Shark Tank India: Ashneer Grover on why he chose to be brutally honest on the show

Grover had become popular for his unfiltered, straightforward comments on pitches, made by contestants

Shark Tank India’s Ashneer Grover made a name for himself as the most ‘ferocious shark in the tank’, his trademark being his brutally honest opinions of the contestant’s pitches on the show. But there seem to be particular reasons as to why the businessman chose not to adopt a kinder approach to giving his feedback.

In a conversation with Raj Shamani, Grover said that part of it came from his father, who used to say that it was always better to say things straight and let the listener decide whether it’s good or bad. Grover also opened up about his own experience as a businessman, saying that while building a business, if one was dishonest with oneself, it would take less than a week for competition to catch up and ruin you. So his brutal honesty came from within, and he made sure he extended that to his teams and investors as well.

The businessman said that in the last four years, he was able to build multi-billion-dollar businesses because he was honest with himself. He said that while he was pitching to investors, he had to hear the word ‘no’ many times, and there were very few people who gave him a straightforward ‘no’ and would try to let him down easy. During those times, he said that he would have appreciated a simple and straightforward answer.

So before he went on the show, he had asked himself what kind of ‘value’ he would like to bring to it, and it was his logic and straightforwardness. He said he could not indulge in diplomacy, calling a pitch good and then choosing not to invest in it himself. It would then feel like he is contradicting himself, he added.

Shark Tank India can be streamed on SonyLIV.

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