Vijay Nihalchandani: Ideas Are Easy, Execution Is Everything (Entrepreneur, Shark Tank India, 1M Followers)

Vijay Nihalchandani Interview

“Ideas are common; the courage to execute for years is rare”

Q. Before followers and Shark Tank, who was Vijay from Bhopal? What made you believe ideas could become a career?

Before the fame, I was just a guy born in Bhopal and brought up in Ujjain, trying to find his way. I started by experimenting with small ideas. I sold Chinese phones, did Hindi typing jobs, and even attempted to build a startup similar to Blinkit or Zomato back in 2016. That venture failed because I didn’t have enough capital or the right skills at the time.

The real turning point came with Travinities during the Simhastha Kumbh Mela in 2016. I noticed that many hoteliers in Ujjain were struggling to list their properties online. One hotelier in particular stood out. He had invested nearly three crores into his hotel, but a municipal barricade blocked access to his property. With no customers reaching him, he was on the verge of bankruptcy.

I helped him take the hotel online. Within three months, well before peak season, the property achieved 100 per cent occupancy. That moment changed everything for me. I realized that if solving one real problem could create such an impact, the same approach could scale. That single success led to onboarding more hotels. Today, Travinities has been running successfully for 10 years, managing a large chain of properties. That’s when I truly understood that an idea, when executed right, isn’t just a thought. It can become a career.

Q. You built businesses before content. What changed mentally when you entered the startup world?

I am an entrepreneur first and a creator second. I come from a Sindhi family, so business thinking was ingrained early. We grow up with a shopkeeper mindset. But there is a big difference between running a Dukaan and building a scalable startup.

When I moved into startups like Travinities, Make My Payment, and Home Escape, the biggest mental shift was vision. Traditional business focuses on daily survival. Startups demand long-term thinking. You are not just trying to earn; you are trying to build something that outlives you.

Content creation expanded that vision further. When I saw ten lakh, and later two million people consuming my content, it forced me to think bigger. National television and a massive audience push you beyond comfort. You stop thinking about income and start thinking about building an empire.

Q. After Shark Tank, what feedback truly stayed with you as a founder?

Shark Tank was a mix of appreciation and tough criticism. There was some negativity, too. I remember Anupam Mittal jokingly telling me to open a thela. But as a founder, you have to believe in your idea more than anyone else.

What stayed with me wasn’t a comment. It was data. Regardless of investment, the audience validated us. Make My Payment crossed one million downloads without spending a single rupee on marketing. That, for me, was real approval.

The experience taught me that customers matter more than investors. We restructured our approach, assigned dedicated leaders to each project, and stopped juggling everything together. We shifted focus from burning money to building sustainably. Execution and customer trust became our priority, not investor validation.

Q. When you hear a new business idea, what’s the first red flag and what excites you?

The biggest red flag is when someone talks about arbitrage without building a brand. I see so many people thinking, "I'll buy cheap from Alibaba and sell high here." Buying cheap from one place and selling expensive somewhere else is not a business. It’s a transaction. Most people want quick flips. Without a brand, there is no future. You might earn today, but you won’t survive tomorrow.

What excites me is long-term vision. I’m drawn to founders who think beyond quick money and focus on solving real problems. When someone talks about customer retention, trust, and legacy instead of just sales numbers, that’s when I listen. Ideas are easy. The real differentiator is execution and the willingness to stay in the game long term.

Q. How has building a million-plus audience from a Tier-2 city shaped your thinking?

Living in Ujjain with my family is my biggest strength. People often ask why I’m not based in Mumbai or Bengaluru, but being in a Tier-2 city gives me advantages most founders overlook.

First is the burn rate. My cost of living is low, which gives me the freedom to take risks and stay patient. I don’t have the pressure of massive rents or lifestyle inflation. Second is peace. Metros keep you in constant competition mode. Here, I have mental clarity. I can hire talented people locally, often at better costs, and work with family support.

Covid proved that work doesn’t need a pin code. You don’t need a glass building in Cyber Hub to build a billion-dollar company. Being outside the metro bubble helps me understand real India, the market that actually drives scale. I travel to Mumbai to network, but I return to Ujjain to build.

Bio

Vijay Nihalchandani, popularly known as Idea Man, is a Shark Tank India featured entrepreneur and digital creator specialising in finance, startups, and business strategy. Based in Madhya Pradesh, he is the founder of Travinities, a hospitality chain operating for over a decade, and Make My Payment, a fintech app that crossed 1 million downloads organically.

Recognized as a “Powerful Voice in Finance” by HDFC and a recipient of the Madhya Pradesh Excellence Award, Vijay has built a community of over 1 million followers on Instagram, with a strong presence across YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, and X. Through practical insights and execution first thinking, he helps founders and aspiring entrepreneurs focus less on hype and more on building businesses that last.

Instagram: Vijay Nihalchandani

Interviewed by Monika Bhardwaj