Ashneer Grover became a household name when the former co-founder and Managing Director of BharatPe appeared as a judge on the popular business reality TV show Shark Tank India. He rose to fame and was the most talked about shark due to his arrogant behaviour.
Other than Ashneer, the other judges in the hit show included Namita Thapar, Peyush Bansal, Aman Gupta, Anupam Mittal, Vineeta Singh, and Ghazal Alagh. Everyone is already geared up for Shark Tank season 2 but the panel of judges is not yet announced officially.
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A few months, on 29th April 2022, Ashneer Grover was invited to the Lovely Professional University. At the event, the entrepreneur spoke mainly on topics related to business and marketing. He spoke about the functionality of a business and the things to be kept in mind while stepping into a venture.
Ashneer on making Salman Khan his Brand Ambassador
During his speech, he spoke about an incident when decided to hire Bollywood superstar Salman Khan as the brand ambassador for BharatPe, but was short of funds. He recalled one hilarious reaction of Salman Khan’s manager at that time.
Grover took in Salman as the brand ambassador for the fintech venture in 2019, talking about his situation at that time he stated,
“2019 mein Salman Khan ko brand ambassador liya. Koi soch bhi nahi sakta tha. Mere paas bank mein 100 crore pade the, jisse merko pura business banana tha or merko ye pata tha ki yaar koi bhi business banana haina, jo bhi paise ke len den ka business hota hai woh business of trust hota hai, ‘ki agar main aap pe trust karta hun toh business chalega, trust nahi karta hun toh ek paise ka len den nahi hone wala’. Ab main choti company tha, merko overnight trust generate karna tha, toh merko laga ki main Salman Khan ko brand ambassador leta hun.”
He said that he had Rs. 100 crores in his bank account with which he was about to run his business. As he was just starting out in his venture he wanted to gain trust overnight so he wanted Salman to do the promotions.
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He went on saying,
“Ab Salman ki team ko approach kara, toh woh bole ki 7.5 crore lagenge, toh main calculation kar raha hun 100 crore pade hain, 7.5 isko dunga, 1-2 crore ki ad banegi, fir chalani bhi toh hai TV pe, toh merko 20 crore ka panga hai aur 100 cropre meri jeb mein pade hain, next round hoga nahi hoga merko nahi pata, but maine woh liya panga and main Salman ko bola kam karde bhai, toh woh 4.5 mein maan gaya.”
He said that the actor charged Rs 7.5 crores for it and Grover also had some additional expenses of 1-2 crores on running the advertisement on television. As he was not confident enough that he will be able to pay the amount, he asked Salman to reconsider the price, which ultimately came down to Rs 4.5 crores.
Salman’s manager’s hilarious reply to Ashneer
Ashneer revealed that during the negotiation the actor’s manager then came over and said,
“Sir aap bhindi kharidne aaye ho kya, kitni mandwali karoge?” (Sir, have you come to buy vegetables, how many negotiations will you do?)
To this Ashneer replied,
“Mere paas hai hi nahi paise, de hi nahi sakta” (I don’t have enough money to give you)
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Check out the video here
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Ashneer’s new business venture
Meanwhile, Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain have started a new company – Third Unicorn. As they are no longer a part of BharatPe, Ashneer announced his new venture on his 40th birthday, he wrote,
“Today I turn 40. Some will say I’ve lived a full life and experienced more things than most. Created value for generations. For me it’s still unfinished business. Time to disrupt another sector. It’s time for the Third Unicorn!!”
Today I turn 40. Some will say I’ve lived a full life and experienced more things than most. Created value for generations. For me it’s still unfinished business. Time to disrupt another sector. It’s time for the Third Unicorn !! pic.twitter.com/wb7ZQe41FY
— Ashneer Grover (@Ashneer_Grover) June 14, 2022
Stay tuned for more updates.
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