From being called out for wearing jeans and tight top to discussing bank balance with husband before going to bed; Shark Tank India 4’s Vineeta Singh makes candid revelations

Shark Tank India 4 judge and Sugar Cosmetics co-founder Vineeta Singh recently appeared on Kareena Kapoor Khan’s talk show, where she made candid revelations about her personal and professional life. From being called out for wearing jeans and a tight top to openly discussing bank balances with her husband before bed, Vineeta shared intriguing insights into her journey as an entrepreneur and the challenges she has faced along the way.

I am not a superwoman. I struggle a lot with all my roles. I am someone who gets by with a lot of help from people. Right from childhood, both my parents, they were PH.D holders. I grew up in the AIIMS campus between doctors. I was the only child. They were always pushing me to be the best in the world in whatever I do. They always told me to dream big and be fearless.

Vineeta stated that before going to bed instead of getting romantic, Vineeta and her husband have a discussion about their bank balance. She said, “Kaushik always jokes when people go to bed they say, goodnight baby. We are always talking about bank me kitne paise bache hai.”

Vineeta states that whatever negotiations take place in the Shark Tank India show she gets to practice it with her kids. She said, “We have two boys. Even they feel perturbed. We discuss strategy all day long. I think we love what we are doing. We used to argue a lot in the beginning because we both are ambitious, opinionated people. But we have respect for each other’s opinion. Often arguments would come home from the office but we have tried to find a balance.”

In Kareena Kapoor Khan’s podcast, the founder of a cosmetic brand recalled sexist encounters in her initial days and said, “It exists because the women workforce in less than 20%. In my own experience, I have had various sexist encounters starting with when I was told that ‘we don’t invest in women-founded companies. Only when your husband joins the business, we will give you a cheque.”

Recalling another incident from her internship days, Vineeta said, “There was a time I was told that ‘ye jo jeans aur tight tops pehen ke ate ho aap, it’s not ok’. I remember calling my mom overnight from Delhi to Saharanpur with big baggy shirts, men’s shirts and everyday of my two-month internship, I wore those oversized men’s shirts. I didn’t want that to be the reason to not get the job offer. But that was 20 years back. Had this been in today’s time, I would have stood up for myself. But also, things have changed now.”

I think Shark Tank is one of those rare business situations where it’s a very good mix of women. 48% pitchers were actually women. I have personally invested in so many women founded companies. Last year, out of 7, 3 were women Sharks, this year there are 2 women Sharks. If you compare this with the real business world, 2% of the venture capital goes to women funded companies. In Shark Tank, you don’t have to be a certain gender to be an entrepreneur.