Exclusive: From revealing the ‘most searched’ question about Shark Tank India on AI tools to advice for young entrepreneurs; Ritesh Agarwal’s candid revelations

Ritesh Agarwal, OYO founder and Shark Tank India judge opens up about the show’s evolving diversity, the rise of teen entrepreneurs, and the most searched AI question on getting into Shark Tank in an exclusive chat with Times of India TV. He also shares honest advice on embracing misfit thinking, resilience, and ambition.

I think in the last three years, if you talk about Shark Tank, season three, the first season I took part, was the coming of age. People started seeing big companies coming out of Shark Tank. The companies in that season became big. But the category of companies largely stayed focused within those three to four categories. You will see the broadest set of companies in season five. You will find deep tech, you will find innovation, you will find export-oriented, you will find new energy. Second, the other thing that you will also see is entrepreneurs. Shark Tank covered a large mass of India in season three and four. This year, you will see that not only are we covering a large part of India, for the first time, you will find young entrepreneurs in a manner, and that is particularly very energizing for me, that you will see under-17-year-olds, 19-year-olds, 20-year-olds, 22-year-olds, who are creating incredible businesses. And not businesses that you see like college project. They are proper businesses, which if an entrepreneur was making in 30 years, in 50 years, in 70 years, you'd make the same SSP. So, according to me, you will see these two changes in this season, in comparison to before.

One of the most searched questions in India on AI tools are, ‘How to be on Shark Tank? My answer is actually for the misfits. I think when you are very young and you want to pursue entrepreneurship, thinking about being an entrepreneur is very glamorous. But to be an entrepreneur, by design, most of the kids around you are asking, what is he doing? Why is he doing this? And it can feel very lonely. People say lonely as a corporate executive. But lonely as a 15-year-old, 16-year-old is not easy today. Because you are looking at your friends' Instagram and they are all doing so well. To be sure, none of those posts are equal to their lives. Everybody's life has some problems. But at least you are seeing that.

So, my answer to them is, it will all work out. At that moment, it will feel like the first rejection, the whole world is going to break loose. It will feel like... I was just... Last week, I was meeting one of the entrepreneurs who came in the tank. After that, I was meeting him and he told me, ‘Ritesh, did you ever feel like I am the odd one out?’ And I said, you will feel like that always. But you should know 10 years later, if you average it, it will not matter. The experience of that day, you should understand that it's a box of cherries, right? That you will remember later that such a day used to happen. So, my perspective is, being a misfit, being a contrarian is part of being an entrepreneur. There is nothing wrong or bad about it. But if you are feeling that as a young entrepreneur, I think it is okay. Be at it. There is nothing you can do that is so wrong. The company may shut down. We will start again. We will make something else. So, my perspective is, the only thing is, if you are a young entrepreneur, chin up. You must be very proud of what you do.

All of us have had our own experiences. So, whatever I, and a human is generally an outcome of their own experiences, right? So, my own experience, I try to find people who I can relate with. Because, end of the day, like you have a full-time job. Outside of that, you have to spend time with other entrepreneurs. So, if you want to spend time with people, you'll find people who you can easily gel along with. So, I'm searching for entrepreneurs who are ambitious, who are driven, either have, either or, right? Like either have a big scale, global business, which is something I relate with. Come from a very small place, but want to sort of create an impact in urban places. Truly and deeply oriented around family. Whatever things I relate with, I try to find that. I try to find sort of the better, smarter, hungrier Ritesh in some way.

Shark Tank tak pauchna is a huge thing. My math suggests, and I know the number of applicants that apply to Shark Tank, the acceptance rate to Shark Tank is under 0.1%. So it's already a huge win. Jiska matlab agar aap yaha pe aa rahe ho, wo koi top Indian exam pass karne se kam nahi hai. And then you're getting exposure on national television in front of people. Aur desh ki shayad 5 among the most relevant entrepreneurs aapki business sun rahe hain, samajh rahe hain. So just showing up here is 80% of the battle won. So be proud about it.