Before you sign
A franchise can be a good business and still be the wrong investment for you.
Most franchise conversations begin with brands. Mine begins with you — your capital, your city, your available time, your tolerance for risk. Only then do we look at the opportunity.
Bring a brand you are considering and I will test it. Don't have one yet? We first work out what kind of business fits you. Either way, the question is not whether the brand is good. The question is whether this is right for you. If it isn't, I'll tell you.
Five things standing between you and a decision you can trust
- 01
“I can't tell whether I'm being advised or sold to.”
Most of the people you have spoken to were doing their job, and their job involves a yes. Objections get answered and doubts get addressed, and you can leave unsure whether you were advised or pitched to. That is how the conversation is built, not a fault in anyone. What has been missing is someone whose job includes saying “not this one.”
- 02
“I don't even know if franchising is right for me.”
You are comparing Brand A with Brand B without ever having asked whether you should own a franchise at all. Nobody asked, because the conversation was already about which brand. This is how good people end up in businesses that drain them. The model was fine. The fit was not.
- 03
“I've already found a brand. I still don't know whether it is right for me.”
Finding the opportunity was never the hard part. Knowing whether it fits your capital, your city and your life is.
- 04
“I can't tell if the franchisor's numbers are real.”
You are shown projections and P&Ls from “typical stores”. Are they real? Averaged? Do they include the units that struggle? When you meet existing franchisees, you will usually be introduced to the ones doing well. That is natural, and it is why you also need to hear from the ones who are not.
- 05
“I need the best case, but I have to survive the worst case.”
Everyone talks about the upside. Almost nobody makes you sit with what happens if sales disappoint, costs climb, the relationship sours, or you need to get out.
What getting this wrong costs
Not a bad month. It is ₹20 lakh to ₹3 crore committed to a business that was never a fit, discovered somewhere in year two, under an agreement that does not let you leave.
Understanding a mistake early does not make it cheaper. The decision window closes at signature, not at realisation.
That is the entire argument for doing this work before you sign.
Why I notice things other people don't
I made mistakes with my own money before helping anyone invest theirs.
In 2011 I took a kiosk in a Mumbai mall. The footfall was extraordinary — people came from across the central suburbs. I expected the sales to follow.
They didn't. The crowd had come to spend time, not money. College students settled in for hours. Salesmen worked on laptops. Weekends lifted things a little, and nowhere near enough.
But the part I only understood later was worse. Cakes of half a kilo and above — the most profitable thing I sold — barely moved at all. Nobody parks, walks into a mall and rides to the third floor to buy a birthday cake. They go to a shop on the street.
The location hadn't just reduced my sales. It had quietly removed the best item on my own menu.
I worked all of that out about two months into an eleven-month commitment. I ran the term out, paid the rent, and wrote off a kiosk that had been built for a space it could never leave.
That is the kind of thing I look for before you sign.
The GV Franchise Decision Framework
Seven stages that move a franchise decision from an open question to an answer you can defend.
- 1Investor FitShould you own a franchise at all?
- 2Opportunity FitDoes the sector, format and model suit your situation?
- 3Unit EconomicsCan one outlet make money under realistic assumptions?
- 4Market & Location RealityIs there demand, and will this location attract people who actually spend?
- 5Operator & Franchisor RiskWhat depends on you, what depends on them, where does execution break?
- 6Downside & ExitWhat happens if the assumptions are wrong?
- 7DecisionProceed, renegotiate, investigate further, or walk away.
This is not more information. It is a structured decision and an experienced outside view, from someone who has run these units and will tell you if the answer is no.
What you'll hold at the end
- A decision you can defend — to your spouse, your accountant and yourself, including what would have to change for you to decide differently.
- Unit economics you rebuilt rather than received — stressed against lower sales, higher costs and a longer ramp, with the assumptions written down so you can challenge mine.
- A named downside you have already agreed you can survive — and the exit terms, in plain language, before they matter.
- The option to act again — capital you did not commit to the wrong business is capital you still hold. A “no” is not a dead end.
Ask yourself before you get in touch
If this brand disappeared in three years, what would I still own?
What is the smallest monthly sales figure at which I still cover everything — and how far below the projection is it?
How many hours a week does this actually take, and have I asked anyone other than the franchisor?
If I wanted out in month eight, what does the agreement let me do?
If you cannot answer these, that is the conversation.
Who this isn't for
Anyone who has already decided and wants confirmation. If the brand is chosen, the deposit is paid and the question is really “tell me I'm right”, the honest answer costs you money and buys you nothing.
And if you are abroad: anyone who wants a representative rather than an adviser. If what you need is somebody in India to find it, negotiate it, set it up and watch it, that is an agency relationship and I do not take it — at any fee. I also cannot help until you can name the person who will actually run the unit, and say honestly what they have run before.
The first conversation
Thirty minutes, no fee. If we go further, I will tell you what the work involves and what it costs before we start.