Peyush Bansal – Co-founder and CEO of Lenskart

Peyush Bansal is the co-founder and CEO of the leading eyewear brand, Lenskart. He is one of the most passionate entrepreneurs who abruptly quit his stable job in America and came to India to start his own venture in the eyewear industry. His aim – address the problem of visual deprivation on a global scale. Starting out initially with just contact lenses, Lenskart now deals in eyeglasses, sunglasses, and more. Peyush has recently become a popular face on Indian television after his appearance as one of the sharks in the famous TV show, Shark Tank India.

Lenskart co-founder Peyush Bansal, who appeared as one of the ‘sharks’ on the hugely popular debut season of Shark Tank India, recounted his journey on the show, and how he played hard-to-get initially. In an appearance on Raj Shamani’s podcast on YouTube, Peyush said that after being courted by the producers, and even appearing for an ‘audition’ process, he hadn’t signed the contract until the first day of shoot.

Peyush said that he was concerned if his work will suffer, as he couldn’t even find time for scheduled meetings, let alone filming an entire season of a reality show. He revealed that he ‘kept delaying’ the signing of the contract even after arriving on set.

“When day one happened, I still hadn’t signed the contract. Pitchers were coming in, and it was then that I started having fun. So, I signed on,” he said. Asked if he would’ve bailed on the show if he didn’t enjoy the first day of shoot, Peyush said that he had given them his word, so he wouldn’t have quit, but he wasn’t confident about the whole enterprise.

After being approached for the show via his co-founder, Peyush said that he had apprehensions. But he found himself hooked on to the original American version during a trip to the Maldives with his wife, and then during a bachelors party that he attended. “We were in the Maldives for three days, and all three days I was watching Shark Tank, with the ocean in front of me,” he said.

Peyush also spoke about having self-doubts. He said that he doesn’t think he’s the ‘right person to give advice’ to aspiring entrepreneurs. “I genuinely feel that advice is overrated and it can do some harm to good entrepreneurs,” he said.

Peyush became a household name after the show, along with his fellow ‘sharks’ Anupam Mittal, Namita Thapar, Vineeta Singh, Ghazal Alagh, Aman Gupta and Ashneer Grover. A second season is in the works.