26-year-old Shark Tank India pitcher who flirted with Namita Thapar and sat on the floor to win over ‘Sharks’
Shark Tank India 5 has given a platform to many entrepreneurs and while some have managed to win over the ‘sharks,’ others have failed to make an impact. However, one pitcher stood out this season: 26-year-old entrepreneur Yash Kalra from Kota, who secured an investment of Rs 2 crore for his oats brand, GOAT Life. While Yash bagged the deal from Anupam Mittal and Aman Gupta, he broke the internet for flirting with Namita Thapar and sitting down on the floor, refusing to budge till he got a deal with the judges. Achieving his dream on his fifth attempt, Yash has come a long way, and in an exclusive interview with SCREEN, he revisited that journey.
‘Achieved by dreams on fifth attempt’
Talking about his Shark Tank India 5 experience, Yash said, “The whole experience was fun. We had been applying for years, and this was the fifth time. It felt like a dream come true being there; it absolutely went well. Before entering the tank, I was jumping, doing push-ups just to feel comfortable. I was nervous, and one of the team members was super supportive. He asked me to loosen up and relax. The team had worked really hard to make sure the pitch went well, and I was the only person it all depended on.”
‘I had guts to flirt with Namita Thapar on television’
What made Yash’s pitch stand out were the fun moments he delivered inside the tank, be it flirting with Namita Thapar or sitting down on the floor for the pitch. Sharing who was the brain behind these antics, Yash revealed, “The ideas came from us only. Only the 90 seconds of playing Never Have I Ever was planned because we wanted to make sure it was super interesting for the audience. We wanted to do something different, that’s what the brand also stands for. The part where I sit on the floor was decided while I gave my mock pitch to the Sony team. When I did that, everybody just laughed, and we went ahead with that. No one has given a pitch sitting on the floor throughout the five seasons.”
He further added, “We are glad people loved the pitch. One thing we made sure of was to give so many tiny moments to the viewers, so that there was a hook in the entire pitch. The ‘hot people eat breakfast’ jacket was a hook; saying good things about Namita was another hook. It’s an entertainment platform, and people will only watch it when they enjoy it, so we needed to remove content from the episode for ourselves, even if the Sharks didn’t like it.”
Sharing how he didn’t realize that two hours had passed in his pitch, Yash added, “There were a few scenes where we joked with Aman, but those didn’t make it to the final cut. We had at least 8-10 interactions from which five were shown. I was doing something different every five minutes. I enjoyed myself a lot. I was inside for 120 minutes, but in that moment it just felt like 15-20 minutes.”
Family and friends also lauded him for his stance on the show. Sharing how they reacted to his flirting with Namita, Yash said, “Everyone laughed, family, friends, investors, they all said I had guts. I was too confident there.”
Sales have grown 5x after Shark Tank India appearance
Like many others, Shark Tank India has also been a game-changer for Yash. It has gotten his brand the attention and growth it needed. Talking about the impact this show has had on his brand, Yash revealed, “Business has grown. Sales have increased 4-5x in January. We have more than 5000 DMs. Its a overwhelming feeling, but we just don’t want to focus on that. Our focus is to make sure how we convert this attention into business.”
Yash also spoke about losing out on the all-Shark deal and why he chose Anupam Mittal and Aman Gupta over others. “We got offers from all five sharks individually; they later decided to come together and gave me another offer. I then had to call my friend Aditya, who owns the brand Peetal and had gotten a five-shark deal before. He asked me to try and get all five sharks, but when I went back inside, Namita told me that they all wanted to do individual deals since they were not getting enough stake otherwise. Ritesh and Amit had given a combined offer; the other three were individual. Aman and Anupam are very good in terms of branding and content. I asked them if they could come together; they agreed, and we got the deal,” Yash added.
He even met Anupam a few days after the episode aired. “I met Anupam four days after the episode aired. I met Aman also recently, and they have been super supportive. My reels with Anupam have also gone viral, especially our collab where we launch our merchandise, which got lots of traction.”
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Yash Kalra’s journey
Twenty-six-year-old Yash Kalra began his entrepreneurial journey with a protein drink venture in 2021. The business did not succeed, but he remained confident that he would eventually build something meaningful. Looking back at his journey, Yash shared, “I come from Kota. When I started in 2021, the term startup didn’t even exist. At that time, Shark Tank had also not come to India, and there was no exposure at all. I moved to Delhi and got a basic idea of running start-ups. I worked at my previous company for 1.5 to 2 years, and I failed in that and closed that company. I joined my father for four months. He has a wholesale distribution agency of clothes, but it’s a traditional business, and I realized I didn’t want to work with him. Then I took a Rs 2 lakh loan from the Government of Rajasthan and set up a manufacturing facility in Kota. I used Rs 3 lakh from my personal savings too. We started with a five-person team, and now we have 40 people; we generated so many work opportunities in Kota.”
Yash also spoke about how being a young entrepreneur comes with its judgments. He shared, “There have been a lot of times when a lot of people didn’t trust me. I knew I would do something in life, and people also saw that I was hardworking. Even now, when investors meet me, 60 to 70 percent of them have told me that they are not betting on the business, but on me as an individual.”
