Shark Tank Season 2: Wife of Flatheads co-founder pens emotional note after contestant refused funds

A few days after Flatheads Shoes' co-founder Ganesh Balakrishnan declined a lucrative investment offer by the judges of business reality show Shark Tank India, season 2, his wife Anuradha Pasupathy penned an emotional note on LinkedIn.

"When Ganesh decided to leave his corporate job and [open a] start-up on his own, I had my own apprehensions about how this will work. It is very difficult to do a start-up in India, it needs a very strong, resilient mind," Pasupathy wrote.

She added that there were doubts about dealing with the rigours of entrepreneurship.

"But even with all these doubts, I still had belief in him. He is a fighter, who is determined to make a dent in the universe," she stated.

Pasupathy further went on to add, "When we watched the Shark Tank episode, I didn't cry. Because all these hardships have only made me stronger and more determined myself, and I know this is just another storm that we can sail through despite the odds."

Not just his wife, even 'sharks' Vineeta Singh and Aman Gupta too appreciated Balakrishnan's courage to reject the offer.

“It takes real guts to say no to a great funding offer on national TV to restart and recalibrate. I hope he is on to something huge soon. Massive respect and he will be back with a bang,” Gupta had written on LinkedIn a week back.

"I don’t have words to describe the courage, clarity and honesty of the entrepreneur who under the glare of 14 cameras is able to make the choice to be a better provider for his family rather than continuing to go after his dream!," Singh had tweeted.

For the unversed, Balakrishnan pitched his company before the sharks. However, he broke down in the middle and revealed that if he was unable to raise funding, he would have to shut the business down as the runaway cash was almost over. Flatheads makes shoes which are sustainable and environment-friendly. The company, which was started in 2019, managed to amass about 20,000 customers despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aman Gupta, who is the co-founder and CMO of the electronics company boAt, said that his basics were not in place and declined to invest in the company along with the others. However, Peyush Bansal, the CEO of Lenskart, and Vineeta Singh, the CEO of SUGAR, rolled out an offer to him but Balakrishnan refused saying he wanted to re-evaluate his actions.

However, after the show was aired, the entrepreneur claimed that the company almost sold out its entire inventory in India.

“We've almost sold out our inventory in India, so pardon us if you aren't able to find your size on www.flatheads.in. Would be amazing if you can tell your friends in the US and UAE to try our shoes,” he wrote on LinkedIn.

Also Read: Shark Tank India Season 2: Delhi-based start-up Primebook bags Rs 75 lakh funding from Peyush Bansal, Aman Gupta