Shark Tank India: Vineeta Singh Critiques Teenage Entrepreneur’s Pitch on Memotag
SUGAR Cosmetics co-founder and CEO Vineeta Singh expressed her frustration during a recent episode of Shark Tank India season 4’s campus special when a teenage entrepreneur pitched his business idea. Reyansh Juneja presented Memotag, a venture aimed at assisting numerous patients dealing with dementia.
Innovation in Dementia Care with Memotag
The innovative product not only anticipates behaviour patterns of dementia patients but also has the capacity to notify family members if a patient experiences a fall. Additionally, it establishes a geo-fenced area to prevent patients from wandering beyond a designated boundary.
Motivation Behind Memotag
Reyansh shared with the ‘sharks’ that his inspiration for creating this product stemmed from observing the difficulties his grandfather faced due to dementia. He highlighted that Memotag is also capable of sending reminders and making phone calls to patients, hence improving communication.
Investment Proposal for Memotag
The teenager sought an investment of ₹50 lakh in exchange for a 5 per cent stake in his venture, placing a valuation of ₹10 crore on the business.
Challenges During the Pitch
Despite his enthusiasm, Reyansh admitted that his product was still under development, and he was unable to showcase its functionality. Instead, he displayed a prototype that was not fully operational.
Reactions from the Sharks
Shaadi.com founder Anupam Mittal and Emcure Pharmaceuticals executive director Namita Thapar expressed their disappointment with Reyansh’s presentation. Thapar particularly advised him to refine the product further before seeking investment.
During the pitch, Reyansh claimed he had orders amounting to ~₹5 crore, yet it was later revealed that no funds had been transferred to his account. Other sharks, Kunal Bahl and Ritesh Agarwal, also refrained from investing, suggesting that Reyansh be better prepared and focused in his role as a founder.
Vineeta Singh’s Insights
Regardless of Reyansh’s age, Singh expressed her candid feedback regarding his pitch. She remarked that she found his presentation to be the “most disappointing” in the campus special episode.
Vineeta Singh further added, “The fact that your product is at zero, and you’re cooking up so many stories around it to cover it up, makes it very difficult to trust you as a founder. You’ve created an appealing package with excellent branding, but it lacks substance. It’s a firm no.”
Lessons Learned
Though Reyansh left without securing a deal, he reflected that he gained a valuable ‘reality check’ from his experience on the show.
