Nikhil Kamath, the co-founder of Zerodha, one of India's premier stock brokerage firms, has emerged as a beacon of success despite facing early challenges. Kamath's path to entrepreneurship was not conventional. Struggling with the decision to drop out of school after Class 10, he started on a journey marked by resilience and hard work. Reflecting on his choice, the 37-year-old entrepreneur recently confessed to feelings of insecurity upon witnessing his peers pursue higher education while he ventured into the workforce.
"My friends didn't drop out, and I felt insecure about them going to college," Kamath said in an interview with The Print's Editor-In-Chief Shekhar Gupta.
At the age of 17, Kamath earned his first paycheck working at a call centre in Bengaluru, where he sold accidental health insurance. Despite finding satisfaction in his initial earnings, seeing his friends graduate from college and secure coveted positions had a profound impact on him.
"I feel the psychology behind that is very interesting," Kamath said. "You start feeling unnerved when your friends graduate from college and get their first job."
Moreover, Kamath shed light on the societal stigma associated with certain professions, underscoring the influence of his peers' achievements on his own aspirations. "There is a societal stigma for a job, and it could be any job. So when my friends graduated and became doctors or engineers, then it impacted me in a certain way," he explained.
Expressing skepticism about the apparent prosperity in Bengaluru, Kamath highlighted the prevalence of paper wealth over tangible assets. He noted that while many individuals amassed wealth on paper through investments in tech companies, the actual liquidity was often limited due to cash constraints within these firms. "It's not real money. Bengaluru has the most paper wealth and very little expendable wealth. The paper rich from here made money in tech companies, and tech companies have no cash. Paper money gives you the appearance of wealth," he asserted.
Kamath's early foray into trading at the age of 17, coupled with his Share Khan account, laid the groundwork for his eventual success in the financial sector. Today, as the co-founder of Zerodha, he stands as a testament to the transformative power of perseverance and vision in the face of adversity.