Anupam Mittal admits ego was hurt when Ashneer Grover undermined him on Shark Tank saying ‘he built 1 brand, I built 3’

Shaadi.com founder and CEO Anupam Mittal admitted that it hurt his ego when BharatPe co-founder and managing director Ashneer Grover undermined him on Shark Tank India. In one of the episodes, Ashneer tried to sway a contestant to choose his offer over Anupam’s and said that he had more experience building brands.

“Isne ek brand banaya, maine do brand banaye. Maine BharatPe bhi banaya, maine PostPe bhi banaya, pehle maine Grofers bhi banaya, toh brand ki toh baat mat karo mere se (He built just one brand, whereas I built BharatPe, PostPe and before that, I built Grofers. So don’t try to teach me about building a brand),” Ashneer had said.

During an interview with Siddharth Kannan, Anupam was asked if the comment hurt his ego. “See, if I say no, I will be lying. Ego is a part of your normal reaction. If someone says something to you, you are bound to react. How you act on your reaction depends on you. You might feel, ‘How could he say this?’ But you need to understand if it is your ego, intellect, emotion or conditioning speaking. These four are very different things. Over time, I have learnt that. I analyse carefully,” he said in Hindi.

“After a minute, I understood that there is a difference between building a brand and advertising. I told him on the show, ‘Anyone can spend on advertising. When your brand is known in every home for 15-20 years, that is an achievement. Talk to me once you build that.’ I said it on the show, I am not saying it behind his back. When you tell yourself that, you understand, ‘People will tell you anything to feel better, it doesn’t mean…’ You can only be put down if you allow yourself to be put down. I don’t give anybody that privilege,” he added.

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However, Anupam said that the exchange did not ruin his relationship with Ashneer, whom he called ‘one of (his) favourites’.

Shark Tank India features budding entrepreneurs pitching their business ideas to a panel of ‘sharks’ and seeking their investment. Sometimes, if multiple ‘sharks’ are interested in a business, it sparks a bidding war between them.