In 2010, every serious stockbroker in India charged the same way: a percentage of whatever you traded. Trade more, they earned more. It was the industry's default, unquestioned for decades.
Nithin and Nikhil Kamath started Zerodha that year with a different bet. Instead of a percentage cut, they charged a flat fee per trade, regardless of order size. For a large trader, that pricing model could mean paying a fraction of what an incumbent broker would charge for the same trade.
No outside money, from the start
Zerodha never took a venture capital round. Not in the early years when discount brokerages were still an unproven idea in India, and not later, once it was clear the model worked. Every rupee of growth came from the business's own revenue, reinvested back into the company.
That decision shaped how the company operated day to day. Without investors pushing for growth-at-all-costs metrics, Zerodha could optimize for a durable, profitable business instead of chasing valuation markers that mean little to a customer placing a trade.
"If you have a business that can generate profits, you don't need venture capital."
— Nithin Kamath, Co-founder & CEO, Zerodha · The Economic Times
The result
Zerodha grew into India's largest stockbroker by active client base. For FY24, the company reported revenue of ₹9,372 crore, entirely self-funded, with no external capital ever raised.
What another founder can take from this
The lesson isn't "never raise money" as a blanket rule. It's narrower and more useful than that: Zerodha's flat-fee pricing was a structural bet against an entire industry's incentive model, and it only worked because the company had the patience of not answering to outside investors while it proved out. Profitable, self-funded growth isn't always slower. Sometimes it's just quieter, right up until it isn't.