Aman Gupta is among the most talked-about sharks from Shark Tank India. The co-founder and former CMO of boAT has invested crores in multiple startups today, but there was a time when he had barely seen money. Raised in a lower-middle-class household, Aman once described himself as “a lost soul.” In a recent interview with Humans of Bombay, Aman opened up about his childhood and revealed how a personal tragedy reshaped his outlook on life, pushing him to prioritise happiness over material success.
Recalling the early days of boAT’s growth, Aman said, “When we received funding from Warburg, I got very excited. I was like, ‘Wow, paise aa gaye, maze aa gaye,’ because I hadn’t seen so much money in my life. My mother was a school teacher and my father was a salesman. We had never seen money. My upbringing was lower middle class. Slowly, when we started receiving so much money, I would sit and check my bank account multiple times.” He joked, “So much that our banker came home to check on us.”
Talking about the lifestyle changes that followed, he added, “I spent crazy money. Flew business class, stayed in the best hotels, bought luxury cars. But after a year, even this lifestyle started to bore me.”
Aman emphasised that financial success eventually took a backseat to personal happiness. “Staying happy is my utmost priority. You must have heard Shah Rukh Khan’s dialogue — ‘Haso, jiyo, muskurao, kya pata kal ho na ho!’ I understood this deeply because I lost my brother in an accident on his birthday. You never know when life will end. After that, I learnt to enjoy every day. Even when I had no money for nearly six years, I enjoyed every single day building boAT,” he shared.
Reflecting on his childhood, Aman said, “My childhood was fun. I was a lost soul — never had a clear goal and often copied what my friends did. I pursued CA because my father asked me to. We lived in a small one-room house in a joint family setup where each family had one room. We had ups and downs. My father started a business, suffered losses, then picked up again. My mother remained unwell for a long time. It was a normal household. Until two years ago, we all lived together. Now we have moved to a new house, but my parents and I continue to visit each other frequently.
Aman had earlier told Prakakhar ke Pravachan, “I worked very hard. I would travel by buses every day, and I would board the bus at the first stop because it would be empty. I would especially go out of my way to the first stop, just so that I could get a seat and sleep for two hours, or study. I’ve worked very hard. I’ve worked 16 hours a day, I’ve changed jobs. All my friends were doing so well. Till the age of 40, my livelihood relied on my wife. I have burned the midnight oil.”
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Before founding boAT, Aman had attempted nearly five startups — all of which failed. boAT became his sixth entrepreneurial venture and took years of perseverance to succeed. Throughout this journey, he credits his wife, Priya, for standing by him with both emotional and financial support.
