2Ballz: A Shark Tank Pitch Analysis

2Ballz, a brand founded by Anshuman Tiwari, Ankit Bhanwar, & Mohit Jain, was recently featured on Shark Tank India Season 3, aiming to secure investment for their unique pouch-shaped underwear. This analysis delves into the details of 2Ballz, encompassing its establishment, ownership structure, business model, products, and the Sharks' decisions regarding their pitch.

Company Details

2Ballz has the company name 2Ballz Clothing Private Limited with company incorporation date on April 26, 2019. This company is registered in 243 Sector A, Mahalakshmi Nagar, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. The company started back in 2019 with an aim to provide comfortable underwear to men and remove their problems of rashes, itching and chafing. The company carries a vision to provide comfortable underwear which will boost their public confidence and eradicate their problem of adjusting their underwear multiple times in a day.

Ownership

Anshuman Tiwari, Ankit Bhanwar &, Mohit Jain are the founders of 2Ballz. The founders, before working full time in the company, were engineers. Anshuman is an Electronics Retail Telecommunication Engineer from Indore and did a job for one year. Later on, he started his own business of IT Services. Subsequently, he got himself engaged into 2Ballz. Ankit was also working as an engineer before devoting time to the company. Mohit also did engineering but afterwards joined family business of food trading and procurement. These 3 co-founders were friends.

Business Model

2Ballz have a B2C business model of manufacturing and selling comfortable underwear(operating in the premium market due to their high price) made out of Modal Fabric. This Modal Fabric is soft, easy and comfortable. Their pouch shaped design is airy. Their unique design separates testicles and male organ from the body resulting in lower temperature. This maintained low temperature is less prone to sweating, itching and rashes. The innovative design of underwear provides ample support to the testicles all day long bringing about less adjustment throughout the day. Their product is safe to use, thoroughly discussed with the doctors and some doctors are even using their product.

Products and Services

2Ballz offers a range of products including Briefs, Trunks, and Boxers, priced at ₹699, ₹799, and ₹849 respectively. Explore their product lineup on their website.

Shark Tank Pitch and Decisions

2Ballz presented their pitch in Shark Tank India seeking an investment of ₹30 lacs for 5% equity (Valuation ₹6 Cr).

• Aman Gupta: Aman said that the design of their product was bad. The product doesn’t have any relevant colour. The colour didn’t share any sense of underwear. Aman quotes the example of Bummer which appeared in Season 1 of Shark Tank. Their product was not gimmickiest. Aman asked for the market research and the data and whether the founders have discussed this problem with others or not. He added on to say that their business is not going to be a serious business and hence, he wasn’t interested to invest.
• Peyush Bansal: Peyush said that the USP of the brand i.e., the unique design can be available with everyone which means that they can be produced by other brands as well and in that sense they lose their competitive advantage in the market. When the prices of the products were disclosed, Peyush stated that he would buy Jockey rather than 2Ballz. Peyush added that the business is not an investable one, it’s too early for this one and apparently the business doesn’t need any money at this stage. Hence, he didn’t provide any offer deal.
• Vineeta Singh: According to Vineeta, the name of their brand is absurd. Branding and scaling of such a type of business is not possible and has limited potential and scalability. She asked other male Sharks if they face such a problem to which they said no. She further said that even if their technology would work in future then other competitive and big brands would introduce the same in their product in just a span of 6 months. Vineeta gave a suggestion to the founders to sell their product to some other brand and earn some money from it because scaling a business with such brand name and logo is difficult. Consequently, she didn’t extend any offer.
• Ritesh Agarwal: Ritesh initially asked the price point of their different categories of products to which the founders provided their prices i.e., briefs for ₹699, trunks for ₹799 & boxers for ₹849. The founders are operating in the premium market segment and that is the reason for such spiked prices. Ritesh advised them that in a market like India, it is better to keep a lower price for such products. The founders have not correctly figured out whether this product suits the market or not. He suggested them to further continue this business and then see the direction of the business. Hence, he didn’t invest in the company.
• Anupam Mittal:Anupam commented that the name 2Ballz is bad and a better name would have been Left&Right. He asked the monthly income of the founders before starting this brand which was around 3-5lacs of Anshuman, 45000 of Ankit & 80000-90000 of Mohit. Anupam asked twice for a solid backstory behind launching this product. At one place, the founders mentioned that they got positive feedback from their customers but to which Anupam added that even if they would have kept the name as 1Ball, then, in that case also the founders would have got a positive feedback. Anupam again mentioned that the name of the product is absurd and senseless and a little adjustment doesn’t make a product market fit. Hence, he didn’t extend any helping hand.

Analysis of Shark's Decisions

The Sharks' decisions reflect several key considerations for 2Ballz:

• Pricing & affordability: According to Sharks, the products offered by 2Ballz are highly priced. If any brand wants to scale in an Indian market, then it should have a nominal and fair price for a good quality product.
• Ineffective brand name:This was pointed out by almost all Sharks that the brand name is poor. It is not suggestive of anything related to the product.
• Unsustainable model:As per the evaluation of the Sharks, it will be difficult to scale such a business due to ineffective business model. The product is not worthy of acquiring much market share because the competitors can introduce the same technique within a period of 6 months and will remain to be a big player in the market.

Some key strengths and weaknesses of 2Ballz:

Strengths:

• Differentiated USP: The USP of the brand is the unique design which provides comfort and ease to men. The products are made from Modal Fabric which is airy and comfortable. This makes underwear less prone to adjustment in a day in comparison to normal underwear. The design of their underwear separates testicles and male organ from the body resulting in lower temperature. This maintained low temperature is less prone to sweating, itching and rashes. The innovative design of underwear provides ample support to the testicles all day long bringing about less adjustment throughout the day.
• Safe to use: Their product is safe to use and also approved by some doctors. Even the doctors themselves use this underwear.

Weaknesses:

• Overpriced: Sharks emphasized the importance of balancing affordability with product quality for brands aiming to scale in the Indian market. The products are overpriced. Their higher price will not help them to achieve significant growth in the Indian market, it's crucial to offer competitive pricing alongside high-quality products.
• Inappropriate brand name: Sharks were of the view that the brand name 2Ballz, lacks a clear connection to the product. The brand name was unanimously criticized by the Sharks since it was absurd and lacked attention.
• Ineffective model: The product lacked long term competitive advantage because the founders relied on the innovative technology of their product but this can be used by big players in the market to sustain their market share. Hence, the business model is ineffective to sustain in the long run.

Future of 2Ballz

The future of 2Ballz is uncertain in terms of growth and market share due to their unsustainable business model and high prices.

Conclusion

The appearance of 2Ballz in the Shark Tank India Season 3 highlighted flaws in their business model and their pricing strategies (as they wanted to operate in the premium market from the initial phase). Their bad and senseless brand name was also pointed out by the majority of the Sharks. The founders received the advice of selling their current business to some other brand and earn money from that. At the last, Sharks wished them best of luck and motivated the founders to prove the Sharks wrong in their evaluation and judgements.

Quick Summary: