‘No money. No plan. No net’: How Anupam Mittal built online in a country still offline

Shark Tank India judge and entrepreneur Anupam Mittal is challenging conventional wisdom on success—and calling out the gap between ambition and action.

“Most people want 100x returns but play by 1x rules,” Mittal wrote in a recent post on LinkedIn that quickly resonated across India’s startup and creator circles.

Reflecting on his early days post the dot-com bust, Mittal recalled returning to India with “no money, no plan, no safety net.” The advice he got was predictable: get a job, rebuild slowly, play it safe.

Instead, he launched an internet company in a country where “there was no internet.” His firm, People Group, would go on to create platforms like Shaadi.com—well before D2C, dating apps, or e-commerce had any playbook in India.

“The biggest wins usually come from breaking the rules,” he wrote. “Not illegally. Just unapologetically.”

Mittal’s message wasn’t just personal. He pointed to a broader pattern—creators who started before content was cool, founders who launched when the market said “not now,” and brands that chose instinct over instruction.

While he acknowledged that rules serve a purpose—especially early on—his core argument was simple: history favors those who eventually write their own.

“Play it safe rarely makes history,” he concluded.

The post landed at a time when Indian entrepreneurship is at a crossroad—crowded with talent, yet often throttled by fear, red tape, or the pressure to conform. Mittal’s advice? Understand the game. Then choose when to bend it.