Shark Tank India Season 2: Paradyes Founder Yushika Jolly took to LinkedIn to share the aftermath of ‘Shark Tank India Season 2’. She shared that in just two days of episode airing that featured her, she has faced brutal trolling across social media platforms, with many calling her ‘rude,’ ’smug,’ ‘bitch,’ ‘unprofessional’ and ‘smug’.
Yushika, 26, featured on Thursday, January 12, in the eighth episode of the Shark Tank India. Leaving many sharks impressed with ideas, the Paradyes founders were able to secure a deal with Sugar Cosmetics’ Vineeta Singh and boAt’s Aman Gupta.
Now, in her lengthy post, she mentioned that her husband and co-founder of Paradyes, Sidhdharth Raghuvanshim received praiseworthy comment for his excellent ‘negotiating skills and his smile,’ she, on the other hand, was lashed out at.
Received hate messages, says Yushika Jolly
In her post, Yushika revealed that she drew attention on the basis of gender prejudice as she was called names, while her husband received praises for his negotiation skills.
“I’m starting to believe that we, as a country, despise women for being assertive and having opinions. In the last 48 hours, I have been called “rude,” “smug,” “manupulative,” “greedy,” , “bitch” and “unprofessional.” Hate messages abound in my DMs, in the comments on my personal page, and even on my brands’ page. I draw attention to the gender prejudice because, in contrast, my husband, who is also the co-founder, is getting praised for his excellent negotiating skills and his smile (which I do agree with),” she said.
‘People called us greedy’
She further wrote that after they chose not to accept Peyush’s offer, people were skeptical of her decision.
After we chose not to accept Peyush’s offer of 1% (a tough decision), a lot of people questioned that decision. As a founder, I’d like to believe I know my business better than any keyboard warrior. We decided to go with Aman and Vineeta for 2% at that time since we thought they were better suited to our needs. We could have chosen Peyush if we were truly that “greedy.” In my last post, I have defended my motivations. After analysing the situation in the tank, I made a calculated choice to lower our cap from 3% to 2%, which I believe was a good demonstration of opportunity x negotiation. And for everyone asking why create a mess for 1%, please go and build your own business and only then will you realise how important even 1% is. There have been a few remarks about sugar maybe acquiring paradyes in the future; all I’m asking is that you review our unit economics.
She further revealed that people targeted her business and involved her father and brother’s business. “It’s really difficult to even address this, to be honest. For those who don’t know, I lost my father one month after starting paradyes. He was my biggest supporter and would have been the happiest to see me where I am now. I could have easily sat back, joined the family business, and enjoyed the benefits of my father’s hard work. I made the decision to create something of my own with my family’s help. We weren’t on Shark Tank for my family’s business; that wasn’t the deal. At Paradyes we have our own R&D and manufacturing setup, which was sufficient to secure the deal we proposed,” she said.
Positive outcome: Sales doubled
She revealed the only positive outcome from their appearance on the show was their sales doubled on the website.
“One positive outcome, FINALLY. Following our airing, our sales have almost doubled on our website and in a few specific marketplaces. Our website has seen a 20x spike in traffic. Numerous distributors and detailers have contacted us. In the last two days, our Instagram has gained more than 9k followers. On a personal level, I have received over 3,000 LinkedIn requests, and my number of followers on this site has grown from 1,000 to 6,000+. All in all, I believe that being on Shark Tank will change the game for us and cause you to see us much more frequently moving forward.
A special thanks to all of you who have congratulated and appreciated me on my Shark Tank Outing. I’m thankful, grateful, overjoyed for the community we’ve built with @birdsofpardyes and how they’ve stood with us amidst all this noise,” she added.
