WTF Gyms: A Shark Tank Pitch Analysis

WTF Gyms, a brand founded by Aakarshit Madaan, Vishal Nigam, & Anita Rai, recently featured on Shark Tank India Season 3, aiming to secure investment for their organized gym chains. This analysis delves into the details of WTF Gyms, encompassing its establishment, ownership structure, business model, products, and the Sharks' decisions regarding their pitch.

Company Details

WTF Gyms is founded by Aakarshit Madaan, Vishal Nigam, & Anita Rai. WTF gym was telecasted on national TV on Shark Tank India Season 3. The founders aim to secure investment for their gym chains. This article covers details of WTF Gyms, incorporation, ownership structure, business valuation, products, and the Sharks' decisions regarding their pitch.

Ownership

Vishal Nigam, Anita Nigam & Arpit Nigam are the co-founders of WTF Gyms. Vishal Nigam serving as the CEO, Anita Nigam serving as the CPO & Arpit Nigam responsible as the COO of the company. The company has authorised capital which amounts to ₹10lac, with a paid-up capital of ₹1.00lac. Vishal Nigam has certifications from major tech companies like AWS, Microsoft, and Google Cloud. Both Vishal Nigam and Anita Rai are alumni of Lovely Professional University.

Business Model

WTF Gyms focuses on providing quality Health and Fitness services through collaboration with local gyms and improving their ambience, quality, infrastructure, services. Their partnership is for a term of 5 years and the local partnered gyms run with the name of the respective owner’s as well as with that of WTF Gyms. WTF Gyms becomes the operator of the local gym and the profit is shared among the two. Also, their AI chatbot Fitty assists users with their Wellness & Fitness needs.

Products and Services

WTF offers services such as personalized workouts, customised diet plan, certified trainers, workout plans. A detailed information about their services can be found on: https://wtfup.me/

Shark Tank Pitch and Decisions

WTF Gyms presented their pitch in Shark Tank India seeking an investment of ₹1Cr for 2% equity stake.

1. Aman: He rejected the deal because the founders used buzzing words such as data modelling, prediction modelling. Their strategy was ambiguous and was not clear.
2. Namita: The founders had flaws and couldn’t establish trust. Their conversation lacked appropriate statistics and numbers. Business model needed to be revamped. Hence, she didn’t show interest.
3. Vineeta: Gym renewal rates in India are low because of the old culture which is still going on and previously established gym chains were also not successful. Hence, she was also not interested in this partnership.
4. Deepender: Deepender paid attention to detail and there were grammatical errors on their advertisement standee. Also, the founders didn’t use their own product and its services. The founders overpriced their product. He did not want to invest.
5. Anupam: He quoted that the business model is a failure. Gym owners are passionate enough and if two bosses would be there then there were certainly going to be conflicts between the two. Secondly, their valuation was wrong. Hence, he didn’t invest.

Analysis of Shark's Decisions

The Sharks' decisions reflect several key considerations for WTF Gyms:

• Valuation Concerns: WTF Gyms, was although, running in profits since its incorporation but their numerical figures and statistical data was not clear and was ambiguous. Also, their target of reaching ₹50Cr made no sense to the Sharks.
• Business Model: The Sharks pointed out their defective model quoting examples of previously established organized salon chains and gym chains. The founders really need to work on their business model and rebuild it in order to be successful and for growth considerations.

Some key strengths and weaknesses of WTF Gyms:

Strengths:

• Plethora of services: WTF Gyms offers variety of services to both gym owner and customer such as personalised training, workout ambience, infrastructure, certified trainers.
• Affordable prices: WTF Gyms offers the services to consumers at an affordable price and is also profitable since it’s year of establishment i.e. 2021.

Weaknesses:

• Defective Business Model: The business model of WTF Gyms was not a successful or operational one as their business model included two managers who are operating the same gym and there could be disputes in their areas of interest and decision making.
• Valuation discrepancy: The profit figures quoted by the founders were not properly calculated.
• Founders’ distrust: The founders were themselves not using their product. They used buzzed words and also overpriced their product while pitching. This created distrust between the founders and the sharks.
• Grammatical errors in commercial: Even though the founders were using AI chatbot in their product, still there were some grammatical mistakes in their commercial standee which Sharks pointed out. This badly affected their product and brand reputation in front of the Sharks.

Future of WTF Gyms

The future of WTF Gyms couldn’t be estimated as two managers were operating same gym and success of the business model were not reflected in the numbers.

Conclusion

WTF Gyms pitch highlighted key shortcomings in both their business model and valuation. The Sharks were concerns regarding use of buzzwords and higher pricing. Further, the Sharks advised the founders to consider their feedback constructively, suggested them to brainstrom their business model and consider future growth prospects.

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