“Shark Tank India” has unveiled “#DontBeATota,” a campaign taking aim at founders who mistake the language of entrepreneurship for the substance of it, as the show opens its sixth season for entries on streamer SonyLIV.
The campaign lands at a moment when terms such as valuation, burn rate and EBITDA have become everyday vocabulary. It poses a pointed question: has the language of entrepreneurship begun to overshadow the business itself? “#DontBeATota” argues that conviction, execution, resilience and a grasp of fundamentals matter more than a polished command of buzzwords.
The campaign’s mascot is Tota, a parrot who believes he can impress the Sharks simply by reciting startup terminology he barely understands. The character is built around a simple contrast: anyone can memorize the vocabulary of entrepreneurship, but only founders who understand their business can actually build one.
Aman Gupta, a Shark on “Shark Tank India” and co-founder of boAt and founder of Off/Beat, said: “If repeating startup buzzwords was enough to build a business, we would all be investing in parrots. That’s the thought behind this campaign. Over the years, ‘Shark Tank India’ has helped make entrepreneurship part of mainstream conversations, and that’s something we are incredibly proud of. But building a company has never been about sounding like an entrepreneur, it is about solving real problems, understanding your business inside out and showing the resilience to keep building every single day. That’s exactly the kind of founders we’re excited to meet in Season 6.”
Founders can now submit entries for the new season through SonyLIV, with the network inviting applicants who can demonstrate real conviction and a clear understanding of their businesses.
The Script Room conceived and produced the campaign.