Online influencer Gaurav Taneja, more popularly known for his YouTube persona ‘Flying Beast,’ had his fitness brand pitch rejected on Shark Tank India Season 4, as per a Hindustan Times report. Taneja appeared on the much-talked-about startup show with business partner Raj Gupta, seeking ₹1 crore for a 1 per cent equity stake in his brand, the report added.
Taneja has 95 lakh subscribers on YouTube and 37 lakh followers on Instagram.
Gupta and Taneja pitched their fitness and wellness brand, BeastLife, on Shark Tank India, claiming that it logged ₹1 crore worth of sales within an hour of launch. The sales platform is a password-protected website, the report said. However, the sharks were seemingly not impressed.
Shaadi.com's Anupam Mittal pointed out issues with Taneja's ability to become a full-time businessman, calling him a "terrible entrepreneur" and adding that success requires undivided focus.
Mittal added, “You are a good influencer, but you can’t outsource entrepreneurship.” He also advised Taneja about dividing his time between two careers — social media and business.
The other judges agreed with Mittal and said that Taneja and Gupta's equity structure and long-term commitments were unclear before rejecting the pitch.
Users on Reddit criticised Taneja for allegedly "promoting" a brand other than his own BeastLife using his appearance on Shark Tank. The Instagram ad posted by the user shows Taneja promoting Rosier Foods with a 15 per cent "Shark15" promo coupon.
Users criticised, “He just came for marketing. If he watched shark tank for once for the pitches he would know sharks always ask details for even ur father's business if u hv one [sic].”
Another said, “It’s high time Indian audience stop consuming content of these so called influencers and gamers and show them their actual place [sic].”
Notably, even before the episode aired, Taneja took to YouTube to clear criticism about going to the show for marketing, saying he wanted both — marketing and money. "You can't run a business without them. We went for both, it's not like we didn't want the marketing. We did. The biggest companies of the world want marketing,” he said.
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