‘Start selling early, learn the numbers’: Anupam Mittal’s advice on building a real ‘Dhandha’ is going viral

Anupam Mittal, founder of Shaadi.com and Shark Tank India judge, recently said in a LinkedIn post that building a successful business or “Dhandha” requires practical experience and a clear understanding of numbers.

Reflecting on his early projects, he said that he rented books at the age of 13, started a sports club at the age of 16, and launched several activities in college. “Most of them failed. They all taught me one thing – to sell,” he wrote.

Selling anything, whether it’s books or even selling oneself for a job, teaches skills like persuasion, negotiation and influence that are critical to business, he said. But he added that selling alone is not enough.

Mittal recommended gaining experience in finance, especially stock analysis or investment banking, to understand how industries make money. “Because finance strips away the romanticism of ‘disruption’ and shows you the raw truth — where the margins lie, where capital flows, and where earnings surveys actually take place,” he wrote.

Advising young professionals, he said the key is to sell something and spend a year or two learning how industries really make money. “Because danda is not taught in classrooms. It is forged in the trenches of sales and honed by the discipline of numbers,” he said at the end of his post.

The post quickly went viral, sparking reactions from many netizens who praised Mittal’s advice and shared their own experiences. One reader wrote: “Great post! Businesses are built through failure, learning from it, and keeping ego aside. Business is trial and error.”

Another said: “From finance, this hits home. Selling teaches you to chase opportunities; finance teaches you to respect gravity. Then business stops being theory and starts becoming judgment.”

Others highlighted the value of mindset and strategy. “The best founders start in the trenches but climb to the balcony,” one user said.

Another user wrote: “Dhandha is not just a business, it is a mindset. Those who sell learn to survive; those who understand numbers learn to win. Huge respect!”