Ashneer Grover had become a household name after becoming the most talked-about judge on the entrepreneurial show Shark Tank which was based on the same concept as its American and Australian versions. He had become popular for his witty one-liners and his frank feedback to the participants which was a welcome relief from the otherwise one-dimensional personalities showcased by the other judges.

However, Shark Tank is not the only claim to fame that Ashneer Grover has. A former IIT and IIM pass out, he is the founder of one of the largest Fintech products to come out of India. He co-founded Bharat Pe, a payment solution for small merchants and Kirana stores which ushered in the digital revolution for the Indian consumer. Subsequent products after this put the company firmly in the centre of the Indian financial life cycle and paved the way for many other products to enter the market.



Despite success with the TV series Shark Tank and Bharat Pe being valued at USD 2.8 billion, the year 2022 has not been great personally for Ashneer Grover. With one controversy after the other, he was finally ousted from the very company he founded in a non-Steve Jobsesque way. Way too many things were written about him and his wife, accusations were flung on all sides and the end was bitter, to say the least.

This is not the first time he has been in the news. From his merciless trolling of participants in Shark Tank to the self-promotion of his lavish lifestyle, he has invited the wrath of both internet trolls and other entrepreneurs. His no-nonsense blunt style of communication did not sit well with the majority of the public who were quietly waiting for him to fail, and fail big. This happened when an audio clip of him abusing an employee of Kotak Mahindra Bank over the failed attempt to finance a round of IPO financing for Nykaa IPO.

Although Ashneer Grover maintains that this audio clip is fake, Kotak Mahindra has decided to press charges. People who have seen his demeanour on TV and who follow him on social media are however convinced this is real as the idiosyncrasies of a person’s style of communication tend to be unique. This just added to the hate that he had started getting over his condescending style on Shark tank. While the whole of India was obsessing over the shark and the show, there was trouble brewing around the corner.

An expletive riddled email surfaced which was written by Ashneer and forced him to go on voluntary leave at the beginning of the year. That is when things started heating up with multiple enquiries, audits and investigations being set up to cover his financial decisions and even personal finances. This led to a flurry of activity against him and his wife culminating in the unceremonious removal from the company.

Read the full article at https://thedailyvanilla.com/2022/03/31/ashneer-grover-autobiography-road-pe/