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<ul><li>Ganesh <keyword id="79029" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="balakrishnan" source="Orion">Balakrishnan</keyword>, the co-founder of <keyword id="16008024" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="flatheads-shoes" source="Orion">Flatheads Shoes</keyword> received an offer that valued his company at ₹2.25 crore from two sharks on <keyword id="11924074" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="shark-tank-india" source="Orion">Shark Tank India</keyword> S2. </li><li>Balakrishnan, who had earlier invested personal money to keep the venture afloat, rejected the offer. </li><li>The shoe business that started right before the pandemic ran into trouble as lockdowns forced people to stay indoors. </li><li>After the episode aired last Friday, the startup managed to sell off its entire inventory over the weekend, Balakrishnan said on social media. </li></ul>Last Friday, Shark Tank India S2 aired the season’s most emotional episode when Ganesh Balakrishnan made a pitch for his venture, Flatheads Shoes. The startup <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ganeshbalakrishnan/">creates </a>‘all-day casual shoes for the urban workforce’ priced between ₹1,000-₹5,000 a pair. It also <a href="https://www.flatheads.in/">offers </a>India’s first linen sneakers, and the world’s first banana fibre sneakers. At the time Balakrishnan’s episode was shot, his company was on the verge of a shutdown. He said <a href="https://www.sonyliv.com/shows/shark-tank-india-1700000741/investing-in-the-future-of-india-1000203475?watch=true">on the show </a>that he personally invested ₹35 lakh to keep the business afloat, in the last two months. His co-founder Utkarsh Biradar, who helped design the shoes, too invested the same amount. Biradar exited the startup in 2022 but still holds 30% equity. In spite of his mounting troubles, Balakrishnan rejected the only deal he received on the show. Sharks Peyush Bansal (co-founder, Lenskart) and <keyword id="246967" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="vineeta-singh" source="Orion">Vineeta Singh</keyword> (co-founder, Sugar Cosmetics), offered ₹75 lakh for 33.3% equity in the company. The offer values the company at ₹2.25 crore. Balakrishnan had asked for a valuation of ₹25 crore as its company generated sales to the tune of ₹3.4 crore in FY22. The company had raised ₹5.2 crore in April 2021, at a pre-money valuation of ₹28 crore, from angel investors. Pre-money valuation refers to the value of a startup that does not include external funding – basically a startup’s value before it raises funds. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Once in a generation troubles" comment="subhead2" text="Once in a generation troubles">Once in a generation troubles</cmsannotation> Balakrishnan started Flatheads Shoes in 2019, right before the pandemic struck. In less than a year, the company had no customers - as India stayed indoors, people barely needed shoes, much less urban workwear. “It’s not that I can’t run a company. I am capable of it. Thing is, when you step into the market and for 4 months nobody is wearing shoes, because nobody is stepping out only - such situations arise once in generations. And it happened to us,” said Balakrishnan on the show. He also said that angel investors were not willing to invest further in the business. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="‘Need to evaluate my priorities in life’" comment="subhead2" text="‘Need to evaluate my priorities in life’">‘Need to evaluate my priorities in life’</cmsannotation> Even as he rejected the offer, Balakrishnan admitted that he needed to change his perspective, re-evaluate his priorities, and gain more experience before entering the D2C market. “I need to evaluate my priorities in life right now. I will go out there and work with a D2C brand and understand how to do this before I come back and try again. I need a couple of years. But that perspective needs to be built. And the best way to build it is to work with somebody who’s done this before,” said Balakrishnan on the show. Balakrishnan’s emotional admission left all the judges teary-eyed, with Shaadi.com’s founder Anupam Mittal remarking, “Shark Tank is not just about getting funding, but also perspective.” <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Every tear has a silver lining" comment="subhead2" text="Every tear has a silver lining">Every tear has a silver lining</cmsannotation> When Balakrishnan pitched on the show, most of the Sharks asked him to shut down the business and instead, look to make a living through a regular job, leveraging his educational qualifications and work experience. While boAt’s founder Gupta shared his personal experience of going down the same road, Mittal even offered him a job. Shortly after the episode aired though, Flatheads Shoes trended on social media and consequently received enough orders that it almost sold out its 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,” shared <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7017678455685226496?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7017678455685226496%29">Balakrishnan on his LinkedIn account</a>. The product is featured on the Shark Tank India website. The brand also has international ambitions. It launched its products in the US in October 2021 and plans to expand its international market in the US and UAE. As Balakrishnan admitted on the show, Flatheads enjoys a ‘price advantage’ in the US because people are willing to pay a premium price for a sustainable product. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="The serial entrepreneur" comment="subhead2" text="The serial entrepreneur">The serial entrepreneur</cmsannotation> After graduating as a mechanical engineer from IIT Bombay in 1999, Balakrishnan worked with an industrial technologies MNC Ingersoll-Rand International (India) for five years, before pursuing an MBA degree from IIM, Bangalore. He worked with Bain &amp; Company and Honeywell, before starting his entrepreneurial journey in 2013 with Windsleeve, a retail technology product company, and Momoe, a mobile payments product company. While Windsleeve shut down in a year, Momoe ran for three years, before being acquired by Shopclues in 2016, in a cash and stock deal. In 2019, Balakrishnan entered the startup space again with Flathead Shoes, inspired by his personal experience of dealing with reeking and ill-fitting shoes. Balakrishnan is married and has a 10-year-old daughter. Currently, his household income is managed by his wife, who’s working with a German company. His daughter is an artist who also wants to be an entrepreneur and is already taking orders for calendars created with her paintings. “Did I mention that my 10-year-old daughter wants to be an entrepreneur? She says she is a fan of Peyush's no-nonsense mindset, and I know that she admires Vineeta for her cheerfulness and positivity. She is super proud that I managed to get an offer from both of them,” stated Balakrishnan <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7017678455685226496?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7017678455685226496%29">on his LinkedIn post</a>. His perseverance and honesty on the show left the Shark Tank India panel and the audience so impressed, that the admiration translated into sales. <div type="twitter" handle="AbstractAkarsh" handlename="Akarsh hp" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1608027655529730050/ZdAybBsg_normal.jpg" favoritecount="75" retweetcount="4" status="The #Flatheads pitch in #SharkTankIndia was one of the best I've seen across two seasons. Emotional. Real. Uplifting." createdat="1673025864000" id="1611413387547938816"></div> <div type="twitter" handle="dssagar93" handlename="Sagar Khatri 🇮🇳" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1508142401172385794/MMugvnlw_normal.jpg" favoritecount="20" retweetcount="0" status="This #Flatheads guy is so genuine and transparent with his story and failures. Saying that you couldn't make it wit… https://t.co/rjcGdmhUCo" createdat="1673026813000" id="1611417367736877056"></div> <div type="twitter" handle="banerjee_bapi" handlename="Bapi Banerjee" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/975719104953962496/N_213Fro_normal.jpg" favoritecount="7" retweetcount="0" status="Nothing but respect for you. To be honest on the national television, it takes courage. And I am sure you will boun… https://t.co/3KSiXtM62Q" createdat="1673078555000" id="1611634388642729984"></div> SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/sports/news/india-vs-sri-lanka-odis-2023-match-date-and-time-head-to-head-stats-and-more/slidelist/96849348.cms">India vs Sri Lanka ODIs 2023 – match date and time, head-to-head stats and more</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/health-edtech-platform-virohan-raises-7-million-in-funding-led-by-blume-ventures/articleshow/96849208.cms">Health edtech platform Virohan raises $7 million in funding led by Blume Ventures</a>

This IIT-IIM startup founder denies Shark Tank offer, sells his entire inventory over the weekend

The Entrepreneurship Cell of <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>n Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay is a non-profit organisation that conducts several initiatives throughout the year to promote entrepreneurship. Having received patronage from the likes of <keyword id="6361804" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="unesco" source="Orion">UNESCO</keyword>, Startup India and Make in India, E-Cell envisions to portray entrepreneurship as a viable career option for the younger generation and push them towards becoming job creators rather than job seekers. Eureka! - the annual business model competition of <keyword id="12393576" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="E-Cell-IIT-Bombay" source="Orion">E-Cell IIT Bombay</keyword> is one of their initiatives that identifies the most innovative ideas and provides support to make them a commercial success. The startups that participate in the competition receive mentoring, funding, incubation, networking, and many other opportunities. There are prizes worth ₹80 lakhs for the winners along with the opportunity to present their idea at Expo 2020 Dubai. Started in 1998 with a prize money of ₹50,000, Eureka! has grown rapidly to become Asia’s largest business model competition with more than 10,000 entries coming in every year. Many startups from Eureka! have gone on to become multi-million dollar enterprises. Registrations for startups are open at: eureka.ecell.in With a year of lockdown and restricted business activity, several problems have become prevalent in society. Eureka! envisions to bring out the best solutions to these problems in different sectors and provide the support that is needed by them to solve the woes of society. This year, the competition is divided into 7 different tracks: 1. Salesken Business Track: The Flagship track of Eureka!, the business track aims to help ideas develop into businesses that have the potential to revolutionize the world. 2. Swavalamban SIDBI Social Track: The Social track encourages ideas and B-models which cater to people closer to the bottom of the pyramid and envision the greater good of the society. 3. SBI General Fintech Track: The fintech track encompasses advances in technology and changes in business models that have the potential to transform the provision of financial services through the development of innovative instruments, channels, and systems. 4. Shell Sustainable and Affordable Energy Track: The Sustainable and Affordable energy track encourages startups that are working towards clean energy goals and providing alternatives to traditional fuels. 5. Godrej Agrovet Food and Agro Track: The Food and Agro track aims at supporting innovation in the field of Food &amp; Agriculture industry. There is a lot of potential in this sector as the millennial generation is moving towards healthy eating habits while trying to retain the enjoyment of eating junk food. 6. Westbridge Capital Pan-IIT Track: The Pan-IIT track invites entries from startups founded by students or alumni of any of the 23 Indian Institute of Technology (IITs). 7. Gulf Islamic Investments Edutech Track: With the pandemic shaking up the entire world including the education system, transition to a digital mode has now become an absolute necessity rather than a mere technology-driven trait. This track has got education and innovation excellence at its core. From a startup’s perspective, Eureka! is much more than a competition. It provides opportunities that enable startups to reach the best places and create an impact in the country. E-Cell <keyword id="61708" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="IIT-Bombay" source="Orion">IIT Bombay</keyword> believes that for making India a superpower and taking it to the pinnacle of success, it is essential for us to support our entrepreneurs. Eureka! is an initiative that empowers the best ideas and helps the progress of the country. So, if you think your idea has the potential to change the world, register now! Deadline for registration is 26th October. Disclaimer: Business Insider is an insights partner for the event. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/fino-payments-bank-will-be-the-first-fintech-startup-in-india-to-get-listed-on-the-bourses-and-it-is-profitable/articleshow/87280457.cms">Fino Payments Bank will be the first fintech startup in India to get listed on the bourses and it is profitable</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/amazon-backed-office-shuttle-service-shuttl-finds-a-saviour-in-chalo/articleshow/87278431.cms">Amazon-backed office shuttle service Shuttl finds a saviour in Chalo</a>

Pitch your startup ideas at IIT Bombay’s business model competition Eureka! — Here’s how you can apply

The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) will be setting up an Innovation and Entrepreneurship fund of Rs 100 crore to support start-ups. The premier city-based institute said it is also planning to ensure that at least five of its Centers of Excellence rank among the top three in the world in their respective fields. "<keyword id="6354859" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="iit" source="Orion">IIT</keyword> Madras is going to establish an Innovation and Entrepreneurship fund of Rs 100 Crore to support student and faculty's efforts to establish start-ups." These were "among the top goals the institute has set for itself in the Strategic Plan for the Period 2022-27. The targets envisioned include creating an institute with a diversified group of faculty, students and staff, pursuing nationally relevant and internationally recognised basic and translational research," it said. IIT-M said it has been developing and following strategic plans periodically for more than two decades now. "By the end of this plan period, the institute will have significantly upgraded and augmented its infrastructure to support its ambitious programmes. The Discovery Campus, which is the satellite campus of IIT-M located about 36 km from main campus, will be home to an increasing number of specialised world-class research facilities," it said in a release. <keyword id="14247532" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="prof-v-kamakoti" source="Orion">Prof V Kamakoti</keyword>, Director of the institute, said, "in the next five years, we would like to realise an IIT Madras with a diversified group of faculty, students and staff actively pursuing nationally relevant and internationally-recognised fundamental and translational research. As part of this vision, we would like to have students from all parts of <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>, especially rural India to be associated with," them. Speaking about the Strategic Plan 2022-27, <keyword id="8730834" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="pawan-k-goenka" source="Orion">Pawan K Goenka</keyword>, Chairman, Board of Governors, IIT Madras, said it will usher in the next phase of the institution's quest towards global excellence. The institute is also planning new Programmes and Academic Outreach in the next five years. They include introducing hybrid and online postgraduate programmes and launching multidisciplinary PG programmes in current areas such as health policy studies, computational linguistics, disability studies, environmental humanities, digital humanities and medical humanities, it added. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/leaked-messages-show-googlers-are-taking-out-their-frustrations-over-layoffs-on-its-new-bard-ai-chatbot/articleshow/98221257.cms">Leaked messages show Googlers are taking out their frustrations over layoffs on its new Bard AI chatbot</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/entertainment/news/hbo-dropped-the-1st-teaser-trailer-for-succession-season-4-heres-what-to-expect-when-the-show-returns-this-march-/articleshow/97361611.cms">'Succession' will end with its 4th season. Here's what to expect when the show returns for its final episodes this March.</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/india-ranks-42-in-55-countries-on-international-ip-index/articleshow/98224833.cms">India ranks 42 in 55 countries on International IP Index</a>

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This IIT-IIM startup founder denies Shark Tank offer, sells his entire inventory over the weekend

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Pitch your startup ideas at IIT Bombay’s business model competition Eureka! — Here’s how you can apply

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IIT Madras to establish ₹100 crore Innovation & Entrepreneurship fund

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