Quirksmith: A Shark Tank Pitch Analysis

Quirsmith, a brand founded by Divya Batra & Pragya Batra, was recently featured on Shark Tank India Season 3, aiming to secure investment for their silver jewellery with Hindi poetry lines carved on them. This analysis delves into the details of Quirksmith, encompassing its establishment, ownership structure, business model, products, and the Sharks' decisions regarding their pitch.

Company Details

Quirksmith is a LLP, with the name Quirksmith Lifestyle LLP, having an incorporation date of May 12, 2016. This company is registered in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. They have a community of over 90,000 women working with them in manufacturing silver jewellery which has lines inspired by Hindi poetry scripted on the jewellery.

Ownership

Quirksmith is owned by Divya Batra and Pragya Batra who are sisters. The capital contribution of the LLP amounts to ₹30,000. The LLP was started by these two sisters of Agra back in 2016. Divya is a graduate of NIFT, Gandhinagar in jewellery design and she is a trained silversmith. Pragya did B. Tech & M. Tech in Biochemical engineering and biotechnology in 2007. After that, she worked at Bain & Co. for 6 years. Later on, she went to INSEAD, Singapore, and again worked for Bain & Co. for 2 years. Afterwards, she worked in InMobi with their strategy team for one and a half years [1] and then joined Divya in the business.

Business Model

Quirksmith is a silvery jewellery brand. This brand manufactures jewellery which has Hindi scripted lines inspired by poetry. These lines showcase self-expression. These pieces of jewellery are a way to start the conversation. People can wear their thoughts which match their personality and perspectives of life. Quirksmith has a variety of product ranges. Their USP is the complementary skills of the two sisters who are the founders of the brand. Where one sister, Divya, is the heart and soul of the entire setup, and the other sister, Pragya showcases the brain and body of the setup. Magic is created when these two collaborate.

Products and Services

Quirksmith offers products such as nose pins, anklets, nazarbattus, rings, earrings and pendants. Detailed information about their products can be found at: https://quirksmith.com/

Shark Tank Pitch and Decisions

Quirksmith presented their pitch in Shark Tank India seeking an investment of ₹80lacs for 1% equity stake (Valuation ₹80Cr).

• Anupam Mittal: Anupam recognized the team's strengths, particularly their presentation skills and marketing efforts. He expressed concerns about the lack of fundraising and the reasons behind customer loyalty not translating into sales. While impressed by the product and presentation, he withheld investment due to the founders' unclear future goals. Clarity on these goals is essential for moving forward. Hence, he didn’t put forward any hand.
• Vineeta Singh: Vineeta asked the question of whether customers tell them that they are expensive. Vineeta said that if the founders are repeatedly saying that they have made a brand then it should be evident in many ways such as repeat customers or customers wanting to pay the price of ₹3000. Vineeta could foresee the challenges that the founders would be facing while expanding their occasional wear Hindi scripted jewellery to daily wear jewellery. Hence, she didn’t invest.
• Namita Thapar: Vineeta mentioned that the market for such products is niche, and unless the pricing and collection are modified, the brand will take time to scale up. She positively hopes that the founders will follow her lines. Eventually, Namita didn’t extend any offer.
• Amit Jain: Amit initially asked about the traffic on their website and after listening to the traffic figures he said that as the brand becomes stronger the brand traffic will also increase. Amit added that some work is needed to be on the brand. He appreciated their complementary skills but questioned the future expansion scope of the business. Amit believed in the founders and had confidence that the founders would definitely do something unprecedented hence he offered a deal for ₹30lac for 3% equity+₹50lac debt at 12% interest for a period of 2 years (valuation ₹10Cr). The founders countered the offer and Amit gave a final offer of ₹30lac for a 3% equity stake+₹50lac at 2% loyalty until ₹1Cr is recouped. Unfortunately, the founders rejected the offer.
• Aman Gupta: Aman, mirroring Amit's inquiry, focused on website traffic and financials. He concluded the business prioritized short-term revenue based on cost and pricing structure. While the founders presented promising future plans, Aman couldn't identify a clear value proposition for his investment or a path to accelerated growth. Aman still put forward an offer of ₹30lacs for 3.3% equity+₹50lacs debt at 12% interest for 3 years (Valuation ₹9Cr). The founders' countered the offer, (₹80 lac for 1.5% equity) implied a valuation that Aman considered too high, leading him to decline the investment.

Analysis of Shark's Decisions

The Sharks' decisions reflect several key considerations for Quirksmith:

• Overpriced: As per the Sharks’ considerations, the prices set were highly priced due to which there may be less customer repetition.
• Expansion problems: The Sharks couldn’t figure out the scope of expansion of the business because the lines of the business are challenging when it comes to shifting to daily wear jewellery from occasional stream.

Some key strengths and weaknesses of Quirksmith:

Strengths:

• Complementary skills: The complementary skills of the two sisters were fabulous. Their USP are their complementary skills only where Divya is the heart and soul of the entire setup and on the other hand, Pragya is the brain and body. And when both of them combine they create magic.
• Poetic designs: The poetic designs offered by the brand are something unique that no one has offered before. This makes them different from other jewellery brands. Additionally, every Hindi carved piece of jewellery has some story behind it.
• Customer loyalty: The customers are aware of the stories behind the poetic lines and are connected with the brand. This provides them with a loyal customer base.

Weaknesses:

• Expensive products: As per the Sharks, the business is operating in a niche market segment and the prices set for their jewellery are a bit high and unreasonable.
• Weak brand: The name of the brand is not strong enough to convince the customers to pay ₹3,000 or even show repeat customer sales.
• Scaling constraints: Sharks were unsure about the scalability of the brand because the market segment in which the brand operates makes it difficult to switch to daily wear jewellery from the occasional wear. The brand will have to face hurdles while scaling up.

Future of Quirksmith

The future of Quirksmith is uncertain in terms of scalability because their business segment doesn’t allow them to jump to a new arena of product easily. The brand may scale up if the prices are revised, efforts are put in to build the brand name and some modifications may be made in the designs.

Conclusion

The pitch concludes by learning that a clear understanding of the goals is necessary to decide directions for your routes. Quirksmith was unable to figure out its future plans whether it wanted to go international or remain a local brand. Another issue which arose was if they wanted to switch to daily wear jewellery or operate on the occasional wear only. Sharks really loved the presentation and the complementary skills of the founders but some work is required to be done on the brand to scale it up.

Quick Summary: