What started as one of the crucial warmly acquired pitches on Shark Tank India Season 5 shortly changed into a second of sharp disappointment, as Anupam Mittal brazenly referred to as out the founders of Pista Barfi for what he felt was a scarcity of seriousness in constructing a scalable enterprise.
Based by Tanay Agrawal and Harshit Agrawal, Pista Barfi pitched itself as a contemporary tackle conventional Indian mithai—straightforward to hold, portion-friendly, and designed for as we speak’s customers.
The pitch initially gained over the panel, with Vineeta Singh describing the model because the “brandification of halwai ki dukaan.”
The Sharks have been visibly impressed with the style and packaging, repeatedly praising how the model solved a long-standing downside within the mithai class—inconvenience. Anupam Mittal himself acknowledged this early on, saying, “Nice innovation, and also you’ve accomplished nice type issue.”
Nonetheless, the tone of the dialog shifted when the dialogue moved from product to execution and founder dedication. Varun Alagh suggested the founders to discover fast commerce, stating, “As a every day consumption and cloud kitchen, try to be on fast commerce, and that’s the place nearly all of customers seek for their every day meals.”
When it emerged that Harshit Agrawal was not working full-time on the enterprise and was unwilling to go away his manufacturing profession, Varun selected to choose out of the deal.
The priority was echoed by Kunal Bahl, who warned the founders that good merchandise alone don’t construct enduring corporations. “For any enterprise to develop, it’s not simply product, it’s momentum. It needs to be founders who carry the depth and really feel the ache of constructing one thing,” he stated.
The pitch ended on a visibly tense word, with Anupam Mittal expressing open frustration: “I’m extraordinarily disenchanted. This isn’t a strategy to construct an ideal enterprise, and you can’t see the gold mine proper right here in entrance of you.”
Regardless of regular income development, wholesome margins, and robust model attraction, Pista Barfi exited the Tank with out securing an funding.