New Delhi : Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary has said that India’s graduate employment challenge makes it more important for students to become entrepreneurial, take the first step towards building, and stop waiting for external validation before starting up.
Speaking in a podcast with Pratham Mittal, Founder of Tetr College of Business and Masters’ Union, O’Leary was responding to a discussion on India’s jobs gap. Mittal pointed out that India produces millions of college graduates every year, while the number of new white-collar jobs requiring a degree is far smaller. O’Leary’s response was that students need to move from passive career planning to action, execution and building something of their own.
“The reason they don’t become an entrepreneur is they’re too scared to take the first step. They have too many options in front of them and they can’t choose,” O’Leary said. “Your job is to get them to commit to one idea, even though it may fail.”
O’Leary said students should try building something immediately after their education, especially if they meet potential co-founders or discover an idea during that period.
“I have data that says if you go and try something, and 24 months later it fails, you’re worth more to the market because you’ve experienced that, than had you never tried it,” he said. “Maybe you meet somebody in your class, maybe you have a new idea. You’ve got to try.”
He added that students and young founders often make the mistake of seeking validation before entering the market. Asked how young entrepreneurs should know whether an idea is worth pursuing, O’Leary said business models cannot be validated by endless speculation.
“Unfortunately, you can roleplay the business model in your head till the cows come home, but you’ll only know when you go and try,” he said. “If you can get to a million in sales and be breaking even on customer acquisition, just breaking even, you got a business.”
O’Leary also said students should focus on execution and customer acquisition rather than AI-generated business plans or abstract modelling. “Commit, execute, go do it,” he said.
The conversation also touched on how business education could become more hands-on. Mittal spoke about students building simple trading and dropshipping businesses first, then moving to D2C brands, Kickstarter campaigns and eventually technology ventures. O’Leary described the model as “visceral” and “challenging,” and said it forces students to use tools available in any country.
The full episode of The Tetr Podcast features Kevin O’Leary in conversation with Pratham Mittal on Shark Tank, entrepreneurship, AI, personal finance, customer acquisition, branding, consulting careers and what it takes to build enduring businesses.
