriching and a learning experience. Right from the initial application to the final pitch in the tank, the pressure of making it and getting a deal kept piling up. But when you go through each phase and meet fellow entrepreneurs sailing the same boat there is a lot to learn throughout the journey.
The application process had 5 rounds. The first round was a written form filling round wherein the very basic details of the idea were asked. There were around 60,000 companies that had applied in the 1st round.
The shortlisted companies of the first round made their way to the second round. This took around two months. In the second round, we were asked the granular details of the business model along with the key metrics, IPR etc.
After around a month’s time, shortlisted companies of the second round were informed and we were asked to make a 3-minute video shot by the company’s founders detailing the business, showcasing the product and including the elevator pitch. This round was basically to test the screen presence, confidence and communication skills.
After almost two months the shortlists of the 4th round were announced wherein we were required to go and does a demo pitch to the Shark Tank VC team at the Welcome Hotel, Dwarka. The demo pitch was being recorded and lasted for almost an hour.
From the initial 60,000 companies, only 198 companies were shortlisted for the final 5th round which took place in Goregaon Film City, Mumbai.
These 198 companies got to present their startups in front of the Sharks and out of which 67 companies got funded. Proxgy was one of the highest funded companies of these 67 companies.
Q: What were your expectations from the Sharks before entering the show?
Actually, we went in without any expectation from the sharks in particular, except for that of a deal. We just wanted to do justice to our product and present it in the best way possible and get some honest feedback from the sharks.
The entire team had been a very ardent fan of the Shark Tank show in the US and thus the name meant a lot to us, so instead of getting bogged down with the weight of our own expectations, we decided to just go and have some fun.
Q: What are your expansion plans for the next five years? How do you plan to allocate the funds received?
We want to be the leaders in the Industrial IoT domain globally for which we will keep innovating and developing better solutions for problems faced by Industries. The funds majorly would be allocated to innovation and product deliveries.
Q: What are your biggest takeaways and learning from the show?
The exposure we got has to be our biggest takeaway apart from the Sharks that we got on board. The entire show taught us a lot about product-market fit. The interest started building up since the screening and it’s still rising. We have had interest not only from Indian institutional clients but also from some major global players.
The undivided attention and feedback we got from the sharks and their inputs on the business front were definitely a value add.
Q: Any tips you want to give to the upcoming wannapreneurs?
Persistence is the key. As a wannapreneur, you are bound to face a lot of rejections but the entrepreneurial way of life would require you to keep moving forward and stick to your goals even if no one else believes in them. Sooner or later, if you are persistent enough, you could get your fair chance to prove to the World that you were right and the struggles were worth it.
