School Dropout To A Billionaire, Nikhil Kamath Shares His Entrepreneurial Journey

Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath recently sat down with LinkedIn’s global CEO, Ryan Roslansky, and shared his success story, from a high school dropout to a billionaire finance entrepreneur. In conversation with Mr Roslanksy, Mr Kamath revealed how his failures became his biggest lessons. He also shared that his first business venture, which he started when he was in school, was flushed down the toilet by his mother. The entrepreneur even revealed the “lightbulb moment” in his life that led to co-founding one of India’s largest trading platforms. 

Nikhil Kamath is associated with several companies, including Zerodha, True Beacon and Grhuas. Speaking to Mr Roslanksy, he revealed that his first business venture began when he was in the 9th grade. He managed to get his hands on a cellphone and sold it for a profit. Using the money he earned from selling that phone, he bought more cell phones and began a small side hustle. 

However, he hit an unexpected wall when his mother found out about his “business”. She flushed the phones down the toilet, drawing the curtain on Mr Kamath’s short-lived career as an entrepreneur.

But this wasn’t the end of Mr Kamath’s entrepreneurial journey. “As a dropout, he took what for almost anyone else would have been a soul-crushing job: Night shift at a call centre,” per LinkedIn. Between customer service, he taught himself how to trade stocks. Soon after, he started managing investment for his entire team, making more on commissions than from his actual job. 

“That was the lightbulb moment for what became a rule-breaking journey through India’s financial world, where, to this day, he challenges traditional norms and empowers everyday individuals to take control,” the LinkedIn blog read. 

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Further, during the interview, Mr Kamath admitted, “I’ve learned everything I have learned only through failure”. “I don’t think success teaches much outside of creating an ecosystem where it is easier for you to get complacent,” he said. 

Mr Kamath also stated that despite his successful business and wealth, he stays open to learning from those around him and from what the world has to offer.