Season 3 of Shark Tank India kicked off on January 22. Joining the bandwagon of investors, also known as 'sharks', this season that is streaming on SonyLIV, is OYO founder-CEO Ritesh Agarwal.

About a decade ago, Agarwal, now 30, hit pay dirt with his big idea of building a budget hotel chain by utilising leased and franchised hotels, homes and other living spaces and he does make for a perfect fit with the Indian version of the superhit American show that sees aspiring entrepreneurs pitch their business models to a panel of investors and persuade them to invest money in their idea. A t2 chat with Ritesh.

Shark Tank India is a phenomenon. What were the primary reasons for you to want to be a part of the show?

You are right. Shark Tank (India) has reached crores of living rooms. Entire families, including my own, watch the show together and it has become a very exciting thing to discuss startups, what is a dilution, equity stakes and so on.

Two big reasons inspired me to be a part of Shark Tank 3. The first one is that Shark Tank and entrepreneurship have become more or less synonymous. Beyond my work with OYO, I try and meet entrepreneurs and founders and engage with them. Recently, I was in Calcutta and I met some young entrepreneurs. It was amazing that all of them interchangeably used the words 'Shark Tank' and 'entrepreneurship'. I felt Shark Tank India allowed me an opportunity to be able to support a lot more startups to be successful.

When I started my entrepreneurship journey, there was nothing like Shark Tank. One had to figure it out oneself. However, some founders were willing to help me. So I always thought how can I try and support other founders? I grew up in a small town called Rayagada, on the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border. I had this thing in my heart that small-town girls and boys can build large, global companies, and if there is any way in which I can support them, I would love to.

So Shark Tank provided me with a platform to be able to meet founders from the smallest towns in the country and to support them to make sure that they can be successful.

Did you see a little bit of yourself in at least a few of those you met on Shark Tank India?

I saw a lot of myself in all of them, there was something to connect to. Either somebody was very young and was struggling in the early days or somebody came from a small town and was trying to learn business jargon or somebody had failed a couple of times but was not willing to give up. Everybody's story, in some way, I could relate to.

Also, they may be in a situation similar to what I had been in, but I felt that they were probably doing much better than I did. So I think that they will possibly be equally or more successful in the future.

I met this founder who was from the Northeast, and was going through substantial challenges but found a way to get through. A lady left her village for the first time to come to Shark Tank India. She was running a business that generated crores and she had started her company after the age of 50. So the fight that exists in small-town India was very inspiring for me.

Had you watched the previous editions of the show and also the original version?

If you are a founder, it is impossible to not have watched Shark Tank in the US. In India, you have to be living under a rock to miss all the social media updates that keep coming out of the show. Also, as I said, we watch it together as a family and at the end of a pitch, everybody likes to pause and discuss and ask: 'What did you think? Do you think that the investment should have happened?' With me and my wife Geetanshi, there are two entrepreneurs in the family and it has been exciting for us to have these discussions.

In the first two seasons, the first person who got onto the Shark Tank bandwagon in the family was my mom. She started watching it and told us why we should watch it and then we watched it together sometimes. That is how it became a thing.

Irrespective of their big idea or their manner of pitching it to you, is there something that binds all the entrepreneurs that you have met on Shark Tank India also far?

One thing that binds everybody together is that when challenges come or when failures stare them in their face, they never give up. They always find some way to come back and fight back. I think that is the one story we will see consistently.

This is a bit of a generalisation, but what for you goes into the making of a perfect pitch?

Because these companies are so early (in their journey), I believe that the founder matters more than the startup. The startup can evolve. I like to understand who the founder as an individual is, what they care about and what are they passionate about. A company, especially in its early days, is an embodiment of the founder.

Also, it is important to understand what problem they are solving. Startups are unique in that they are designed to solve a tough problem. So I am interested in hearing that.

In Shark Tank, people discuss numbers a lot — unit economics, profits or losses.... It is important from a number perspective, but what is more important to understand is how much grasp the founders have over their businesses and their details.

And the last thing, but probably the most important, is vulnerability. Even the biggest companies are not perfect. They also have areas of improvement. I think being able to say that certain things are not working and that one has a problem, is very important. The more one can be open about it, it allows people to help them and support them.

Since you have been a keen follower of Shark Tank India, have any ideas had a big impact on you?

One of them was a very popular one. It was the one with the Skippi Ice Pops. It was a product which was so simple, so much a part of normal life, but people so easily forget the existence of something like that in terms of their everyday impact.

In the first season, there was a company which did rural tourism and rural homestays. I relate to that idea a lot because I feel there are some incredible places to visit in our villages.

Would it be fair to say that the best ideas are the simplest ones?

I believe so. Not only are the best ideas the simplest ones, but simple ideas are also the hardest.

OYO is a success story like few others. What is that one thing that has made OYO what it is today?

I will come to one specific answer but the many reasons could include the love of the communities, people, the love of our team members, our hotel owners or patrons, customers and many other things.

One of the reasons is that the 'OYOpreneurs' and myself, all of us show up every day. Even when it was Covid, we showed up. It is a great time for tourism today and we have shown up. It is a great year in business, we show up. It has been a terrible year and the results may not have been that good, but we still show up. No matter whether you are having a great time or a tough time, you always show up with equal or more excitement. And that is what I think makes a difference. For the last three months, I have been on my fitness journey and I have seen that the only secret to success even there is showing up every day.

I am a fan of Shark Tank India because... Tell t2@abp.in