Online brokerage platform Zerodha's Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Nithin Kamath, has said that he would not have started Zerodha in 2025. Taking to X, Mr Kamath said that he was recently asked on his Trading Q&A platform if he would have done anything differently if he started his online brokerage platform in 2025. To this, the billionaire gave a rather surprising answer, explaining that he would not have started Zerodha with his brother, Nikhil Kamath, in 2025 as markets are crowded with brokerages at present.
"We would not have started Zerodha. The market is so crowded, and being another one doing the same thing wouldn't work. Also our product has evolved over the last 10 years, I don't think it would make sense to attempt to beat the best today on day 1 of the business," Mr Kamath said.
The Zerodha chief added that he would have instead chosen to build a brokerage offering better research.
"I would have probably built a brokerage with some other moat probably. Charge higher and offer a better research maybe. Of course the customers would have been much lesser, but you could still earn significantly," he wrote.
Since being shared, Mr Kamath's post has garnered more than 50,000 views. In the comments section, one user wrote, "Best example of ' The grass looks greener on the other side' . Such a brilliant piece of work Zerodha is, but yes always there is room for improvement."
"Starting a business in an overcrowded market without a 10x better idea is entrepreneurial suicide. Unless you can outthink, outbuild, or outserve the biggest players- You're not disrupting, you're drowning. Play smart, not just brave," commented another.
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Notably, Nithin and Nikhil Kamath co-founded Zerodha in August 2010. With a shared vision of making trading and investing accessible to everyone, they embarked on a journey to revolutionise the Indian financial services industry. Nithin, a self-taught trader, and Nikhil, a software engineer, combined their expertise to create a platform that would simplify trading and investing for Indians. Initially, they faced numerous challenges, including limited resources and a lack of infrastructure.
Zerodha's turning point came in 2015 when they launched their flagship trading platform, Zerodha Trading Platform (ZTP). This platform offered a user-friendly interface, low brokerage fees, and innovative features that catered to the needs of both beginners and experienced traders. Today, Zerodha is one of India's largest and most respected fintech companies, with over 6 million registered users.
