CEO Nithin Kamath to Zerodha user: We would not have started Zerodha in 2025 because ...

Zerodha CEO Nithin Kamath recently said that he would not have started the online trading platform in 2025. Kamath was responding to a user’s question on Trading Q&A by Zerodha - a question and answer site for trading and stock markets updates. The user named Manav Aggarwal asked Zerodha CEO: “What would have you done differently if you had to start Zerodha in 2025 all over again with decades of experience considering the competitions.” Kamath replied to him, saying “We would not have started Zerodha” adding that the “market is so crowded, and being another one doing the same thing wouldn’t work.”

Nothing that the app has “evolved over the last 10 years”, Kamath said that he believes it doesn’t make “sense to attempt to beat the best today on day 1 of the business.”
“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 stated.
Zerodha was co-founded by the Kamath brothers – Nithin and Nikhil in 2010. The app is among the largest stock market trading apps in the country with around 8 million active users.

In a post on X recently, Nithin urged investors to take a break from trading during the upcoming shortened market weeks. In the post, he cited rising volatility and emphasised the importance of mental clarity for successful trading.
He wrote: “Over the next 10 days, there are only 4 trading days. It’s not a bad idea to take a break from trading and recharge. Judging by what’s happening, you’re going to need it. Trading profitably requires that you monitor the market moods and your psychological moods. When either one is not conducive to trading, it’s best to stand aside and wait for the situation to change. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you should trade even in these potentially debilitating conditions. By staying out of the markets, you can survive to trade another day, when you’re in a peak performance mental state and the market conditions are optimal.”