On Shark Tank India, Amit Jain encouraged a founder duo to stop putting more time in their business, and start viewing it as a hobby instead.
A husband-wife duo of entrepreneurs appeared on Shark Tank India to pitch Road Pilot, an app through which truck owners and drivers can connect for jobs. They said that as fleet owners themselves, they’ve faced lakhs in losses in months that they haven’t been able to secure drivers. They said that around 7 lakh drivers are looking for jobs across the country, but aren’t able to because of proper infrastructure. The entrepreneurs asked for Rs 80 lakh in exchange of 5% equity, valuing their company at Rs 16 crore.
After a quick presentation of the app’s user interface, the founders fielded a barrage of questions from the five sharks – Aman Gupta, Vineeta Singh, Namita Thapar, Anupam Mittal and Amit Jain. Aman was the first to ask how truck owners can trust random strangers with their property and goods. “In this industry, people normally have associations that they reach out to, and there they have preferred drivers. How can you trust an unknown person with your truck? It’s a big deal,” he said, and the founders said that to combat this, they ask for a police verification and stamped document from a village elder to assert the driver’s identity.
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Also read – Shark Tank India: Anupam Mittal warns ambitious founders about Reliance’s domination in their industry, says Rs 1 crore is too less an ask
This prompted Vineeta to put forth her questions and concerns. She asked who is paying for these documents, and the founders said that it is the driver’s responsibility to submit verification. “I’ve run a background verification business before… Drivers can easily forge these documents, which is why companies prefer doing it themselves,” she said.
Aman was the first to bow out of the deal. He said that the founders haven’t yet realised that they don’t have a product-market fit, and building trust is going to be a big issue. “If there’s ever any problem, you could be blamed for it,” he said, and Vineeta added that they need at least 1 lakh truck drivers onboard before they can consider looking for funding. They currently just have under 3000 drivers registered. To illustrate why this business isn’t taking off, Amit Jain asked, “You’re earning around Rs 70000 per month from truck drivers, do you know what your per-driver monetisation is?” While Amit waited for an answer, Aman joked, “Why don’t you tell them yourself.”
Amit bowed out with some advice. He said, “Aap business ko brake maaro. Pehle market dekho, market exist hi nahi karta (Pump the brakes on this business and understand that the market for it doesn’t exist). This could be your passion or hobby, but it won’t be an investable business.” The founders walked away empty handed.
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First uploaded on: 10-04-2024 at 11:31 IST
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